Hey Cool People!
We made it to Paris!
I can say Paris is at the top of my list of cities I want to return to. It is absolutely amazing and lives up to all the hype. I wish we would have had a few more days here to really take in everything Paris has to offer.
Here is what we did the couple days we were here:
Day 116 Friday, September 11th - Today was our first full day in Paris and we wanted to see as much as we possibly could. The weather was questionable for Saturday and we didn't want to risk missing out on something because of the weather. Our plan was to meet Helen, who we have been hanging out with over the past few stops, get breakfast at the hostel and go explore all the major sites.
We started the day early with breakfast at the hostel around 9 am. We sat and enjoyed breakfast and kind of mapped out what we all wanted to see that day. After breakfast, we headed to the underground metro and made our way to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was absolutely stunning both inside and out. We were lucky because we didn't have to wait long at all to get inside.
From the Notre Dame we made our way along the Seine River. We stopped at the St. Michael statue, where St. Michael is depicted defeating the devil. From there, we continued along the Seine River, checked out a much of the local street vendors and saw the love lock bridge. Paris has taken down most of the locks because it was causing structural damage to the bridge and has sold the locks to an ammunition company apparently. So, love might end in some heart break. Sorry for the cheesy, lame joke.
From the Love Lock bridge, we made our way to the Louvre, where we took some classic touristy pictures. We were not planning on going inside the Louvre today, since there was so much we wanted to see. We were planning on going the next day when it was suppose to be raining. From the Louvre, we then walked toward Place de la Concorde.
Place de la Concorde was home to a guillotine after the French revolution. In a time span of a couple years, over a thousand people were beheaded here. Amongst them were King Louis XVI and Marie-Antionette. Now the square is home to a couple beautiful fountains and Cleopatra's Needle. One of two that exist; the other one is in London.
After place de la concorde, we made our way toward the Eiffel Tower. We stopped for some lunch on the way at a Pizzeria. After lunch, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower, where we took some more touristy pictures. From there, we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe.
The Arc de Triomphe stand at 164 feet tall and was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon I. It was build to commemorate Napoleon's generals and soldiers, and honor military power and triumphs. We decided to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, which provided some of the most scenic views of Paris.
From the Arc de Triomphe, we took the metro back to the hostel, where we enjoyed a few happy hour mojitos before saying our goodbyes to Helen. Helen was flying back to New Zealand. Me and Lydia shared our excitement with her about flying home. It is only a couple more weeks until we fly home ourselves.
That night, Me, Lydia and Jess picked up a bottle of wine and a beget and made our way back to the Eiffel Tower. We enjoyed our treats as the sun set in front of the Eiffel Tower and watched the Eiffel Tower light up once it got dark. We wanted to stay long enough to watch the Eiffel Tower illuminate with sparkling lights.
We went back to the hostel around 10:00 pm and were pretty nackered from the days events. We pretty much hung out in the room and went to sleep shortly after we got back.
Day 117 Saturday, September 12th - Today was pretty raining. We were expecting the rain, so we didn't have much planned. After breakfast, we decided to go to the Louvre and spend the day walking around that massive building. One the way to the Louvre, we decided to get a lock and all sign it an lock it on to the Love Lock bridge. Me and Lydia through our keys into the river after locking the lock to the bridge. We then quickly ran to the Louvre as the rain started to come down a little harder.
When we got there, the line at the main entrance was already massive. They told us it would be around a 2 hour wait, which would not have been horrible, except it was raining ... a lot. While waiting in line, we were talking to the couple in front of us. When we were walking into the main square, we walked past a priority entrance thinking you needed a special ticket or something to use it, since very few people were using that entrance. We told the couple in front of us about it and the guy decided to run and see if it was possible to enter there. When he came back, he said we could use that entrance no problem. It was very lucky, we walked right on in and skipped the 2 hour long line in pouring rain.
The Louvre was pretty incredible and I would need a few days to see everything that was inside. We started off by going straight to the Mona Lisa. It was cool, I was more amused by the giant crowed hovering around a tiny painting. From there we walked around and checked out the different artwork. Look at the royal apartments and saw Napoleons Apartments before leaving to go get some lunch.
We didn't do much that afternoon after we finished lunch. We grabbed a couple of things from the market to bring with us to Switzerland and Lydia and Jessica went on a hunt for postcards. When Lydia and Jessica got back, they surprised me with macaroons. I wanted macaroons from Paris before I left and they were nice enough to bring me back some.
That night at the hostel, I ran into James again, who we met in Ireland and ran into in San Sebastian and Biarttz, and also met up with Niamh, our guide from Ibiza. It was a pretty relaxed night. We packed for the bus ride to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland the next day, hung out with the people in our room and went to bed.
