Paris Weekend

On Friday afternoon, I had the amazing opportunity to hop on a train across the eastern countryside of this country, under the English channel and into France, eventually ending up in Paris. It has been a dream of mine since I was about eight years old (when I read Eloise in Paris for the first time) to go to this city, so it was kind of a pinch-me moment.

We ended up getting there in the late afternoon, and after settling into our hotel in the northern part of the city, our group met up to go on a sunset sightseeing cruise on the Seine. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my life, seeing everything at sunset, from the river. It gives you such a different perspective on everything, and it was so unreal to me to be seeing things like the Eiffel Tower, the Musee D'Orsay and Notre Dame in real life. Plus the sunset made everything look even cooler than it already did. We got some amazing pictures of some of the most famous sights, and the sun honestly didn't even set fully until after 10pm, which was wild.

 After the cruise, it was pretty late, so we ate dinner in a small Italian cafe nearby our hotel. We had to be up and ready at 9 the next morning, for more sightseeing. We got on a bus this time, which is a great way to see any city, because you're above the cars and have a good view of everything. We saw all of the most famous buildings in the city. The opera house, the national hospital, the obelisk, the seat of the French parliament, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysées, the Arc de Triomph, Notre Dame, etc etc. We got to get out and take pictures at a couple of the stops, but mostly we were just rolling through the city. It was amazing to me how wide the streets are in Paris, and how beautiful and uniform the architecture is throughout the city. It's so different from London, but both of them are beautiful in their own ways.

 When our sightseeing tour was over, we had the rest of the day free. We also had tickets into the Louvre included in our trip, so we could decide whether to use them on Saturday or Sunday. My roommate Hannah and I decided to go into the Louvre on Saturday, and we actually just ended up spending the day in and around the Louvre, which has a mall basically attached to it and the Jardin de Tuileries right next door. The amount of things in the Louvre is utterly overwhelming. We, of course, headed straight for La Jaconde, as Mona Lisa herself is called in French, and the crowds in and around her little room were insane. Seeing that painting up close was one of the weirdest things, because you've seen it in pictures all your life, but when its really right there in front of you, you kind of have to keep reminding yourself that its real. Its also a lot smaller in real life. After seeing that, I spent the next couple of hours wandering around the museum by myself, seeing whatever it was that struck my fancy. Some Greek and Roman statues, some French Renaissance Painters, some furniture of Louis XIV... everything was amazing and so interesting, but even though I spent nearly three hours walking around, I still don't feel like I saw even a third of what is in the museum. It was an incredible experience, though.

our new bff Mona!!!

Stumbled upon the Venus de Milo? Wild.

this one was for you mom! pink!

my favorite ceiling in the museum

 We spent the rest of the day after the Louvre shopping, drinking coffee, and having a little picnic (of McDonalds) in the Jardin next to the museum. We also rode the mètro by ourselves, which is always scary the first time!

The next day was completely free, so we slept in a bit, getting the day started at about 10. We only had until 4pm to explore, so we decided to hit the most famous shopping street in Paris, the Champs Elysèes. That day, there were farmers and artisan food and wine companies from all over the country set up along the avenue in a sort of farmer's market, so it was closed to everyone but pedestrians. Which means that we got to walk down the middle of the road, approaching the Arc de Triomphe, with no cars around. It was crazy! We went shopping in a bunch of different stores, including the flagship Ladurée macaron store, Longchamp, the three story Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Zara, Sephora, H&M, and several cafés. This took up most of the day, and by the time we had seen everything we wanted to see on this road, it was time to start heading back to the hotel.

Then we had to get on a train and go away :( It was such a short time in the city, but I really felt like I got to see and experience a lot, and I got to use my little bit of French quite a few times! I really want to go back to Paris one day soon, but I'm so thankful for the short time I got to spend there!

Caroline