Thursday night I could barely sleep because I was so excited and anxious about going to Paris for the weekend. We had to catch the train from school at 5:38 a.m. and change trains once in order to get to St. Pancras International Rail Station, where we were to meet our tour guide by 7:15 a.m. We stopped at Starbucks once we got to the station and waited for the grocery store inside to open so that we could grab lunch for the train ride. We met our tour guide, Eric, and the rest of the students from other schools going on the tour. The group was all girls, except for our friend Sean, and the tour guide. He referred to us as "ladies... and Sean" all weekend. There was also a fairly large group from St. Mary's that went. After a quick orientation and ticket distribution, we made our way through security and border patrol (more stamps for my passport!). We then waited to board the train to Paris! The train ride was about 2 hours, and it made my ears pop. A lot. We were in the "chunnel," or the channel tunnel for a while (but you couldn't really tell) and emerged in France! Most of our group slept on the ride there, but I was too excited to sleep, and was having a nice conversation with a few of my friends. Once we arrived in Paris, there was a coach arranged to pick us up for an overall all city-tour, so we could get acquainted with the city and see a few of the most famous landmarks. We drove down the Avenue des Champs Elysee, the famous Arc de Triomphe traffic circle, la Place de la Concord, and then stopped at a viewpoint for la Tour Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower). We got to take some pictures and get a beautiful view of the tower and the city. We got back on the bus and drove past the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, and stopped at the Invalides for a glimmering picture of the gold dome, since it was such a nice day. We saw a few other landmarks before we made our way through some awful traffic to our hotel. We checked in and went to explore our rooms, which were interesting. The hotel was very modern looking and had very bright colors. The rooms were small, but comfortable, and we each got our own twin sized bed, which were SO comfortable. The bathroom was orange, and had a fake stone vinyl floor, and the shower had no door and the side of the tub was really tall. It was hard to get in and out of, even for me! After getting settled, we met our tour guide in the lobby once again and he showed us how to use the metro. It was actually a very easy system to use (much like D.C.) and I felt pretty confident navigating it by the end of the weekend. He took us to the Louvre (and showed us some things along the way) and helped us figure out our plans for the evening. So we got some macaroons from one of the shops in the museum (delicious, and famous apparently) and went in the the Sully wing. We mainly tried to see the major works, like the Mona Lisa. The Louvre was HUGE. It would have taken a full week to see everything in there! We spent a good few hours there and didn't even get through the one wing! It was just massive. After a while we were getting tired and hungry, so we got a few more pictures of the glass pyramids and headed back to Bercy, where we were staying. We had to hunt to find a good place to eat, that wasn't crazy busy (there was a Radiohead concert going on at the nearby arena) and eventually settled on a small Italian place. I had bruschetta, spaghetti, and a glass of wine, and it was delicious. I forgot that food could have flavor! Then we all went back to the hotel to sleep after a long day.
Saturday morning, we met for breakfast (which was interesting) and then set off for a walking tour of the City Island and Notre Dame. We crossed the bridge to the Island and went over to Notre Dame, where Eric told us some history about it and about some of the sculpture work. We went for a tour inside, and it was beautiful. The stain-glass windows were absolutely incredible. And we were allowed to take pictures! After that we did a small tour of the Latin quarter and then headed down to the Seine for a boat tour. We started off sitting on the open top, but it started raining and it was cold and windy, so we ended up going down into the enclosed area for most of the tour. It wasn't a very exciting tour, though I did get some good photos. When we returned, there was a slew of riot control policemen by the main square, which we heard was because there was supposed to be a demonstration that afternoon! We never saw anything, but it would have been cool to see. We went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by our tour guide called Le Bistro 30. They had a lunch deal where you could get a 3 course meal for 10 euro! I got French onion soup, steak with peppered sauce and a baked potato, and tiramisu. I also got Sangria, which was delicious. The whole meal was by far the best meal I have had in Europe thus far. It was AMAZING. So good. It was a nice experience and a cute little restaurant as well. After we ate, we explored a few of the tourist shops and I got my souvenir key chains, including a little Eiffel Tower (I had to). Then we tried to find le Jardin du Luxembourg, and it was raining hard at this point. We got a little lost, but eventually we were able to find it. And just when we got there, it stopped raining and the sun came out! It was beautiful. The park was quite large, and included a palace as well. We only saw a small portion of it though. We also saw a wedding dress photo shoot going on in the park, which was neat! As we were leaving, we walked by a giant pavilion filled with people who were all singing. I had no idea what they were singing or why, but it was cool. We then made our way to the train station, and when I tried to put my ticket in, I wasn't allowed through the turn-style! We are guessing that somehow my ticket got de-magnetized. Sooo I had to jump the turn-style (aka-walk through the exit). Oops. But then I bought a new ticket so I wouldn't have any more trouble. Once I got to the train, we headed to the stop "Charles de Gaulle Etoile," which stops right by the Arc de Triomphe. We had to make a few exchanges to get there, and I swear that one of the places, we walked a few city blocks to get to our next train! But when we finally emerged street side, the traffic in the circle was crazy! In fact, when an accident occurs on the circle, the insurance companies automatically split the cost, because there is no traffic rules when it comes to the round-about and there is no way to