Paris Holds the Key to My Heart!

WHAT A WEEKEND!! There aren't enough words to explain how my weekend went. Paris is an amazing place and it was an unforgettable weekend! I am going to try to fit in everything in 1 blog post, but no promises. I think the best way is to show pictures and explain every event and day piece by piece..so here we go!

Crepes-smelled SO good!

Friday morning I woke up and we headed to the train station around noon. We go there and it is almost like an airport. We had to go through security, customs, passport checking and so on. St. Pancras station is a really nice station. We boarded the train and off we were! I had a seat in the middle of the train car so it was 4 seats facing each other. This was fun but awkward leg room since I was sitting across from someone. Luckily all the students set pretty much together so I knew everyone I was sitting with. We took the "chunnel" which goes under water, however we were only underwater for about 25 minutes, we didn't even know we were underwater until all of a sudden we come out of a tunnel and see a French flag, then boom! We were in France! It was really funny because like 25 minutes into France I look at the window and see a Mazak branch! I wish I had time to take a picture of it to send to my dad and everyone at Mazak. I didn't even know they had a branch out there, especially in the middle of no where! Anyways, we got into Paris around 5:30pm and we go to our hotel around 6. Our hotel was in a good location, but more of the skyscraper part of the city. It was a little dirty in this area but all of the big things in Paris were only about a 10 minute cab or train ride away.

 Friday night we went on a boat cruise on the Seine River. Before the boat we got to see the Eiffel Tower. The first time ever seeing the Eiffel Tower and I got to see it at night. It was BEAUTIFUL! I got the chills and even teared up a little bit. It was breath taking.

Eiffel tower at night, breathtaking

While waiting for the boat, a few of us saw a crepe stand and we couldn't resist! As I was stuffing my face I hear someone call out my name..I figured it was someone in my group, but I turn and I see my neighbor from home, Dan Cannon! I was so surprised! I know that he is studying in Barcelona, but what are the chances we run into each other in front of the Eiffel Tower! It was crazy. The boat cruise was great, we saw so much stuff and it was all light up. The Eiffel Tower sparkles every beginning of the hour which is also very cool to see. We passed the French Parliament, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and we went under all of the bridges, including the one that goes over the tunnel where Princess Diana died, I just didn't know that until I looked it up the next day. After the boat cruise we headed back to the hotel. We decided not to go out because we didn't know the area, didn't speak the language, and we had to be up in 10 hours. We planned out our Saturday and called it a night.

Delicious-ness wrapped in a pancake

Saturday morning we had breakfast around 8:30, right before our bus tour. This bus tour was great and so much better than the one we took in London. We drove around all the main things in Paris. They let us off at Notre Dame and let us explore for 45 minutes. Like everything else, it was beautiful. We didn't climb to the top because we didn't know how much time it would take. Both the inside and outside had so much detail. The statues, gargoyles, and architecture on the outside was memorizing. What I thought was the best part

alter inside Notre Dame

Notre Dame

about Notre Dame was that from the outside, you can't see any of the color of the stain-glass windows, but as soon as you walk in the whole church is full of colors. The windows are gorgeous! Not something I expected from what I saw on the outside. It was very cool to be in Quasimodo's home =) I tried to see if any of the gargoyles represented the ones in the movie or is that was completely the creator's of Disney's imaginations. After Notre Dame we got on the bus for more of the tour. We saw so much I couldn't even begin to start the list! We saw the Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

 and the building where Napoleon's tomb is held. I guess when he first died, the British refused to give the corpse back . When they finally did a few years later, the body had been preserved by a chemical so he was still in tact, his hair and nails had grown. When they fully inspected the body, his male body part was cut off. Supposedly the last person who had it was a male in New Jersey, the same guy who they believe had part of Kennedy's brain. Anyways!! We went through the nicer shopping areas where Channel, Dior, Louis VuittonDuomo in Florence. I guess Paris just has it's own beauty in its own way. We took the elevator down to the 2nd "floor" but the next elevator was taking too long so we took the stairs all the way down to the ground, it was still a long way! My legs are still hurting me from that and all of the other walking we did. We got the first "floor" where there is an ice skating rink. This is a good idea, however I feel like things as famous as the Eiffel Tower should be preserved and seen for its beauty, not have an ice

at the top of the tower!

skating rink as an attraction. I also found it tacky that the DJ at the rink was blasting "Because I Got High" and other rap songs, I just figured is a famous landmark, classical and nice music should be playing. Once we got to the ground we grabbed some sandwiches on delicious baguettes and ate them in front of the tower. There are so many people walking around trying to sell stupid souvenirs it started to get annoying. After the tower we walked to the Louvre. It was about a mile walk so it wasn't too bad. It was nice to walk along the river. The Louvre was really nice, however it was HUGE! Our bus tour guide told us in order to see everything in the Louvre, and only see it for 30 seconds, you would have to go everyday for 8 months. For those of you who don't know, the Louvre used to be a residential palace that Kings kept adding additions on to it every year. It turned into an art museum when Louis XIV moved the capital to Versailles. We managed to see the tiny Mona Lisa. I just don't get why all of our art classes make it seem like it is really big, when it is only about 2ft by 2ft.

Me & the Mona Lisa

We spent about an hour there then we made our way back to Notre Dame to do some shopping, I picked up a few souvenirs. After we were done we headed back to the hotel to rest and freshen up for dinner. Lera was feeling sick so Maureen and I went to a little Italian (I know, I know..not French, but we were craving pasta and wine!) restaurant called La Dolce Vita, which I think is a beautiful name. It was delicious food and good wine, $24...something we are not used to! =)

After dinner we headed to Latin Quarters and of course our cab drive didn't know where that was. We found our way and finally made it to this bar called Latin Corner. I don't even know how to explain it slash I don't know how appropriate it is to talk about it! haha. Pretty much, it was a bar for girls, it was only girls in there. We got there at a perfect time too. About 20 minutes after being there, we were handed sparklers and a siren went off and the waiters started chanting things in French. We had no idea what was going on but next thing we knew, all of their clothes were off except their tight and small underwear, we did not complain. It was a lot of fun, just like a more revealing Hooters for girls. After a few hours we headed back to the hotel for some sleep before Versailles...I'll stop with this blog and blog later about Versailles, give your eyes a rest!

-Cheerio!