I'm in love with the City of Love!

 BONJOUR!!!

You guys. I am completely in love with Paris! If I could describe Paris in one word, it would be MAGICAL. Don’t worry, I’m going to tell you all about it!

So this is going to be a marathon blog post.. I mean, we did Paris in less than 3 days… who does that? Haha we do. Feel free to skim this. It might take ya a while!    

So to get to Paris we got to take the Eurostar train! Otherwise known as the Chunnel. I’m not gonna lie, the thought of going in a train through the ocean kinda freaked me out. But it was such a quick ride! When we stepped off the train, I thought, Dorothy, we aren’t in Kansas anymore! I never realized how overwhelming it is to be in a place where there is NO English! Oh how great it was.

We headed to our hotel, which was Awesome by the way. (BEST breakfast ever) and we dropped off our bags then we were off to explore! We headed straight to the famous road in Paris called the Champs Elysees. It goes from the Louvre Museum up to the Arc de Triomphe. We walked along this road and explored all the fancy stores and restaurants! It was so much fun to get a taste of the French culture. And I mean literally taste! Baguette bread, pastries, and crepes are everywhere in Paris. So stinkin yummy.

Walking along the Champs Elysees led us to the Arc de Triomphe. Translation: Triumphant Arch! And boy is it triumphant. This is something that is sooo much cooler in person, seriously! Napoleon was so cool to build that thing for his army! We got to climb to the top! It was so neat and we got a great view of Paris. We thought it was amazing, but just WAIT till what we did next.

Next stop: The Eiffel Tower!!!! This is something I have wanted to see my entire life!! And let me tell ya, it exceeded every expectation I ever had. It is absolutely incredible! I couldn’t leave Paris without going to the very top. So I did! We had two options: take an elevator, or take the stairs. And heck yes did we choose the stairs! We began our climb having no idea how hard the climb really was! But it was so. totally. worth it! I have never seen a view like this in my life! I felt like I was in the sky. Which I pretty much was because that thing is so dang tall! Climbing the Eiffel Tower is definitely now on my list of top things I’ve done in my life. I haven’t actually thought about what the other ones are, but now that I climbed the Eiffel Tower, it’s for sure on that list.

Okay I absolutely LOVED what we did next! It started getting dark, and so with the whole group we hopped on a boat ride that went along the river! The way down the river the sun was setting which was so gorgeous! There was romantic French accordion music playing just like in the movies! It was fun to see all the people hanging out by the river and on Lovers Bridge. I now know why Paris is called the “city of love.” There were couples EVERYWHERE! But I don’t blame em, that place is down right romantic. So then, it got dark and our boat headed back. And I saw a sight that I will never forget in my life! The Eiffel Tower AT NIGHT. It is the most magical sight you will ever see. I was in complete awe! Every hour for five minutes they make the tower sparkle. And I mean really sparkle. Imagine the biggest most sparkly most stunning diamond you’ve ever seen in tower form, at night, and that’s what the Eiffel tower looked like. I LOVED IT!

The next morning we woke up early because well, how are you supposed to see all of Paris In three days time??? We started out by going to the Sainte-Chappelle. This place is known for having the most amazing stained glass in the world. And seeing it made it very obvious! It was so beautiful!!! No picture could ever do it justice. I can’t even imagine how much time it must have taken to make it all! It blew me away. After this we headed down the street to La Conciergerie. This is where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned. It was very interesting to learn about her, and to learn about what it was like to be a prisoner there. I love gaining so much knowledge!

So guess what? Walt Disney got pretty dang close in his design of Notre Dame. It looks just like the real thing! Notre Dame was sooooo cool!!! We got to take a tour and learn all about it. I feel extremely cool having seen all the gargoyles in real life. The real bells of the cathedral were ruined during the war so they had to get new ones but still, I couldn’t help picturing Quasimodo up there ringin those bells! It was pretty dang sweet.

Next we walked around the Latin Quarter. This is a fun little area with neat shops and delicious food. I don’t think I even knew what a crepe was until yesterday. People, these crepes were UNREAL. I have never experienced anything like it. I think I probably gained ten pounds in only crepes. But it was totally worth it.

So next we headed over to the Luxemburg Gardens! They were so pretty! It was so fun because the sun was out and it was so warm. Very different from London haha. We sat by the pond watching baby ducks. We stayed there for quite a while just soaking up the sun and the incredible gardens! We kept saying “okay should we go?” and then we’d all answer “yeah, lets go!” and then none of us would move. Haha it was just soooo nice.

