Paris, France

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This weekend was an amazing experience. I got to visit Paris! We climbed onto a bus to Dublin at 1am and finally made it to our hostel at 1pm. The hostel we were staying at was called Saint Christopher's Inn. The hostel had a bar and a nightclub on the lower floors. Sara, Sami and I had 2 roommates during our stay: Chris from England and another girl from our tour. The hostel was very nice. When we arrived, we met up with the group at a little cafe. It was my first authentic French food! The crepe was so good. We got to meet our tour guide for the weekend, Kevi. After lunch, we headed to the Moulin Rouge. Did you know that people will pay hundreds of dollars a plate just to have dinner and a show in the Moulin Rouge? Next we headed to Montmartre. This is located on top of hill looking over the city. There was a beautiful church on the hill. It was the weirdest experience. There was a Catholic Church service going on while tourists were walking around the edge of the church. I felt a little awkward. The church was a little controversialwhen it was being built because the hill was known to be an unholy place, filled with prostitutes and sin. They built the church to cleanse the hill. Then we headed to a restaurant with a 4 course meal in a little authentic restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. It was called La Varangue. I had beef bourgionne and snail! It was very tasty. Then we headed over to the Eiffel tower that night. The Tower sparkles for 5 min on the hour, every hour. It is so breathtaking. I got to travel into the tower and see the skyline at night. Paris is such a beautiful city. That night I passed out after such a long day.

On Saturday, we caught some free breakfast at the hostel and then headed to the Louvre. There was so much artwork! The Mona Lisa is so much smaller than you would expect. The Louvre is so big that it would take weeks to look at every piece of artwork in the building. The Louvre used to be the King's Palace before the royalty moved to Versailles under Louis XIV. They more recently constructed a pyramid in the middle to allow guests to navigate the building easier. After the Louvre, we headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral. There was a man outside feeding the birds, it was so cool to watch. That night we went on a boat ride through the city on the river. I learned about a bridge where couples go to put a lock on the bridge and then they trough the key into the river. It was really romantic. The city is so beautiful.

On Sunday, we got up nice and early to travel to Versailles. The Palace was stunning! Every square inch was decorated so intricately. I cannot imagine getting to live there. There were hundreds of rooms in the Palace. The King and Queen both had their own separate chambers. They also had a private dining room and a public one where people were people were allowed to watch them eat. The King was treated like a god. I find that so interesting. After Versailles, we went to the Champs Elysees. This is the Shopping center of the City. I got to go in to Louis Vuitton. I couldn’t believe how expensive everything was! It was insane. Then we headed back to Limerick and got back around 4am on Monday.

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Photos

Eiffel Tower
Me, Sammi, and Sara

Comments

[Grandma]

Paris OOLALA!!
You're one lucky girl. You deserve it. Enjoy!! You're making memories for a lifetime. Great pics.

[Mark]

Paris, Paris
It was my moms dream to go there for a very long time. Hard to organize, but finally we did go, on the budget. We spent 3 days, running around with our tour guide that we hired on ricksher.com Louvre was my mom's favorite and I guess her dream has come true. Anyway, your blog is bringing memories, thanks for it!