An American in Paris

Our journey started off very early Friday morning 4:15AM to be exact. We got up and headed to a nearby tube station to catch the bus, the very start of a LONG day of travel. The bus ride to the coast was about 2 hours, then we took a ferry over to France another 1.5 hours and finally a 3.5 hour drive to Paris. We finally arrived in Paris around 4:30 and headed straight for the river boat tour. It was very pretty all the big sights lit up and the Eiffel Tour was gorgeous when it sparkled :) Then we did a little drive around the city on the bus seeing where all the big sights were located. Finally we got to our hotel and went out to find something to eat. We walked down the street and decided on this tiny Italian Pizza Place and man was it delicious, then we went out for a drink. It was pretty low key first night and we were all exhausted!

Saturday we were up early for the tour which began at Basilique du Sacré-Cœur which is seated at the top of the Mountmare. You climb up about 200 steps to the top to see this fantastic view of Paris (See pics below!). The church is stunning, like I was so intrigued by it when we entered. Maybe it's the Catholic faith in me but I couldn't help but spend a bit of time praying in there. We then walked out and around to wear all the local artists come to sell their work. It was interesting to see all the interpretations of the Parisian sights. From there we walked down to see some of the last remaining windmills in Paris and then ended up at 'the' Moulin Rouge. I guess I didn't know that it meant red windmill in French, okay maybe stupid, but I get the connection now haha From there we headed near Notre Dame but not before stopping and having my first crepe in Paris woo woo it was pretty good. Notre Dame was probably my favorite sight in Paris. Everything is amazing from the outside carvings of religious figures and a few gargoyles to the most incredible stained glass windows of the inside and majestic altar. Honestly I was breathless. I think I took a picture of like every stained glass window, I couldn't believe how detailed they were. Loved Loved Loved it all!
After Notre Dame we basically walked all down along the river taking in each major sight we could walking around some of the beautiful bridges. One I really enjoyed was the "love bridge" i guess you could call it. Couples come there and carve their initials onto a padlock and then lock it to the bridge then throw the key in the river as a sign of their love locked forever. It was so cool how many locks there were, some were like professionally engraved it was crazy. We passed the Place de Concorde with the big ferris wheel and egyptian steeple, placed there as a gift. This stands right on top of where so many famous Frenchmen and women were executed by the guillotine. There are pretty gardens behind the ferris wheel and then you hit the Louvre.
Finally we made it to the major structure everyone knows when they think Paris... The Eiffel Tower. Wow is the thing HUGE!!!!!!! I guess I never thought it would be as tall and massive as it is. I couldn't believe it! We had fun walking around it and taking large amounts of pictures by it (see below). After that we walked to the Champs de Elysees where all the major shopping is and at the end is the Arc de Triomphe! I guess I didn't think about it too much from pictures I had seen before but the thing is literally in the middle of a dangerous traffic zone, the french are AWFUL drivers in those roundabout things. It is SCARY, much kinder than London drivers though who will not hesitate to run you over. We walked down the Champs de Elysees back towards our hotel to head to dinner. We had a good dinner and then headed back to the hotel. I was exhausted yet again from all the walking and went straight to bed! 

The next morning we were up again to head to the Louvre our last stop on the trip! I was able to see the lovely Mona Lisa (which is much smaller than you'd think!), then the Venus de Milo, and Hammurabi's Laws which I was so thrilled to see since I had studied them last semester in my Ancient Egypt and Near East class. It may be the history geek in me but it is something I truly look forward to, seeing an item I have read about or studied and wrote papers on in school. It's like this gratifying experience I can't even explain. The Louvre was incredibly huge, there was no way I could experience all it had to offer in just 3 hours so we prioritized and I hope someday I can go back to actually stop and admire some of the items out of thousands that they have on display. It's so overwhelming! After that we were off back on the long journey to London. Paris was beautiful in its own way, but I would love to go back in the spring/summer when the gardens are blooming and the trees are green, I am sure it is even more magical then :)


Thursday I am off to Munich to meet up with Trevs! Very excited to see Germany for the first time, don't worry this time I have printed off phrases and useful german words for tourists so I can actually read a menu there and communicate a bit... or at least attempt haha


Enjoy the pictures! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week back in the States or to my friends abroad hope you are enjoying your experiences as well! Miss you all!


xoxoxoxo from London

                         This is for all my dance ladies :) sadly my arabesque                                                     is not as good as it used to be haha

                                      Can you tell the churches & the stained glass                                                                  windows were my fav yet???

        Had to take a picture of Thomas Jefferson, typical American I know

                 This is for my lovely friend Danica a classy restaurant                                                      on the most expensive street in Paris :)