really know who was in the wrong! I thought this was interesting. Anyway, we figured out that you have to take a tunnel underground to the island where the Arc de Triomphe is (because you would probably die like Frogger if you tried to cross the traffic circle), but we decided to just take pictures from the edge of the road. We then took a stroll down the Champs Elysee and saw all of the huge designer chains, including many car companies, Louis Vuitton, H&M (which we went into), Sephora, Chanel, and my personal favorite, Abercrombie & Fitch. I say it's my favorite not because I like the store (I don't really), but because there was a legit GATE to the store, and a queue of a good 50+ people waiting to go inside. And all of the employees outside manning the gate were all dressed the same in A&F clothes... It was just ridiculous! Anyway, I made a purchase at H&M, so I can say I officially have a dress from Paris, and that I have shopped on the Champs Elysee (the bag even says so!). After a bit more browsing, we decided we were hungry for some real French crepes. We found the nearest Metro station and made our way to the Eiffel Tower area to find some. When we arrived, it was just starting to get dark. We found a little cafe that served fresh crepes, coffee, and pastries. I got a Nutella and banana crepe, and it was divine. Then we started to make our way towards the tower and the park, taking pictures the whole time. Once we got to the park in front of the tower, we walked around looking at the bear statues. There was one painted for each country (idk how many exactly). Then we found a good spot for some photos and for the light show that happens every hour. The light show was really cool! It looked like a giant flashing Christmas tree, and the twinkling got faster and faster until it was over. We then walked towards the tower to get some close ups. We decided to not go up in the tower, because we did not want to pay and it was rather cold to be waiting for the elevators. So we went back to Bercy to find dinner and a drink. On the train ride back, we were entertained by multiple street musicians, including one guy who played the accordion! I thought it was pretty cool and may have taken a video of it... :) Dinner was not as good as lunch, but it was decent. I had Quiche Lorraine and a salad, and it was pretty good. We got a drink at the bar next door before heading back to the hotel for the night.
On Sunday we got directions from Eric for our planned trip that day. Some of the girls went to Versailles, but we decided to stay in town so we could meet up with Eric later to do a walking tour of Montmatre and Sacre Couer. So we tried to go to the Catacombes, only to find out (after not being able to find them for a while) that they were closed until further notice, due to ventilation problems. We were upset and wet from the rain, and decided to go to the Musee d'Orsay instead. We did get to take a double decker TRAIN to get there though, which was cool. But once we got to the museum, there was a line out the door, winded up and down the street, and we decided it was not worth the wait. We decided to go then to the meeting point for the tour later (which was by the Moulin Rouge) and get lunch before the tour. I had a croque monsieur, which was alright, but I've heard that they can be better. We then hit up Starbucks for some warm beverages, since it was cold and wet. The workers found us interesting because we were American, and they couldn't spell our names when they asked for them! I ended up being Cassie instead of Kelsay, and from then on, she just handed the marker and the cup over for us to write our own names. I swear one of these days I'm just going to say my name is Rose to make it easy and uncomplicated! Eric then took us up the hill and toured through the town, which was really cool! It was an older part of town and had a very medieval feel to it, much like Tallinn, which I love. After some serious hill hiking, we finally made it up to the top where Sacre Couer church sits. The huge, white dome was incredible, and there was so much detail! We went inside (and unfortunately were not allowed to take pictures), which was just as impressive. There were big domes and arch ways, with art on the ceiling and windows at the top. If you paid, you could go up to the bell tower. There were also some incredible views of Paris from the top of the hill. It was unfortunate that it was such a rainy/dreary day, because I'm sure the pictures would have been much better. We then explored the area a big (there was a wine festival going on with loads of tents of vendors) and went to a creperie for one last crepe. I also tried some "vin chaud" or hot wine, which was AMAZING. Like I have a new favorite drink. It reminded me of wassail from madrigals, with the orange slice and all! But it was very good, and the lady selling it was speaking to me in French the whole time, not realizing I wasn't entirely sure what she was saying! (My French knowledge was just enough to get me by, luckily there was a guy in our group who was a little more fluent than I). After our crepes, we took the Funicular down the hill back to the main part of town. There were some gypsies down there trying to sell friendship bracelets by tying them to your wrists, and we witnessed one guy get dragged away by his friends before he could get cheated. We found the train station and went back to the hotel to meet up with the group to return to England. The train ride home we were all ridiculously exhausted. By the time we got back to London, it was almost 11:00 p.m. Then we discovered that the train we were planning to take was out of service due to construction on Sunday, so we had to alter our route. And long story short, it took an additional 40 or so minutes to return to campus, and we got back around 1:00 a.m.
Overall, it was a great trip and I really enjoyed it. It would have been nice if the weather was a bit more agreeable, but we still had a lot of fun. My friend Sean and I were dubbed the navigators of the trip, being the only ones who spoke French and had enough sense to read a map. Not to mention that even today, I'm still getting used to people speaking English, and have had to catch myself from speaking French to the caf workers at dinner... The metro stations (and some of the streets) smelled really bad, and the city was rather dirty overall. We all decided that as much as we loved Paris, we all missed London. It really is becoming home to me. :)
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