PARIS, FRANCE
Number of Days: 4
Number of crepes consumed: 5
Number of pastries consumed: 3
Number of Museums visited: 5
MONDAY
I’d say, that was a successfully blissful trip.
We woke up bright and early to catch the Eurostar (Chunnel) to get to France. It was instant culture shock once I stepped off the coach. I’ve been to different countries, but not one that doesn’t speak my language. We went outside of Paris first to Chartres. We had some time to kill, so our first purchase in France was a ticket for a carousel. Good purchase. The town of Chartres is so cute and French-y. We were there for the cathedral, and we were given a tour by Malcolm Miller. He knows his stuff. He didn’t even look at the stained glass windows while he explained their stories (he’s been talking about them for 52 years). We were given these handy little headsets that let us hear him whisper in his microphone. The cathedral was beautiful.
{Chartres Cathedral}
Back into Paris! By the time we got back, it was late, so we found a place to eat. I ordered French onion soup. How appropriate, right? The group then made our way over to the…EIFFLE TOWER. It was the same experience as Big Ben. When on the tube/Metro, you go underground someplace and somehow end up somewhere else. The first week in London, we emerged from the tube and Voila! Big Ben! We emerged from the Metro and Voila! The Eiffle Tower! We were too late to go up it, but we took lots of pictures and ate our first crepes, just like good tourists should. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be and more breathtaking!
{yes, this is real life!}
TUESDAY
After a restful night in our hotel, we got up for a trip out to Versailles. We toured the Château and it was big and pretty, as a palace should be. We saw the famous and original Hall of Mirrors and took the classic Myspace pict in the mirrors haha…This was the first time on my study abroad that I’ve been absolutely surrounded by tourists. We’ve been in London during the off-season, which makes for short lines and less people, but we were in France during spring break time. No me gusta. But I just had to suck it up and enjoy my time despite the masses. The gardens were pretty, too, and Annie and I got jacket potatoes and just sat and observed.
{girls at the gardens of Versailles}
When we got back, a group of us girls went to the Musée D’Orsay, probably my favorite museum in Paris. It’s a train station turned museum with one whole side with Impressionism (my fav!) and the middle with neat sculptures. After seeing my friends Van Gogh, Renoir, Pissaro, Monet and Manet and a few others, the girls walked along the Seine then up to the Panthéon, a son of the original Pantheon in Rome. Have I mentioned that I love architecture? On the way up was a street and statue dedicated to Sainte Michel. Yeah, that’s right. We also took advantage of some French shopping.
{Sainte Michel fountain and Michelle Ericksen}
{Musee D'Orsay}
We made our way back to the Orsay to meet up with people and eat dinner before heading off to a boat cruise along the Seine River. On the tube on the way there, we met a friendly French man, who was trying to teach us French. That didn’t really work. It was fun to see the sights from the river and go under the beautiful bridges (including the romantic good luck bridge). There was a runner that kept up with us for a while, it was pretty funny to me.
Oh boy oh boy I loved our next adventure. We waited in line for over an hour so that we could go UP INTO THE EIFFLE. While getting on the elevator, I glanced up between the cracks and could see all of the way up. And we went all of the way up. I’m telling you, great view, AMAZING experience. If anyone tells you that the Eiffle is overrated, poke them in their eyes and say “incroyoble!” I wanted to stay up there for forever.
When we did go down, and after another crepe, it was too late to take the Metro, so we had to take a taxi to the hotel. Golly, it was a perfect Paris day.
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