Finally we said goodbye to Luxembourg and went to the Pantheon! This place was awesome! The crypto was HUGE. There are some way cool people buried down there! My favorite being Victor Hugo: author of  Les Miserables! What a stud. My feet started hurting SO bad at this point in the day. So inside the Pantheon I sat down on a bench, when all the sudden a bunch of French guys in a tourist group started swarming me and speaking in French and smiling at me all weirdly! Haha that was my cue to leave!

I bet you’re thinking our day is almost done huh. But ooooh no. Despite the fact my feet have never hurt worse in my life, We still had more places to see! Like, Napoleons tomb for instance? Oh yes. I saw it. And it was so cool! It was extremely dramatic and over the top. Which it totally should be for how awesome Napoleon was! There is a whole section in the Hotel de les Invalides dedicated to just his tomb! It was so neat.

Next we went to the gorgeous museum, the Musee d’Orsay. I loved this museum! I have gained such an appreciation for art. My favorite part of this museum was the Degas galleries. I love his dancer pieces! I’ve seen copies of them in my dance studio all growing up, and so it was sweet to see them in person! And they were ten million times prettier in person, too.

So that night we went to a nice French restaurant! Have you ever tried ordering from a menu that is all in FRENCH? Ha! If you ever do, I wish you the best of luck. We were all SO slap happy and just exhausted, that this was just hilarious to us. We laughed so hard! I’m sure all the French people in the restaurant thought we were such obnoxious Americans! Because well, we were! Haha. But somehow I ended up ordering Salmon. And it was fantastic! The best salmon I’ve ever tasted. And I love French restaurants because there is unlimited baguette bread! It is oh so tasty.

At this point, we could barely walk our feet hurt so bad! But we hurried ourselves home because Paris can get a little crazy at night! We encountered some interesting people. But we made it safely back to our hotel, thank goodness! Only when we got into the elevator, it wouldn’t work! And this just set us off back on our laughing fit. I look back now and realize it wasn’t even that funny, we were all just delirious!

Okay I promise I’m almost done! So today we started out with the Louvre. This is the most enormous museum! It is GIGANTIC! I think if you did every room in the whole museum you’d be there for four days straight. But seriously. Luckily our professors are wicked awesome and gave us a solid list of the best things to see there. Even with having a list it took us three hours! So worth it though.

After the Louvre we went to two more museums. The Orangerie, and the Musee Rodin. The Orangerie had Monet’s waterlilies which were soooo beautiful!! And the Musee Rodin had all of his famous sculptures! I never realized how talented sculptors are. These sculptures were incredible!

So after this museum, we were pretty much all museumed out so we headed to the Montmartre neighborhood! This is a really famous neighborhood in Paris. And I now know why! It was SO fun! Everything there just felt so FRENCH. Everywhere you walked you could hear French music playing and there were pastries, crepes, sorbet, and French goodies everywhere. This neighborhood is on a hill, and at the very top is the Sacre-Couer, a big beautiful church that overlooks Paris! It was gorgeous!!! I could have stayed there for hours. We ate tons in this neighborhood. And guess what?? I got to check something off my bucket list! And that is to try escargot! Yep that’s right, I ate a SNAIL. And it was surprisingly delicious! We also got THE yummiest churros ever, and of course we loaded up on French pastries.

The Arc de Triomphe! I tried to look Triumphant... 

But it's impossible when that thing is so massive! 

We began our climb of the Eiffel tower! We climbed higher...

and higher...

and 668 steps later...

we made it to the top! CHECK THAT OUT! 

Don't worry, i came down eventually! 

Wait. Is that really ME in front of the EIFFEL TOWER? 

Eiffel Tower baby! 

Look how artsy my photo is! That's for you Uncle Bob! 

For some reason, i just felt the need 

to do a Grande Jete in front of the Eiffel Tower...

So i did! 

Photo Credit: Madeleine Kmetzsch

The tower at night!!

Note: this photo does not do it justice AT ALL. 

Me in front of Notre Dame! 

Inside the Saint Chappelle. SO incredible!! 

Us at the Luxembourg Gardens! 

The Pantheon! 

just felt like sittin!

eating crepes! 

eating HEAVEN

At the Louvre! 

At the Musee Rodin! 

I think Rodin would be proud of 

our interpretation of his sculpture, don't you? 

This is a MOSH PIT to get to the Mona Lisa! 

We finally made it through the billions of people to the front! 

It looks rather small don't you think?

And look how blocked off they have it! 

See that on my fork? That's a SNAIL. 

And i ATE it! 

Now, after all that, I am back in London! 

Yes, I fell in Love with Paris this week. It was the most magical place I have ever been!! 

However, London is where my heart truly lies. 

It feels good to be back! 

Sorry this post was so long! 

Au Revoir!