Paris

I spent the first weekend of March in Paris! A few of my friends on the program came with and we had a great time overall. We took the train out of London Friday morning and got to Paris around noon. We got a bus tour of the city which was a great way to get familiar with the city. We stayed in a hotel just outside the main city and it was reasonably nice. I had the strangest roommate (she was one of the weirdos that I had to deal with on the Jane Austen book club weekend too). That night, two of my friends in my building, Liz and Vanessa, and I went walking down Champs Elysees up to the Arc de triomphe. We then made our way over to the Eiffel Tower and watched it light up. Seeing the Eiffel Tower was what made me feel as though I was really in France.

The next day, the three of us climbed the Tower. It was harder than I imagined. It was fun going all the way to the top, but it really wasn't anything special. However, I am glad I did it. I would have regretted being in Paris and not climbing the Tower.

We then walked along the Seine to the Louvre. We ate lunch at a cafe in the garden across the street where we got delicious sandwiches. I didn't think the bread would really be that good there like everyone says, but it was. We lived on sandwiches and crepes all weekend and everyone of them was delicious. I would get croque monsieurs which are basically toasted ham and cheese with about a pound of cheese melted on top. Needless to say, I was in heaven. Crepe stands were seriously every 2 feet along the streets so we had a lot of those as well. The only draw back was that the food was ridiculously expensive no matter where we went.

We didn't spend too much time in the Louvre and just went to see a few things that we wanted - The Mona Lisa (of course), Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo. For the most part, I was impressed with the Louvre. I had heard a lot of negative opinions on the museum, but I had a great time. There was just too much to see and not enough time to see it. They said that if you spent 40 seconds at each item in the museum, it would take you 4 months to see everything. I am not sure if that is completely true, but after seeing a few exhibits, I don't doubt it.

We then walked over to Notre Dame. That was my favorite site in Paris! Ever since, we have been looking for the Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame dvd here to watch. Walking inside was beautiful! We climbed up to the bell tower the next day. After visiting, I plan on reading Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame.A block from Notre Dame is Saint Chapelle, a beautiful cathedral with all the walls being stained glass windows. It was really impressive to see.We also hiked up Montmarte, a hill with Sacre Coeur Basilica on the top. I sound redundant when I say that that basilica was impressive as well, but it was! There was a service going on when we were walking through with the nun's singing. It was very beautiful.Sunday, we climbed up the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame. It rained so we were cold and wet (and exhausted from our weekend of climbing stairs - Eiffel Tower, Arc, Notre Dame, Montmarte - I got a great workout) We then spent the afternoon in Musee d'Orsay and looked at Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas paintings. That museum was my favorite.We had to go see the Moulin Rouge. It was in the scummiest of areas. The entire street it was on was filled with sex shops and strip clubs. It was pretty disgusting.For the most part, I enjoyed the weekend in Paris. However, the city was very dirty and smelly. The big tourist attractions were clean, but everywhere else (especially the metro) smelled like eggs to me. The people lived up to their French reputation as well - very rude. The workers at tourist attractions were pleasant, but again, everyone else was they stereotypical French citizen. One man walked up to us and yelled at us for speaking English. I wanted to yell back something about how they would probably be speaking German right now if it wasn't for our country, but I bit my tongue.

I am happy that I went to Paris. Overall, I had a great time, however, I would never spend more than a weekend there. I saw everything I wanted to see and more and have no desire to go back.

Invalides - Where Napoleon is buriedRoyal Opera House - The opera house that the Phantom of the Opera is based on