Viva la Paris!

Wow... I'm getting progressively worse at doing this on a regular basis but I'm trying to get back into doing it daily.

PARIS!!!

Paris is one of the most incredible places I've ever seen and the Eiffel Tower is amazing!! I left on Thursday with my friends Alex, Nicole, and Felipe and landed in Paris at about sunset that night. Flying over it was beautiful and I couldn't help but crawl into Alex's lap in the window seat to get my first view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We landed and made our way to the hostel which was ridiculously creepy and coming down with a cockroach problem but functional. My expectations for hostels nowadays are dropping more and more so i'm not as disappointed when a cockroach or two are sitting in the closet. At least they weren't in the room I was staying in... just my friends. Anyways, we got settled in and went to get our first taste of french cuisine. Near our hostel was this restaurant that evidently is pretty famous but reasonably priced so we ended up eating there. We had big salads, the most amazing beef I've probably ever had, chocolate mousse, and wine... all included. We also became friends with the waiter named John who judging by the name, I would have never guessed that he was originally from Egypt. He was extremely nice though, translated the menu for us, and offered to show us a good bar or two in the area the following night if we felt up to it. We agreed, made plans, and went back to the hostel to get some sleep before waking up to see Paris in the morning.

By 9am, we were up and out the door and on our way to our first destination, Notre Dame. The church is beautiful and I loved the gargoyles and stained glass but it seems more and more wrong to me that churches like the Notre Dame get turned into tourist destinations. I don't want to know how many pictures there are of people standing infront of Jesus on the cross holding up a peace sign. It kinda loses it's purpose when people decide that rather than being a place to look around and enjoy, it's a perfect photo opportunity for their next facebook profile picture.

Anyways, after walking around the church for awhile, we stopped in a French cafe for breakfast... croissants, coffee (which is no match to the amazing spanish coffee I've been drinking), and orange juice... very french. We then walked to the memorial sight for the French victims of the Holocaust and to the oldest church and tree in Paris. We saw a guillotene that was actually used during the French Revolution and the most famous bookstore in France. We sat around the grounds of a french palace for a little bit and then made our way to the Louvre where we were able to see the Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo, The Wrath of Medusa and soooo... many more famous pieces of art. The crowd surrounding the Mona Lisa is ridiculous!!! Everyone pushes up to the velvet rope to see it and takes 30 pictures of the painting before turning around to get their picture infront of it. I thought it was hilarious to watch and had to take a picture of it but got yelled at by the security man for doing it. I don't know why that would be a problem and not the giant crowd actually taking pictures of the painting itself but whatever. We then walked on to get hit on by two french securtiy men (asked out for coffee because we are "so beautiful) and then I bumped into two of my friends I had met in Rome. I am realizing more and more since I've been here how small of a world it really is. What are the chances that you just so happen to be in the same city in the world at the same time unintentionally let alone the same room in the same building? We got a picture to prove to our friends that we ran into eachother and then said goodbye. Afterwards, Nicole, Felipe, Alex and I decided that after seeing 2/3 full wings of the Louvre, we'd seen enough and continued on to see my favorite part of Paris, the Eiffel Tower!!!!

The sun had just set when we walked up and saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time up close. It is incredible!!! I am so glad that we went to it at night because I think it was a heck of a lot prettier lit up than it is during the day especially when it starts twinkling at the start of every hour for 5 minutes. I took pictures of it probably every 10 feet that I walked and when I finally got to the base, Felipe was already there with a cup of coffee for me to drink next to the Eiffel Tower. I had been telling them for the entire week prior to being there that I dreamed of drinking a cup next to it and he wanted to surprise me by having one waiting for me when I got there. It could have been the best tasting cup of coffee I'd ever had... either that or it was just because I got to drink it next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Either way, I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face.

Next, we went up the tower to the very tip-top and caught one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. It is definately worth doing at night because the city looks absolutely gorgeous with all the lights and in comparison with the pictures I've seen up top during the day, we got the better deal. We were up there for probably a solid half an hour or so before we headed back down but before we could, I had to make a call to my mom from the top of the eiffel tower in paris. It was a short phone call that probably cost a fortune but she was one of the people who I knew would have wanted to be there with me. I'll have to bring her and my dad someday when I get all my student loans paid off... they really deserve it after all they've done for me.

