Weekend in Paris

I went to Paris this weekend and I absolutely fell in love with the city.

My roommate, Stephanie, and I arrived Thursday night on the Eurostar (we went through the chunnel). We were absolutely exhausted from the trip so we dropped off our stuff at our hotel which was about a five minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and we went for a midnight stroll. Walking around Paris at night put us in the best mood ever. The Eiffel Tower was lit up with bronze lights and we saw the light show there too. We fell in love and had to force ourselves to go back to the hotel so we could get a good night sleep for the next day.

Friday morning we woke up early to start our first day in Paris. We got chocolate croissants and hot chocolate for breakfast. Obviously, I was in heaven. I love any place where you can have chocolate for breakfast. Then we WALKED over to the Lourve, which took about an hour. We basically walked everywhere in Paris. I think we took the metro like once or twice. All the walking was pretty painful but it was totally worth it because I saw all of Paris. And the weather was amazing. It was perfect fall weather. The skies were so blue it looked like a Hollywood movie set because it was too perfect to be real. At the Lourve I saw the glass pyramids like in the DaVinci Code (haha). I also got to see the Mona Lisa, which was so so so cool. We probably spent three hours in the Lourve, had lunch there, and then walked over to Notre Dame. I could not believe that Notre Dame was built over 600 years ago. It was amazing. and I loved the gargoyles. I don't think it was as extravagant as Westminister Abbey but it had a presence that is unmatched by any other church I have been in. Then we walked down the Champs Elysee, which is the major shopping street. We walked all the way down to the Arc de Triomphe, which commemorates soldiers who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and has an unknown soldier from WWI buried underneath it.

Me trying to do the "I know something you don't know" Mona Lisa smile

DaVinci Code moment at the Lourve

Notre Dame

Then we went back to the hotel so we could get ready for Moulin Rouge!!! Our feet were killing us by then. We had insane blisters but we were determined to look cute for the Moulin Rouge and wore heels anyways :) I'm so glad I got to go to Moulin Rouge. It was so much fun. They served us dinner and wine before the show and had live music playing. The actual show was a mix of topless dancing and variety acts. The costumes were ridiculous and amazing. There was a woman that swam in a tank full of snakes, a ventriloquist, and guy who played the drums with a ping pong ball, some contortionists, and mini horses (which i loved...a mini horse would be an acceptable replacement for the pony you owe me, uncle chris). It was a great way to end one of the best days of my life.

In front of the Moulin Rouge

Saturday we started the day with chocolate croissants again :) and then headed out to Versialles. The Hall of Mirrors was amazing to walk through. I felt like I was part of Louis' court. The gardens were my favorite part. They were even larger than I expected and had dozens of fountains. It was another beautiful day and the water from the fountains made rainbows all over the gardens. We had the best mozarella and tomato sandwiches (which I could eat everyday) at Versialles. After lunch we went to the Musee d'Orsay, which houses all the impressionist artists. The museum itself is pretty cool too. It was a train station that they converted into a museum. I saw dozens of works by Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Degas, Cezanne, and Renior. Afterwards, we went to dinner in the Latin Quarter. On our walk home we stopped at the Eiffel Tower, which was lit up blue, and took the elevator to the top. It was so cool to see all the sights we had just seen all lit up at night. It was a great night to do it too because there was an orange moon, which made the view even more special.

Hall of Mirrors

Part of the gardens at Versailles

Fountain at Versailles complete with rainbow

Blue Eiffel Tower

Sunday was our last day in Paris. We only had a couple of hours before we had to catch our train back to london. So we had a lazy sunday morning breakfast of crepes, which were delicious. Then we headed over to the Hotel de Invalides (Napoleon's Tomb). I am really fascinated by the story of Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte so I really liked going there. And I'm glad we were able to squeeze it into our busy weekend.

I really can't describe how Paris made me feel. It was incredible. I still can't believe that I spent the weekend there and I am so happy and thankful that I was able to visit such amazing places. I miss you all and wish you could have been there with me.