Trip #6: Paris

I wasn't really sure about going to Paris during my time here this semester since I've been 3 times before, but one of my friends here found a really cheap ticket to get there by bus/train/ferry, so I figured why not. And I'm so glad I did because my affinity for Paris was made even stronger than it already was.

To get to Paris we took an over-night bus that went through the chunnel. It really wouldn't have been that bad except for the fact that I was sitting next to a guy who didn't understand that I existed in the seat next to his and therefore spread out as much as he very well pleased. This would have put me in a bad mood but thankfully the lady sitting next to Colin was hilarious, so I mainly focused on that. Within the first hour they covered the death penalty, gun control, republicans vs. democrats, racism, Obama, religion... just about everything you shouldn't talk about at the dinner table. She also didn't understand much English, so Colin kept on having to repeat things, "No, people do not get killed automatically with the death penalty." "No, I do not own a gun." "Yes, I am from Texas but no I am not a racist." She then force fed him two fried dough garlic things, her words of wisdom when he tried to politely say no: "Don't eat because you're hungry, eat because you like the taste!"

We arrived in Paris early Friday morning, checked into our awesome hostel, and set out into the city. We walked to Notre Dame, Isle St. Louis, Mont Marte, the Arc de Triumph, down the Champs Elysees, and ended at the Louvre.

view of Notre Dame from the locks of love bridge

Saturday we slept in a little bit since we had such a long day on Friday. We took the metro to a few stops before the Eiffel Tower, got off and bought some bread, cheese and jam and walked over to the parks by the tower and had a picnic... thankfully the pigeons stayed away.

Then we went to take a photo-shoot in front of the tower, and we weren't the only ones who had this idea. In our same area was a group of about 11 Asian tourists and a young couple. All was well, we were doing our own thing. Then we see one of the Asians walk up to the blonde girl and ask her to take a picture. She was obviously taken aback and a little confused, but agreed. So she took the picture, and began to take a step, but then another one of the asians ran to get in the picture. This continued with every single person in the group. Her face looked pained by the last one and she nearly ran away to her boyfriend. Why did they want pictures with her? We'll never know.... but it was great entertainment for us and I can only imagine what they're going to say about the pictures during the slideshow to their families at home

Next, Erica and I were on a mission to find the LongChamp store. Since they're made in France, the bags are less expensive when bought at the Paris stores plus, how cool is it to say you actually got your bag in Paris!? It wasn't a very long walk from the Eiffel Tower and took us through a cool shopping district, so it was a fun pass time with a very satisfying end: cute purses!

im more of a blue person while Erica's all about the pink

so happy with our purchases!!

After that we walked around the St.Germain district, and stopped in random shops on the way back to our hostel. We put our bags away and then went back out to the area around Notre Dame, got a crepe then went to the 6:30 mass. Though it was in French, it was still really cool to be there because its such a majestic service. We went to dinner in the Latin Quarter, which was fun because its such a lively area then made our way over to the Eiffel Tower. We ended our trip waiting until the hour so we could see the Eiffel Tower light up, the perfect way to leave Paris!

Never gets old

Our way back was much more pleasant than the way there... we took a ferry which was cool because we got to walk around and weren't confined to a bus and also because when we reached the coast of England we saw the white cliffs of Dover. 

à bientôt, Paris!

Cheers.