Last weekend I had an extra day off from class so my friend Marguerite and I went to Paris. It was absolutely amazing. We flew in Friday right after class and were in France by 5:30. Right when we got there we encountered a little mishap with the trains into the city. They first told us we needed to leave and take the buses because there was suspicious activity, but then once on the other site of the turn styles the train showed up and all the Parisians ran through the gates. Marguerite and I had really no choice but to follow and jumped on the train. Needless to say it was PACKED…but no need to worry mom, we held tight onto our money and watched our back for pick pockets. Finally we arrived into the city. We walked down Rivoli and BAM we were standing right in front of the Louvre. Now I know that people told me it was big, but I never imagined it would be so huge…this was a reoccurring thing with everything we saw! After starring at Louvre for quite a bit we walked along the Seine until we found a cute café for dinner. I had my first croq monsieur in France and it was delicious. We were bummed, however, to later find out that the water we ordered was 4 Euros! Oh well!
That night we took the train to La Defense area where we had booked our hotel. Unfortunately the map of Paris we purchased ended right before our hotel street so we asked a young man how to get there. Turns out that Sedi lived right next store to our hotel. It was a fun walk because I got to practice my French a bit and he his English because neither of us were fluent in each other’s language.
Our hotel turned out to be pretty nice-it even had a microwave! The next morning we got up early and made oatmeal for breakfast. Then we hauled butt to the Eiffel Tower. It was great because we got there right around opening and because we wanted to climb up it we were almost first in that line! The climb itself was easy, mom and dad had prepared me well from our other tower climbs. It was so amazing when we got up to the top! It was so beautiful and although it was hazy you could still see so much of the city. After the Tower we walked through the Champ de Mars. It was so beautiful because all the tulips were in bloom. It was perfect springtime weather too! After stopping off at a couple more sights we picked up lunch outside a super marche and ate in the park near the Louvre. We had real baguette sandwiches with strawberries and 90 Eurocent wine.
That afternoon we saw Saint Chappell, the church that has tons on stained glass and Cathedral de Notre Dame. Both churches were amazing, inside and out. We then walked through the Halle neighborhood and all the way down to the Latin Quarter…with some shopping in-between of course.
That night we ate dinner at a Japanese place and I ate sushi…I know sushi in Paris? But I never get it in Denmark so it was fantastic. That night we has crepes and wine for dessert while sitting by a nearby fountain. Sadly this was one of about two places in Paris that there is an open container law so a cop had to ask up to leave! Oops!
Sunday was our museum day and we started at the Louvre. While I was very impressed with its size, it was also soooo overwhelming. Obviously you would need massive amounts of time to see everything, so we only look at the French painters and then the typical tourist pieces like the Mona Lisa and Venus. (I could not find Virgin on the Rocks, Dad!) After the Louvre we needed a museum break so we walked around for a bit and stumbled across a Starbucks (hadn’t seen one in months) and then the Opera House. The Opera was amazing! The inside was so beautiful and everything was in gold. It was definitely a highlight. I only wish I could see a performance there some day! From the opera we strolled along the Seine until we reached the muse d’orsay. We had lunch outside (another croq monsieur for me!) and then waited in line for a bit. The inside of the museum was amazing. It is a converted train station so the building itself was really neat. The paintings, however, were the icing on the cake. If you like impressionism at all you NEED to go there. It was so fun to see all the paintings we had studied in Madame Plante’s class in high school.
That afternoon we were shopping a bit more but the sky began to grow really overcast. We ended up ducking into a café just in time to witness a really big, but short lived, thunderstorm. It was pretty cool because we could see the storm over the river from our table (I made sure we were far back enough that I wasn’t too scared though!) After the storm we walked the city a bit more just to be outside. We stumbled across a great little bar for dinner that had happy hour. We ended up sitting and talking for about 3 hours. After dinner we walked (although the guy at the bar said “that’s too far!�) to the Louvre to see it at night. While the pyramid was slightly disappointing the actual building was really cool. From there we walked towards the Eiffel Tower to see it lit, and you know what? It sparkles!!! It was sooooo cool. We got home pretty late that night but it was totally worth it.
Our last day, Monday, we took the train to Sacre Coeur, a church that over looks the city. We went inside and then walked around that area of town for quite a while. There were really cheap shops and food which was great. After sunbathing for a few hours in the grass we grabbed some food at a grocery store and headed back to the airport. The trains at Gare du Nord were way more confusing and we had a nice French women explain to us, in French (go me), which train would be ours. We got to the airport way early so we had exit row seats, which was great, but our plane was delayed so we got back to Copenhagen pretty late.
Overall it was a really great trip and I am really happy I decided to splurge and do it! Not much else is new except that I was sick this morning when I woke up so I didn’t go to class. I’m feeling much better now though, which is good because this weekend we are going to go to Tivoli and the big football match. I can’t believe there are only three weeks left.
Love and miss you all!