Paris, France

After an amazing start to our trip, it was time to travel from London to Paris. We made our way to the train station, and hopped on the Eurostar train. Seeing the countryside was stunning, but most of the time you could only see the walls of the tunnel. When we arrived in Paris, we checked to the Generator hostel, walked to the metro and we were off to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. The inside was stunning, as you could imagine. We then got some free time to explore the latin quarter and get some lunch. We ended up in a restaurant with absolutely hilarious. One of the servers nicknames was moose, and he had a hand gesture to go with it and everything. This was also our first opportunity to speak french, which was interesting when we tried to ask for the price of the bread.  With zero time to spare, we payed and rushed back to the group. Adam, out tour director, then led us to a cruise on the Seine River. This was our first real sight of the incredible Eiffel Tower! Adam was laughing at our gitty excitement and all the selfies we were taking. It was especially interesting since we were there at the end of the flooding that you may have seen on the news. Afterwords, a group of us went on our own. We walked the entire street of the Champs Elyees, the most expensive street with famous high end stores which led up to the Arc De Triomphe. The arc was just as big and beautiful as I expected. We even got to sit on it and relax as the sun set.

Notre Dame

Seine River Cruise

Champs - Elysees and Arc De Triomphe

The second day of Paris started off the best way you could imagine...a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The views were so breathtaking I could hardly believe what I was experiencing. My life long dream...became a reality. The group moved on to tour the Louvre. We had about 2 hours, which was way to much time for us as we new what we wanted to see. We got to see the famous Mona Lisa, the Winged Lady, and the armless lady. While we were there, we were out on a balcony, with lots of other people, observing and taking pictures. A worker walked by and said "stupid Americans". Let's just say that didn't end very well. Finally, we got on a bus and toured every inch of the city. We then split off from the group once again, but all the people I went with were to become the 6 best friends I would spend the rest of the trip with. We went and saw the following: Les Marias (where we got the best street crepes in all of existence), an old church where a concert was being held, Place des Voges, Bastille, Luxemburg gardens (my favorite place in Paris), and Saint Germain Des Pres. During all of this, we became delirious and were skipping, singing and being weird all over the city. Obviously, we wanted to end the day like we started it, at the Eiffel Tower. You can't go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower at night. That night there was a Euro Cup game playing. The area surrounding the tower was converted into a fan zone where thousands of people came to watch and go crazy over the game. People were changing, singing, sitting half out of moving cars while waving flags around, horns were being honked from all around celebrating the game that had just finished. We found a spot on the bridge next to the tower and the Eiffel Tower did more than just sparkle and light up. In honor of the Eurocup, the tower sparkled in red, and took turns lighting up in the colors of each team playing in the Eurocup this year. It was quite a unique experience, and it was the most stunning thing I had ever seen. Needless to say...I. Loved. This. Day.

Eiffel Tower

Louvre 

Luxembourg Gardens

Before I knew it, it was the final day in Paris. We started it off with a train ride to the palace of Versailles. If you don't know, the palace  is located outside of Paris in the middle of a forest. Think lush, green, and imagine a unique town with 18 and 19 century architecture. The palace is filled with stunning ceilings, hidden rooms, the hall of mirrors, and stunningly decorating rooms. The gardens seem to be never ending with tons of walkways through the trees, fountains, plants, sculptures, and even a lake with a waterfall. For lunch we went to an authentic french bakery where I got to really put what little french I know into practice as they didn't speak any English what so ever. We then made our way back to Paris, and waited in line for 2 hours to get into the Catacombs. We got to explore its creepy hallways and crazy past. I was shocked with how many bones and people are in there...its almost unbelievable. We then met up with others at Monte Marte, a stunning church on the top of a hill with a view of Pairs. We got more crepes, walked around the picturesque streets at sunset, saw Moulin Rouge, then went back to the hostel. The hostel had a rooftop where we watched the sunset and soaking in our last views of Paris.

Palace of Versailles 

Paris Catacombes

Montemartre

Moulin Rouge

Overall, Paris was very unique. The architecture, gardens, palaces, museums, views and churches were breathtaking. The were only a few things that I did not like. One of those was the graffiti, and the trash that was all over the city. The other is the stereotype of the french disliking American's which was shown multiple times, I had some very wonderful and nice encounters, but had my fair share of uncomfortable ones as well. Paris is a place I recommend everyone go, but I promise, there are more unique and more fascinating places within France to go as well, some of which I will cover in a later post.

"Paris was a universe whole and entire unto herself, hollowed and fashioned by history; so she seemed in this age of Napoleon III with her towering buildings, her massive cathedrals, her grand boulevards and ancient winding medieval streets - as vast and indestructible as nature itself." - Anne Rice