Advertisement
Sorry It took me so long to upload the pictures. I had an exam on Tuesday, my last day of classes on Wednesday and graduation from the international program at my school on Thursday. But anyway here is Paris!
*For those of you who love Anastasia (like I do) will get the title name.
Paris. The city of love. Well It is definitely a beautiful city with lots of love everywhere. I had a fun time in Paris seeing everything and just hanging out with the people I was with but I think Paris is a little overrated. It is such a tourist trap and everything is so expensive but I guess the city with the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa can be proud.
So we got there Wednesday night (the 18th). We met up with our friend, Nia, and her sister Le, who has been studying in Paris since September. We got settled into to her incredibly small apartment (only 9 sq m) and went to find some food since we hadn't eaten since lunch. We saw the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe while waiting for the bus to come. While we were walking
around looking for a place to eat we saw the Opera house. The wait at the cafes and restaurants was too long and because it was so late everything was closing soon so we ended up at a Quick Burger (Paris' version of McDonald's). It wasn't that bad and was actually a few euros cheaper than the european McDonald's prices.
The next day we went food shopping for our time there in the biggest grocery store I had been in since I have been in Europe. Then we decided to go to Montmarte (pronounced Monmarte) to get a good overview of the city. We decided to take the cable car up because the stairs did not look fun. While waiting in line I saw a huge group of students from Clemson, all decked out in orange and purple. It was so funny seeing how they stood out compared to the french people. Everything was ok until we got to the end of the ride, got out, and Lidia realized her wallet was gone. We all searched our purses frantically and looked around for who might have done it but at that point the guy was gone. We freaked out
and ran down the stairs looking for a pay phone so she could call and cancel her card. The pay phone wouldn't work so we got on a bus looking for somewhere with free Wifi. We finally found a McDonald's and used Nia's phone to skype her parents. Needless to say, this was not the first day in Paris we had imagined. We were all a little shaken up and were not really up for anymore sightseeing that day. The only other thing we saw during the day was the Moulin Rouge because it was only a 5 minute walk from where we were.
That night we met up with some friends of a friend for dinner. We went to a restaurant where all the food was steamed. It was an interesting experience. Apparently the chefs prepare all the food early in the day and then cook it when someone orders it. So towards the end of the day, when we went, they didn't have everything on the menu. After having to re-choose my dinner 3 times I finally got the tortellini. It wasn't that bad but all of our food looked like it had been microwaved. After that,
we went to a cafe for desert. Lidia and I decided not to get anything because it was 11 euros for an order of ice cream. At this point, we were still not used to the higher prices of Paris compared to Madrid. But I tried some of Nia's and it was very good.
On Friday, we had a busy schedule of things to see to make up from the day before. We walked all around the center of Paris looking at the different monuments. First we went to Notre Dame. It is so beautiful! We walked around the entire thing and at some of the places I kept replaying parts from Hunchback of Notre Dame in my head. Then we walked along the Seine and saw two different bridges where people put locks on them to symbolize their relationship. They put both names and it and anything else they want to say and then lock it on the bridge. It is so cute! Then we walked through the courtyard in front of the Louvre. We didn't go inside at all because we were planning on coming back but it never happened. Too many places not enough time. Then
we saw two of the three arcs of Paris, which line up so that if you look directly in the center of the first one (which is just outside the Louvre) you can see the Arc de Triomphe at Etolie.
At this point we were ready to see the Eiffel Tower since we had been in Paris for two days and had only seen the top of it through Le's window. We went back to Le's apartment and packed a picnic and went had dinner by the Eiffel Tower. It was so pretty!! I think it was designed to look good in any picture you take of it. We sat and had our picnic for a few hours and then went to go see the Statue of Liberty. I have never seen the one in New York (except at a distance from the Newark airport) but I do know that it is a lot more impressive than the one in Paris. By then it was getting dark so we walked a little ways back to the Eiffel so we could see it all lit up and sparkle (which it does for the first few minutes of every hour once
it is dark). It was soo pretty! After that we ended our day by visiting the Notre Dame again but this time at night. It was even more beautiful than during the day because it had a haunting presence. There we saw some street performers juggling fire and that only added to the effect.
The next day I went to a China town for the first time in my life. It was definitely a cool experience even though this China town was different than I was expecting. It was not as crowded or back alley like I thought it would be ( like I have heard the one in New York is). We had a delicious Vietnamese lunch ( our friend Nia is vietnamese so she ordered for us since we don't speak Vietnamese of French. Then I tried bubble tea for the first time. As some of you may know I am not much of a tea person but I have always wanted to try it. It was not very good but I liked the gummy-like bubbles at the bottom. Afterwards we met up with a friend who studied with us last semester at Oglethorpe, Steve, from Martinique.
He goes to school in Lille, which is in the north of France, but came to visit his sister and us for two days. We went back to Montmarte so we could actually see the view of city but this time we took the stairs. I don't know what it is with French people and stairs but by the top I was dying. We seriously climbed like 10 flights of stairs. Le's apartment only furthers my hypothesis because she was on the 6th floor with no elevator. My leg muscles definitely got stronger while in Paris.
That night we went to the Latin Quarter and had dinner at a cute little French restaurant. I ordered a cheese crepe, a steak with pepper sauce and ice cream. It was all so delicious and we were all stuffed afterwards. Then we went back to Notre Dame cause Steve had never seen it and the fire jugglers were back with a bigger show than the night before. The night was filled with good food, lots of laughs and lots of fun memories with friends.
The next day was our last full day in Paris. We were going to wake up early
and go wait by the Eiffel for the elevators to open up to ride up to the top on. It opened at 9:30 so we wanted to leave by 8:30 am. Well finally around 10:00 am we left Le's apartment and by the time we got the Eiffel the line was already too long to wait in. We were meeting Nia's sister for another picnic in a park so we had to go get food for that before the stores closed at one. So if I ever go back to Paris I definitely want to go back and go on top of the Eiffel Tower. Once we got food we all went to the park and met up with the guys from the Thursday before (the friends of a friend). We stayed at the park from about 3 in the afternoon til around 7 pm. Then we went back to Le's apartment, put on some nicer, cleanish clothes and went out to celebrate our last night in Paris. We went back to the Latin Quarter to a restaurant/bar we had seen the night before. The reason we wanted to come here is because they had what we referred to as
"sparkly" drinks. They decorated the drinks with all sorts of fruits and flowers and then topped it off with a sparkler.
Our flight back to Madrid was at 6:40 am the next morning so we were just planning on going go the airport the night before and spending the night there. We accidentally missed the last train going to the airport so we ended up having to take three different buses there. It took us around 2 hours to get to the airport but then only an hour and a half to get back to Madrid. Lidia and I were both so tired we slept basically the whole way to the airport and on the plane home. Once we got back to the apartment we slept the entire day. Then we had to study for a spanish oral exam the next day.
Overall, I had an amazing time in Paris but I think it was more the people that I was with instead of the actual city. Don't get me wrong Paris is a beautiful city but for me, it was just a little bit overrated.
The next week I have three exams and then I am finished
for the summer! Next Wednesday Nia is coming to Madrid to visit and then our next trip is Vienna!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 6; qc: 48; dbt: 0.05s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Dean
non-member comment
That was done by the artist Invader
There is a video called In Bed with Invader on Vimeo dot com that shows him putting it up in the middle of the night. It came down pretty quick, so you must have seen it the next day.