From the time I sent in my study
abroad papers to study in Rome the number one city I was most looking forward
to visiting was Paris and boy it didn’t disappoint. Even in the cold and rain I
was an amazing, intriguing city. The next time I visit Europe the first place I
will be visiting is Paris, France. I wish I was alive to see Paris in the olden
days, I cannot even imagine how beautiful it must have been.
Like this weekend, we had a
three-day weekend to travel. We left for Paris bright and early at 7 in the
morning so we were up by 430am to head to the airport and like I’ve said before
morning flights make me want to kick myself in the face. The trip got off to a
rocky start. I booked a 300-euro shuttle for all of 8 of us and it never ended
up showing up so we ended up having to take an hour cab ride into the city. We
got settled into our apartment, which was small, but right next to a metro stop
so not many complaints there. We got lunch quickly and headed to the Palace of
Versailles because it was 70 degrees and sunny and the next two days were
supposed to be shitty. It ended up only being a 40-minute train ride and the
town was beautiful. Versailles was a lot like the town of Windsor right outside
of London. We couldn’t have picked a better day to do; a lot of it is outside
so you want to have good weather. The inside of the palace was really cool, but
the gardens were amazing to see. In the back of the palace there are acres of
gardens, rivers and lakes. (My mother would have loved it) Through all the
gardens is Marie Antoinette’s private house. King Louis VIX built this for his
wife as a gift after they had their first child. History tells us that she was
very scandalous and had frequent male visitors so this house was perfect so her
husband wouldn’t find out. We headed back to our apartment after a full day in
Versailles. Everyone was exhausted from a long day so we just went back and
passed out.
That next day everyone was up early
and well rested. We first went to the Louvre. We got a couple metro stops away
so we could walk around the city a little bit. Leading up to the Louvre was
like the National Mall in dc. A French guy designs the national mall so that’s
why they have something that looks like it too. The Arch of Triomphe and the
Louvre are lined up with a bunch of stuff in between just like the Lincoln
Monument and the Capital. It was really cool to see the resemblance between the
two. We finally got up to the Louvre and it was really cool how it’s set up.
It’s a see through triangle that you take an escalator down into the lobby and
then the museum breaks off into three different exhibits. We saw the Mona Lisa,
which was a big let down. Its mad small and they put it in the biggest room
with like the biggest painting in the entire museum, poor planning on the
Louvre curator. I don’t now what all the fuss is about, it didn’t seem like
that cool of a painting to me. The Egyptian Sphinx was in one of the exhibits
too and that was really cool. After a couple hours in the Louvre we walked over
to the Champs Elysees. This is one of the busiest/ main areas in Paris. There
are a million of expensive stores on both sides of the street. All the way at
the top of the street is the Arc de Triomphe. You always see this Arc is
movies. It’s a huge monument right in the middle of a roundabout. It is the
biggest roundabout in France. That night we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to
see it all lit up. The Eiffel Tower might have been one of the coolest things I
have ever seen. It was ginormous. I found out that it was built for the World
Fair decades ago and the French hated it, which I thought was blasphemy. We
walked around that area for a bit, got dinner and called it a night; we still
had a lot to see on Sunday.
Sadly, Sunday was our last day in
Paris. Everyone picked out what they wanted to do for the last day. A couple of
us went to lunch in the Latin square then headed over to the Cathedral de Notre
Dame. Notre Dame was pretty cool because of the history behind it, but the best
part was probably seeing Allan Houston. For those of you that don’t know, Allan
Houston is a former New York Knick great. He was there taking a tour with his
father and three kids. My goal for Sunday was to just walk around and get lost.
Three days is not nearly enough time in the great city of Paris, I could have
spent a least two weeks. It’s tough to feel like you really experienced all a
place has to offer in such a short amount of time. Ended up shopping for a
little bit with Devon at the Champs Elysees. It ended up being a nice relaxing
day, nice to just enjoy Paris. Paris will definitely be one of the first cities
I come back to in Europe.
Next blog post will be of the next
two weeks, including our adventures in Amsterdam and Assisi. Less than a month
left in lovely Rome so were coming down to the wire. Hope all is well in the states
and can’t wait to see all my friends and family.
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