Paris - The City of Love...and bread :)

We arrived in Paris at 6 in the morning after on and off sleep all night since midnight. Though we were tired we were really excited to be in Paris. The first thing we did was find our hotel to drop our luggage off. We couldn't officially check in until after 11, so we grabbed our cameras and went to watch the sunrise over the Eiffel Tower. We were already up, so why not? We set out and saw many pretty buildings and parks on the way. By the time we got to the Eiffel Tower, we were starving. We had to search a little bit for a place that was open so early but we finally found one. We had a delicious traditional French breakfast of croissants, bagette with jam, coffee and orange juice. It was wonderful and hit the spot. While eating we got to watch all the children walking to the nearby school. They were really cute.

We leisurely walked back to our hotel and explored the streets of Paris on the way. This took a few hours of constant walking and by the time we reached the hotel all our feet were killing us. They were still tired from the day before after exploring all of Amsterdam. Once back, we all showered and got ready for the day. By then it was early afternoon. We walked to the corner grocery store and bought some cheese, bread, and wine. We brought then back to our room and had a nice little picnic on the bed. Afterwards we walked to the Arc de Triumph. The police and army were out in force. There were protesters gathered waving the Soviet flag and some of the sidewalks were blocked off. It was only slightly unnerving. I just ignored it for the most part. I never felt unsafe at all. The Arc right now has a huge French flag hanging in the middle and it was beautiful when the wind hit it. From the Arc we walked back to the Eiffel Tower (going a different route) because the lighting was not good when we went in the morning. I'm going to use that as the reason and not the real one of we didn't look pretty enough for photos after being on a bus for 10 hours overnight.

 

 

at the top!



It was at the Eiffel Tower that I realized how perfect Paris and I are for each other. There are soooo many songs about Paris and so many movie scenes that take place in Paris! I started with a few songs from Anastasia. This time we climbed the tower, and I mean climb. We took the stairs and paid 4 euros less (that's another crepe for my tummy :) ) than if we took the elevator. We climbed 669 steps to the second floor (the top was under construction). The view was amazing! We could see all of Paris. We got some great photos. From the Eiffel Tower we went to the Louvre. It's free for anyone under 26 after 6 pm. I saw the Mona Lisa and many other famous paintings. I think the building is just as amazing as the art it houses. One of my favorite exhibitions was Napoleon's apartments. It's a section of the palace that was keep original. It was very fancy (or overkill depending on who you're talking too) It only increased my opinion that Napoleon had an insecurity of some kind (short man complex? maybe?) The Louvre is HUGE and there was no way we could see all of it in 4 hours so we had to pick and choose. We saw all the important pieces though. At 10 o'clock we left the Louvre and headed back to our hotel. We were exhausted and went right to bed.

Louvre

 

Saturday we were up and going by 9 am. We had another French breakfast provided by our hotel. We started off the day visiting Moulin Rouge. I was disappointed to find out that there is actually no elephant as shown in the movie. After singing/recreating a few songs from the movie (unfortunately I was alone in this endeavor), we went down to Saint Michael's Fountain. Next came Notre Dame. It was beautiful inside and I had another movie with theme songs to keep me company: the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I may or may not have imagined myself as Esmeralda. Around the Notre Dame are tons of shops that we popped in and out of. Shopping of course requires a lot of energy and afterwards we needed to refuel so we shared a Croque Monsieur (local ham and cheese sandwich). Next came crepes with Nutella! They were delicious! I have never tasted a crepe so good. We walked the Seine and came across Lover's Bridge. This is a chain-link bridge where lovers have left padlocks on and then they throw the key into the water to symbolize their love. There are hundreds of locks on this bridge. Some are engraved with names and dates while others are tagged with a Sharpie and some are just blank. It was really cool to see.
 

Lover's Bridge



It Sparkles!

Keeping with are shopping theme we walked to Champs Élysee. A very long street just full of shops. There was even a Disney store :) We had another crepe for dinner. We decided to end our day at the Eiffel Tower since it is where we started our trip (it was our last night together). Plus, at night on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles! We made it just in time to see! It was beautiful! We turned in for the night after that. Michelle had a very early flight the next morning with Jordan and I not long behind.

Overall it was a fantastic trip! I realize that it didn't really matter where we went, the best part of it was that we were together. After basically living together for the last three years, the five month absence was our longest time apart. I'm so glad we were able to make this trip work. Amsterdam and Paris are gorgeous cities with so much to see and I explored them with two of my favorite people :) It was the adventure of a lifetime and I will never forget all the fun we had together. Thanks for the laughs girls! :)