Visually, Paris is insanely beautiful. It is nothing like Italy, which was expected. As my travels continue I don't expect anywhere to be the same as the last. Paris reminded me more of a modern day city whereas Italy is not. However, Paris still had the ancient and absolutely beautiful architecture that we aren't exposed to back in the States.
We arrived in Paris relatively late due to the late flight we took. We stayed at a hostel on a little river called St. Christopher's. Our room was fit for 8 people, therefore we were living with strangers for a couple days. However, we had pod beds which was pretty fun. Pod beds are beds that are bunked into a wall and have a little curtain so you have some form of privacy from the other roommates.
Our first day in Paris was amazing. And in the morning we had our usual baguette and cereal. Then we headed for Notre Dame. There were crowds of people surrounding it but it was honestly a site for sore eyes. The carvings of angels and saints covered the outside of the cathedral. After roaming around the outside we made our way in. The pictures I took cannot even describe what I saw in person. The ceilings are covered with historic stories from the past with vibrant colors of religious figures. The columns, lighting, and paintings were breathtaking. It was an absolute treat to see. Afterward, we roamed the outside of the garden and just walked along the river where Notre Dame overlooks.
Next, we made our way to the river for a water taxi ride. The water taxi brought us to different tourist spots along the river of Paris. Can you guess where we went first? Clearly we took the water taxi straight to the Eiffel Tower. Pulling up to the tower on the boat was amazing, I felt like I was in a dream. I've always seen pictures, movies or have heard stories about the Eiffel Tower and had to base my perception of it off of what I knew without seeing it for myself. Seeing it in person completely changed my perspective of what I thought. It was the most massive tower I have ever seen and so astonishing to look at. We got off the water taxi and as we approached the tower we passed a person who was dressed up as a robot that was entertaining a whole crowd. It reminded me exactly of a scene from the movie Euro Trip [my roommates and I love that movie.] As we passed the robot and began approaching the Tower we had to make one spot first..crepes! My first French sugar crepe, ever. It was pretty good, but nutella crepes win my vote by far. We approached the Eiffel Tower and it was amazing. Just standing under it was something that felt unreal, I couldn't believe I was actually in Paris and experiencing that one specific moment. I remember standing underneath it and looking up and seeing directly up the Tower and a sense of calmness just came over me, and I had to tell myself "Yup, you're actually here." It was an amazing experience and feeling.
To the Louvre! Well, sort of. We took the boat back towards the Louvre. But it was such a beautiful day out we decided to roam around the gardens of the Louvre instead of going in for our first day. The gardens were gorgeous. There were so many people sitting on the grass just embracing the nice weather and the company of one another. There was a man in the gardens that was feeding birds and literally the birds would be perched on his arms and just eating bread directly from his hands. We walked in the gardens, saw all of the statues and made our way to yet another crepe place. That's where I tried my first nutella crepe, so good. From the gardens of the Louvre you could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance as well as the infamous Arch. I was in shock when I just stopped and realized I'm standing in the gardens of the Louvre and looking at the Eiffel Tower and the Arch in a short distance. Pretty awesome feeling.
After venturing through Paris we made our way back to the hostel and got ready for the Pub Crawl. Before we got to the Pub Crawl we stopped for a couple of touristy pictures of the Moulin Rouge. So, we ended up being a total of seven people. Well eight, including our guide. It was fun though, we all got to get to know each other better than we would have if we were in a massive group. There were two girls from Canada, (as well as our guide) one guy Andre from Portugal, Ben from Australia, and myself and my two roommates! It was great meeting new people, it's always awesome to meet other people from different parts of the world.
Day two! We actually went to the Louvre on our second day and spent three hours in there and did not even see 3/4 worth of the artwork there. It was HUGE. Of course we saw the Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo. It was a lot of fun to experience the Louvre but incredibly tiring. After we roamed the halls of the Louvre we went to the garden and put our ipods in and just sat on the grass and relaxed and shut our eyes for a couple minutes, such a perfect moment. After our rejuvenation session we headed to the Arch [this is when we got our nutella crepes, yum.] We arrived at the Arch and it was huge, obviously. The carvings of names took over the massive walls. We sat and relaxed there for a while until we realized we had to head back to meet our friends for dinner.
Dinner in Paris, not too shabby. I told everyone we had to try escargot simply because I remember having it when I was eleven and I liked it. However, I hadn't had it since that time so I wanted to try the French delicacy for a second time but this time in their country. We ordered it as an appetizer and to no surprise, every one loved it. I had salmon for dinner with noodles on the side. The salmon was good but the pasta was super dry and plain, it was no Italian pasta that's for sure. After dinner we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, to climb it at night. Seeing the Tower lite up at night was a completely different experience from seeing it in the day. It was beautiful both times but there's nothing like seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Surprisingly I was real nervous going up, the elevator to the top scared me. It felt like it was not going to end. We got off at the first stop of the Tower and I overlooked the city of Paris. It was an indescribable experience. Then after overlooking the city from the first level we got on an elevator full of rude Italian high school students [figures, the Italians never leave our side even if we're in another country] and made our way to the very top. It was super windy and cold but you literally could see the entire city of Paris lit up, it was perfect.
Despite some rude French people and sketchy pick pocketers that stole my roommates blackberry, it's safe to say that the time I had in Paris was amazing and I had a phenomenal time.
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