As promised, the Paris post.
Anyone who has known me for any period of time probably knows that it has been my life's dream to go to Paris.
After at least 10 years of facination with the city, I've finally made it there.
I left Montpellier at 9:20 on Saturday morning and arrived back at my apartment at 11:30 on Monday night. I spent three days in absolute wonder at the how beautiful a city can be. Friday after checking into our hostel, Mariah and I decided to head to Champs-Elysees and from there, go see the Eiffle tower. The first thing we see when we get off the metro was the Arc de Triomphe. First of all, the arc is definitely larger than I was expecting. Secondly, God it's pretty. From there, we walked down the Champs-Elysees, stopped in at Louis Vuitton to lust after bags and sunglasses that, one day, I'll be able to afford. Then on to the Pont d'Alexandre. My first view of the Eiffel Tower happened to be at sunset, perfect timing. It was absolutely breathtaking. After taking about twenty pictures from the bridge, we decided head over and get an up close and personal view. Again, not expecting the tower to be as big as it was. But it was every bit as beautiful as I was hoping it would be. By the time the sunset and we had had chocolat chaud under the tower, it was cold and we were tired. Before bed, we had drinks at the bar on the first floor of our hostel. (St. Christopher's, by the way, if you're going to Paris this is the hostel to stay in, no joke). My first official cosmo, and the best fuzzy navel I've ever had.
Day two started out at 9am at the Louvre. We spent five hours there, and it wasn't nearly enough. First things first, we saw Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory, and the Mona Lisa. Up to this point, most things in Paris were on a much grander scale than I was expecting. The Mona Lisa was not. It's so small! It was, however, way cooler than I was expecting. I wasn't really that thrilled because the image is everywere: calendars, post cards, text books, you name it. But the actual painting has a lot more life in it. To state the obvious, DaVinci was a genious. Then, we went our separate ways and I took an audio tour of the history of the actual building called from Chateau to Musee, or something much catchy-er. I'm really glad I did that, it was maybe the best 6 euro I've spent so far.
Our original plan was to hit the Musee d'Orsay after that but by the time we were ready to leave the Louvre there was a huge line to get into the Musee d'Orsay so we decided to wander a little and go back on Monday to see the museum. After wandering for a while we headed to Notre Dame. Once again, absolutely gorgeous. We went inside and there was a service (or mass rather, since it is Catholic) going on! I did not know that it was still being used as a church, that's amazing.
We bought some cool things near Notre Dame, I got a painting for a euro and some pretty neat gifts (that I'm really excited to send)! Night two ended at the bar of the hostel again, talking with the cool 19 year old bartender from Oregon and a guy from Texas who is also studying in France.
Our last day was supposed to start with the Musee d'Orsay, nope didn't happen. We had completely forgotten that museums are usually closed on Mondays. So we decided that Sacre Coeur would be the next stop. I am so happy we made it there. It has the best views of the city, plus the church is gorgeous, and the arrows from Amelie are there! How cool! After sitting on the steps of the church for a while we walked around Montmarte. For a few blocks near the church, there are nothing but fabric stores! Seriously, I don't know how they all stay in business, there must be over 40 fabric stores in one neighborhood! Among these fabric stores was a discount purse store where I bought a new bag, since my 12 euro one decided it had had enough of carrying my crap around and broke over five times that weekend alone... anyways more wandering led us to le Chat Noir, Moulin Rouge, and Les Deux Moulin, the Cafe where Amelie workes! We had coffee and crepes then headed to the Gare to catch our train home.
I was one of the most tiring weekends of my life, and way more than worth it.
I aboslutely cannot wait to go back with Andrea and Katrice.... and DAD!
Until next time, love, Ashley
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