We left London on Monday morning and took the Eurostar train through the Chunnel to PAREEE! We stayed at the Best Western St. Honoré which was barely a five minute walk to the Louvre.
Yes, I saw the Mona Lisa as well. No, I don't feel inclined to post pictures of it. A) You already know what it looks like. B) It's really not thaat impressive. It's mythology and mystery are muuch more interesting than the actual painting.
We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower and were amazed by the view as soon as we popped out of the ground. Who knew there's a little pond at the foot of the tower! We even saw a little beaver swimming around in the pond. Literally - who knew?! It was such a sweet, unexpected oasis. We purposely decided to go to the tower before sunset so that we could climb it as the sun was beginning to set. Thus, our trip up and down let us see the tower in light and dark - economic use of time! We decided to take as many stairs as we could because us Bogos like our athletic challenges. It actually wasn't that bad at all...UNTIL...my freaking contact fell out on the way up the stairs. As it got darker and colder, it got windier. I don't even know what happened, but all of a sudden I was blinking a lot, and I felt my contact shifting around. I actually caught it and tried to fix it to no avail. So - the Eiffel Tower was amazing except that I had to shut one eye to really feel like I could see anything. Here is a very short video I took of the tower with the sparkle lights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voxQYZad1Tg. By the time we were done at the tower, we still hadn't eaten dinner, and it had been a very long day. We foggily wandered around the area nearby still debating whether to find the Arc de Triomphe that night. In the end, we found a restaurant and went straight home to sleep. (p.s. Eva had extra contacts, so I was only blind-ish for that one night...Thank god)
We bought Paris museum passes that allow speedy entrance into museums and Versailles, so the next day we hopped on a train to Versailles. We were entertained by these kind gentlemen on the train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8blwCZt4ny8. It is so difficult to describe the immense splendor of the palace. It's more opulent than most castles in Disney movies.
We bought Paris museum passes that allow speedy entrance into museums and Versailles, so the next day we hopped on a train to Versailles. We were entertained by these kind gentlemen on the train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8blwCZt4ny8. It is so difficult to describe the immense splendor of the palace. It's more opulent than most castles in Disney movies.
We didn't want to spend too much time away from the city so we skipped the gardens this time. I guess it's good to leave something else for next time!
Upon our return from Versailles, we climbed to the Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, the side facing the Eiffel Tower was under construction. We had a nice time exploring and then walked down the Champs Elysees for lunch.
Upon our return from Versailles, we climbed to the Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, the side facing the Eiffel Tower was under construction. We had a nice time exploring and then walked down the Champs Elysees for lunch.
We strolled down the Champs Elysees to the Tuileries and the Louvre and found this fascinating couple on the way. My mom was really excited to finally find some legit, fashion-forward Parisians. They were American. Oops.
That night, we made our way up to Montmartre. It was really cute, but also a lot more touristy than I expected it to be (maybe that was naive of me). We went up to the Sacre Coeur which, lit up, looked like a floating palace on the hill.
Dad and Eva left the next morning because Eva had already sacrificed too much school for our European adventures. Mom and I remained in Paris to explore St. Germaine!
Mom and I also went to L'Orangerie which I liked better than the Louvre, if I'm being completely honest. It is known for its oval shaped rooms which display Monet's water lilies per his request. Despite the fact that the Cleveland Museum of Art has one of Monet's large water lilies paintings, this experience was absolutely stunning. As you can see from the picture below, everything but the paintings is pristine and white. It is extremely atmospheric, tranquil, and transfixing. There are two large oval rooms, each with 4 Monets on the walls covering the entire circumference of the rooms. They're even hung on curved frames to match the room - it's really beautiful.
We had purposely not purchased our train tickets to Amsterdam to give us flexibility, but when we checked on Wednesday, all but a few trains were sold out! Cue us frantically trying to book the train we wanted and our credit cards being denied over and over again. Our hotel sent us to an SNCF tourist/train office where a very kind lady named Beatrice booked our train tickets for us and solved all of our problems!
The next morning we got up and went directly to the train station to catch our train to Amsterdam (that's for another blog post on another day). Can I just say that the quality of pastry in Europe but Paris in particular enrages me!? Seriously! You can get better pastry in the Parisian train station than you can in Cleveland. Period. What's with that? Cleveland's gotta step up their game. (That said - I'm still really excited about Coquette Patisserie that just opened in University Circle and I have high hopes that it can fulfill my pastry craving once I'm back to the 216.)
Btw - this photo shows me EXTREMELY happy to have replaced my mascara after watching mine roll dramatically and irreversibly into the hotel toilet a couple days prior.
Well - I believe that is it for now. Paris was beautiful and amazing, though dirtier than London. Also, we were there during the infamous smog attack and were consistently surprised at how "foggy" it was. Oops.
I can't thank my family enough for coming out to visit me. As much as I love my program and the friends I have here, it was incredibly refreshing to have my family with me at this halfway point. Today is officially one month until I come home! I can't even believe it. This time has flown by sooooo quickly.
The next morning we got up and went directly to the train station to catch our train to Amsterdam (that's for another blog post on another day). Can I just say that the quality of pastry in Europe but Paris in particular enrages me!? Seriously! You can get better pastry in the Parisian train station than you can in Cleveland. Period. What's with that? Cleveland's gotta step up their game. (That said - I'm still really excited about Coquette Patisserie that just opened in University Circle and I have high hopes that it can fulfill my pastry craving once I'm back to the 216.)
Btw - this photo shows me EXTREMELY happy to have replaced my mascara after watching mine roll dramatically and irreversibly into the hotel toilet a couple days prior.
Well - I believe that is it for now. Paris was beautiful and amazing, though dirtier than London. Also, we were there during the infamous smog attack and were consistently surprised at how "foggy" it was. Oops.
I can't thank my family enough for coming out to visit me. As much as I love my program and the friends I have here, it was incredibly refreshing to have my family with me at this halfway point. Today is officially one month until I come home! I can't even believe it. This time has flown by sooooo quickly.