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Published: February 12th 2009
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Amanda and I crossed the English Channel via the Chunnel train that goes under the water into France December 28, 2008. We had planned to leave the day before, but had difficulty getting tickets for the 27th, no worries though. We stayed in the St. Pancras train station, which we decided to never do again because we almost froze to death! But once we made it to Paris we found our hotel and started in sightseeing right away even though we hadn't really slept at all!
The first thing we did was walk up to the Monmartre area. Mom always told us that that was her favorite place in Paris and we were staying very near the area, so we made that our first stop. We hiked up all of the stairs that we never expected to be in Paris and made it to the top near Sacre Cour and the look out point over the city. Sacre Cour was very beautiful! It is made out of white marble and had many intricate towers. We wandered along the streets of Monmartre and saw portrait artists. While in Paris, on the first day, we also saw Notre Dame with the beautiful
stained glass windows and it had a Christmas tree outside. We walked along the Seine and saw the Pont Neuf. We also were able to see the St. Chapel cathedral, which is known for its stained glass windows as well. Next we went to the Louvre to see the collections there and were able to see the Mona Lisa, which is quite small, and Michelangelo’s Slaves statues. The Louvre had an amazing collection and is huge, but it was so crowded that it was uncomfortable to walk around the galleries.
On the second day we went to Versailles which was a short train ride outside of Paris. The day was kind of awful; it was snowing, well actually sleeting, and very cold. We had to stand in the entrance line for about 1.5 hours, but were lucky that we didn’t have to stand in the ticket line, too, because we bought tickets off of someone who decided not to go that day. Versailles was a very big estate. The house was gorgeous and fully decorated with portraiture and furniture from the period of King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. The grounds were beautiful and it had quit sleeting and
snowing by the time we made it through the house, so we went out to explore the fountains and the shrubbery. Our tickets included a tour of Marie Antoinette’s estate, so we were also able to see her house and the area around there. This would be a great place to visit in spring and summer; it was Amanda’s favorite place in Paris.
The next day we walked around the city some more and saw the Military Museum, the Alexander Bridge, the Dome church, the Champs Elysses, the square where Marie Antoinette was beheaded and where there is a giant Ferris wheel. We also met a girl from our hotel named Ellyn and went to the Eiffel tower with her for New Year’s Eve. That night we walked the Champs Elysses with all of the Frenchmen and saw all of the bright lights. Then we walked towards the masses around the Eiffel tower to see the count down to midnight. It was interesting to see the police in full riot gear! There were just so many people and the tower was all lit up and shimmered on the hour. We didn’t stick around very long after because we weren’t
sure how long the metro was going to run. It was good that we went back before everyone else had the same idea; we LOVED the metro in Paris and took it everywhere!
Amanda and I spent the next day with Ellyn walking around Monmartre again. We saw different things this time, though. We saw a square that was full of artists selling their pictures and many cafes. We saw the windmills in the older parts in Monmartre and walked down the hill to see Moulin Rouge. The Bastille, where the French Revolution started, was pretty interesting and we ate at the best kebab place! We also decided that it was probably a good idea to see the Eiffel tower in daylight, so we took the metro down there and walked around the lawn. Lastly, Amanda, Ellyn and I went to see the small statue of Liberty that is in the middle of the Seine (has anyone see National Treasure where they use the helicopter to see the inscription?)
Our last day in Paris, Amanda and I went to the Musee d’Orsay. This was my favorite place in Paris! The collection was amazing! There were so many impressionist
paintings (which are my favorite) and the galleries were open; I liked it better than the Louvre. That was pretty much all we did in Paris…so enjoy the pictures and videos!
**sorry guys my video of the count down is too large to upload! enjoy the other's though.
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