Oooh La La, Paris

This weekend was honestly the best trip I have ever taken! Thursday evening Tayler, Rachel and I left for Paris. Tayler and I were on the same train so we bought a lovely little French feast of cheese and bread for the journey. The Thayls high speed train had us there in an hour and a half, so we had the whole rest of the evening. We found out hostel really easily---we stayed in Montmatre, the famous village where artists like Degas, Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh and so many others lived. It is also where the Moulin Rouge is at which was the first thing we went to go see!

Friday morning we got up to find that the weather SUCKED. It was raining, and apparently when it rains in Paris it POURS in Paris. But we had already planned on just doing museums that day so it worked out well that we were indoors. First we went to the isle de Citie which is the oldest part of Paris, and is where Notre Dame is. We just looked at the outside before walking across the Seine to the Louvre. The museum is absolutely phenomenal. Just the building itself is so decadent and old world that there is nothing that isnt interesting to look at. We were there for 3 hours and got to see all the good stuff...Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rock. In all the time we were there though we only got to see the galleries of Italian and French painters...the museum is just SO massive that it was impossible to see any more. After some lunch we went to the Musee d'Orsay, which is the impressionism museum. The building is an old central train station so the layout of the exhibits were very strange but really neat. There was so much amazing art there...Degas, Seurat, Van Gough, Monet, Manet, Toulousse-Latrec and tons more. After the museums we really needed to head back to the hostel to dry off and rest for a while. On the way back we stopped back at Notre Dame so that we could go inside...it was absolutely overwhelming. The church was so beautiful and there was a service going on inside which just really made the experience worth while. I wish we had been able to go to the top of the tower or see the crypt but we got there JUST after they both closed :( On the way back to the hostel, we found this fresh food market in Montmatre, so we picked up a huge loaf of bread, cheese, roasted potatoes, and a small roast chicken and had a wonderful french feast in our hostel room all for like 15 euro! Deeeeeliiicious! (Below: pictures of Notre Dame, front and back and of the Louvre)




On Saturday we took the train out to Versailles. Luckily the weather was much better so we were really able to enjoy it. The palace is so decadent and beautiful. Unfortunately they were doing reconstruction on alot of the building so we were only able to see the royal apartments, but it was still really cool. We also took a tram around the gardens and out to Marie Antoinettes "Petite Trianon" which was baisically her little escape from the main palace. The grounds are so expansive and there was so much more to see, but it would have taken much more than the 1/2 day that we spent there! On our way back we stopped at the Eiffel Tower...it was so cool being underneath it! We started to wait in line to buy tickets to get to the top, but the line was so ridiculously long and we had plans for 7:00 so we had to get out of line. We went and got some crepes, mine was chocolate with bannana yummo! Then at 7 we did something we had been looking forward to the whole time...a bike tour of Paris. It was AMAZING. The first 3 hours we biked around the city like any Parisian would. I was definitley wobbly when i first got on...it has been years since i rode a bike, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!!! It is just such a different way to see a city, and you really felt like you were a part of it. We bike near Notre Dame, passed the Arc du Triumph, biked THROUGH THE LOUVRE COURTYARD (with the pyramid etc...that was my favorite part), went to "the best glacier (ice cream) in Paris", saw the Place de Concorde (where everyone was killed during the French Revolution). Plus just all the cool stuff we passed along the way. The last hour was a boat tour on the Seine with free wine. It was FREEZING, but so cool! Just another way to look at the city and all the monuments. It was the most fun I think I have ever had in a city...totally worth it. We didnt get done with the tour until after midnight so we just called it a night. (Below: Me at Versailles, a garden at Versailles, Le Petit Trianon, garden at Le Petit Trianon)




On Sunday, I was scheduled to leave at 2:30, but there was still so much more to do! So i got my ticket changed...but all that was left was first class. It only cost me ten euro (and i got a free meal and wine on the way home!). So we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to go to the top. We waited in line for a HOUR just to get our TICKET. Then it was another hour to get to the top, see the view and come back down. But it was definitley worth the wait. Not only was it a beautiful view, but i dont feel like my trip would have been complete without it. Then we went to see the Arc du Triumph. We only biked past it from far away the night before, so we went and look at it up close this time. Then we walked down the Avenue Champs d'Elysee---the fashion center of Paris. We had a lovely little lunch at a cafe...some cheese, wine and sandwiches, before doing a little bit of shopping ( i mean, come on...it's PARIS i had to do it ). After an exhausting day....i finally got the train back to Brussels. But I really sad to leave...i mean i was excited for Paris but i didnt think i would fall in love with it the way that i did. It is definitely somewhere i want to go back to because there was SO much we didnt get to do. It was overall just a really satisfying trip though...getting to see and do so much that I have wanted to do my whole life all in three days! YAY ME!

This week we take our first class trip. We leave on Wednesday and come back Sunday and are going to The Hague, Leiden, and Aachen to do some WWII tours that i am REALLY excited about. So i wont be here for a while, but send me emails etc and I promise I will get back!!! I also have alot more pictures of Paris, but my camera died half way through so i am waiting for the other girls to send me the pictures they took for me!

P.S....my parents have discovered that i actually get mail relatively quickly! So if anyone is bored.... :) :)
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL!