We're in Paris!

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Last night we arrived in Paris around 5ish and went straight to our hostel. The hostel that we are in is very nice. It was built only a few months ago and really caters to people our age. It's a little ways away from things, but there's a metro a couple blocks away. So last night we wanted to wander around a little, and we also wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower. So we started wandering in the general direction (it was on the opposite end of the map). After about half hour of walking, we looked at the map. We had only gotten about a third of the way there, but it was good exercise so we kept walking. Then it started to rain, and rained for almost the last hour of our walk to Eiffel tower. We finally made it there (5 miles later) and it had stopped raining, so we decided to go up it. That was amazing, but so crowded! I can't believe how many people were there! It took us so long just to get a ticket and then waiting in line for the elevator took a while too. We took the stairs for one section (the only section that the stairs were open for... it was still about 400 steps). We finally made it to the top, and it was gorgeous! And the tower also lit up when we were on it, so that was neat. The view was amazing! We could see everything and it was night, so everything was all lit up. Then we wanted to go down. That was a challenge. Everyone else wanted to as well. It took about an hour of waiting in line to get down. So there was a lot of trying to fight off the crowds. Then today came more crowd fighting. We got up early and beat the rush to Notre Dame, which was great. We got to see the church in peace. I can't believe how big it is! And how gorgeous! We didn't climb the tower though because it was raining, again. Then we went to the St. Chappelle, which again was gorgeous. I can't believe how many stained glass windows there are! And they are so detailed. We kinda beat the rush here. We had to wait about 15 min to go in, so not too bad. Then we went to the Orsay Museum. We were not so lucky there. We waited in line for almost 2 hours in the rain. So that really sucked. The museum was pretty cool though. I don't know much about the art that was there, but it was all gorgeous. And there was an exhibition on Lovis Corinth and those paintings were incredible. And there were so many of them. So even though we had to wait super long in the rain, it was worth it. Now we are just back at our hostel because it's still pouring rain. Hopefully it clears up soon because in a couple hours we are going to try and get on a walking tour of the Montmartre area.

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