This past weekend, Alyssa, Bridget and I went to Paris!!! I can't even describe what it was like there, it was so magical and amazing. I now completely understand how people can be so captivated and in love with Paris. I now fit in that category as well. We had two full days there and we jam packed our days there.
We left Barcelona Thursday, March 27, we had a 8:55pm flight. Our flight was delayed 40 minutes so instead of landing around 11:00, we landed at almost 11:30. By the time we were off the plane, our plans of getting to our hostel were all messed up. We had planned on taking the metro to the closest stop to our hostel but we missed the last train! We were kind of stuck until we found 3 more Americans in the airport who had the same problem as us. We asked around and we ended up having to take a bus from the airport to another bus which was near our hostel. Once we got off the second bus, we were sure we had found our hostel, but we were wrong. A man named Jamil was walking down the street and he was nice enough to tell us how to get there and he even walked us to our hostel. Don't worry, we were aware of our surrounds but this man was so nice. We couldn't have made it to our hostel without him since we didn't have WIFI! So thanks Jamil! We finally went to bed at 2am!
Day 1: Friday, March 28
We had such a busy day on Friday! We woke up on Friday morning, got dressed and headed to the Louvre. We took the metro there and the stop we had to get off at had a mall. I saw a Pandora store and bought myself a Paris Pandora charm for my bracelet! I'm trying to do this in every place I go (I hadn't thought of it when I went to Amsterdam so hopefully I can find one online that reminds of Amsterdam). I got the one of a suitcase and it says Paris on it with a mini Eiffel Tower. Now I always have something to remind me of Paris!
When we got out of the metro mall, we squealed for joy because it was our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower!! We couldn't believe we were actually there! We got a little sandwich and coffee at a stand outside the Louvre and sat in the grassy area surrounding it. It was a beautiful day outside and there were so many people enjoying the weather. We took pictures outside the museum and finally went inside. We were able to get in for free because we showed our student visas on our passport! It saved us money! We bought an audio guide to be used in the museum for 5 Euros so we could learn more about the things we saw. It came on a little Nintendo DS guide and everything they said on there was so interesting! It also knew where we were in the museum so it would start talking when we walked into a new room. We walked throughout the museum and saw so many interesting paintings and sculptures. We saw the Venus de Milo, Raft of Medusa (one of my favorite paintings from the trip) and of course the Mona Lisa! To be honest, it was really underwhelming because it was so much smaller than I thought and the room was so crowded! We were getting pushed in so many directions that it was almost hard to appreciate the painting. It was really amazing to see one of the most famous, if not the most famous painting in the world a few feet in front of me.
After walking through the rest of the Louvre and spending a few hours there, we were hungry and got crepes and waffles. We sat and ate and decided to go to the Royal Palace. It wasn't too far from where we were. On our way, we walked across the Pont Alexandre III Bridge. We could see the Eiffel Tower from there so we obviously stopped to take pictures.
The Royal Palace was beautiful. It was really big with a nice grassy area in front with people sitting, eating, relaxing and playing music. The front was lined with flags and it had a big gold dome on the top. We didn't go up close to it because we thought we had a better view from further back.
Our destination was at the end of the Champs-Elysses: the Arc de Triomphe. You can cross the street and there is a little sidewalk where people can take pictures in front of it. It was hard to take a good one because there were so many cars passing by at all times! It is in the middle of a rotary which is something I noticed there were a lot of in Paris. We took some pictures and since it was getting close to sunset, some of them came out so nice! We weren't there for that long which was a good thing because there was still so much we wanted to see that day!
After the Arc, we took the metro to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The sun had just set when we got there so the sky was an amazing blue color. A man was giving out candles to be lit so we each lit one. It was such a nice experience being there. It smelled old like an attic but the architecture on the outside and inside was so beautiful. There was a fundraiser going on there while we were there so we sat in the seats and listened to something in French. Listening to the French talk is so interesting because I couldn't understand a single word. In Spain, I can pick out bits and pieces of the sentence and piece them together. French is so different. I had no idea what he was talking about but I knew it wasn't bad at all.
When we got out, it was dark out and we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. On our way, we stopped for crepes and waited in line so we could go to the top. I can't even begin to describe the Eiffel Tower, It is so amazing, beautiful, unreal, big...I could go on and on. I honestly couldn't believe I was there and how lucky I was to be standing near such a prominent feature of not only Paris, but all of Europe. We didn't have to wait too long to get to the top and once we did, it was unbelievable. Although it was so cold and windy, we could see the entire city of Paris. It was one of the most magical moments of my life. I can't even describe it. Pictures can't even do it justice but I tried to capture as much of it as I could. We were on the Eiffel Tower for so long that they had to kick us off since they were closing! We got off in time to see the Eiffel Tower light up at midnight. It really was the perfect way to end our busy day. So surreal.
Day 2: Saturday, March 29
Saturday morning, we woke up, got croissants and coffee and took a bus to the Luxembourg Gardens. The flowers looked like they had all recently been planted and they were all in bloom. We sat in some chairs by the middle pond where families were playing with sailboats and enjoying the weather. We sat there for a while enjoying everything. We talked and walked around and took more pictures by the flowers.
Around 2pm, we walked to the Pont de Arts, aka the Love Lock Bridge. We each bought locks for our families and wrote notes to them. There were couples all around us declaring their love for each other by locking their love on the bridge. There was also 2 men playing romantic music on the bridge. After locking our locks on the bridge, we threw our keys into the Seine River. This was one of my favorite moments in Paris and abroad. I put 2 locks for my family, put all their names and the date and wrote thank you on the back. It was such a nice feeling knowing that they would be there forever!
After the Love Lock Bridge, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. On the way, we stopped to get baguettes and Bridget and I got a bottle of champagne. We sat in the grassy area in front of it. Every time I looked up I couldn't believe what was in front of me. I had always dreamed about going to Paris and there I was with the Eiffel Tower in front of me! We sat there for a while until it got cold and then we wandered around looking for a place to eat dinner.
We ended up in such a rich part of Paris and we couldn't go into any of the restaurants without spending a ridiculous amount of money! There were Givenchy stores, Balenciaga and even a store wiht a Bentley chair! Clearly we were in a wealthy part of the city. We walked back towards the touristy part of the city near the tower and ate dinner at a little place around there. Bridget and Alyssa got pizza and I had a panini. We had such an early flight that we headed back to the hostel after dinner.
We didn't realize that when we booked our flight back home that the airport we were flying to back to Barcelona through was so far away! In order to make our flight, we had to get up at 4:30am, take a taxi to the bus station which was at least 20 minutes away and then get on a bus for an hour and fifteen minutes. We got to the airport around 7am and our flight didn't take off until almost 9! After such busy weekend, we were so tired and kept saying how we couldn't get home fast enough. By noon on Sunday, we were back in Barcelona and were walking zombies the rest of the day. Luckily, it was a rainy Sunday so we just hung out and didn't feel bad about not doing much.
Paris was one of the most magical places I have ever been. We kept referring to it as enchanting because thats exactly what it was. I am so lucky and thankful that I was able to Paris. It was so amazing and I am now in love with the city. It was such an amazing 2 days that really couldn't have been any better.
Auvoir!