Anyways, I walked away from the tower with the biggest smile that I've had on my face for a long time and the day wasn't even over yet. We were starving after all the ridiculous amount of walking we had done all day and knew of the perfect place to fill our bellies. It's this small restaurant by the hostel we were in with fondue and baby bottles full of wine. The food was great and the experience was like nothing else that I've ever seen. You walk in to a packed room with two long tables on each side and no gaps between you and the person next to you. In order to get to the booth against the wall on the opposite side of the table, the little French man grabs your hand and helps you to step over the table and down into the seat. Little appetizers come first with little glasses of margaritas or something like that followed by fondue and baby bottles of wine (it's what they're know for). It was really funny to look around and see people from all around the world from ages 20 to 50 sipping on wine out of a bottle but to an outsider we all probably looked crazy. We had desert, payed the crazy French owner, and then made our ways back to the restaurant we had gone to the night before to meet up with John, our Egyptian friend.

After he got off work, we all headed down to this surprisingly low-key bar next to the Moulin Rouge for a few drinks before we were so exhausted from the long day that we couldn't keep our eyes open for any longer. When I say that it was surprisingly low-key, I mean that I'm surprised that there wasn't dancing and strippers dancing on the tables. Just about every single other bar, store, or club near the Moulin Rouge involved sex toys and dancing/stripping women. I guess it's more or less because of the impressions I got from the movie "The Moulin Rouge" but the moden day one isn't nearly as innocent. There's not even much to see besides the neon windmill but it was neat nonetheless. We got to the bar and only stayed for about an hour before we said goodbye to John and headed back to the hostel to get some much needed sleep before we needed to wake up again ready to go for another long day.

Felipe had us all dressed and out the door again by 9 insisting that he let us sleep in but I'm not sure that I could anything less than sleeping to 11 as sleeping in. We went first to the Arc of Triomph built in the center of Paris in honor of Napoleon. It was neat but I can't say that I was thrilled to climb to the top so early in the morning with sore feet from so much walking the day before but it was worth seeing. I wish the we could have gotten a little nicer weather but seeing the Eiffel Tower in the mist and all the streets radiating out in all directions from the arc was pretty cool.

Afterwards, we walked down avenue Montaigne which is basically the equivalent to Chicago's Michigan Avenue just to find out that the only thing we could afford was McDonalds. I got a burger having decided that croissants were airy dough balls that don't fill you up. A burger, fries, and a coke was perfect though since I was really starting to crave some good old American food. At least their McDondalds in Paris are fancy though because I didn't feel nearly as bad grabbing such terrible food since dining in means eating in a leather booth with nearly nice-restaurant-like decorations. I guess they don't quite understand the concept of cheap fast-food restaurants.

After filling our stomachs, we went to the Orsay Museum which houses some of the most famous pieces from Van Gogh, Monet, and Manet. It's placed in an old train station which must have been beautiful itself in addition to all the artwork is in my opinion, a must see in Paris if you have the time. I really liked seeing it and I think the rest of the gang would agree with me too.

After spending at least 2 hours at the museum, we hopped on a train to the Palace of Versailles just outside of Paris where we were not prepared for snow but were surprised by a couple inches. We were freezing having been spoiled with the beautiful, almost always sunny weather of Barcelona but seeing the palace was well worth the trip. I wish we could have seen more of it except for the bedrooms, the hall of mirrors, and random meeting rooms but it was still cool to stand on the same ground that the king and Marie Antoinette walked on. The hall of mirrors was my favorite part and looking out the windows at the grounds of the palace. It would be well worth it to go back someday during the spring or summer when the gardens are blooming. It would be absolutely beautiful. Going there really made me want to watch the movie Marie Antoinette so I could better understand the significance of Versailles but that'll have to wait now until I get back to the states. I'll have a whole list of movies to watch when I get back.

We left Versailles after it closed for the night and walked into heaven (aka Starbucks) where we warmed ourselves up with coffee like we drink at home, talked with all sorts of people, and ran into more friends from home. The coolest people I'd say that I met in Paris was this husband from egypt and his wife originally from the US, both of which had just moved to France. The wife was especially interesting to talk to and was eager to hear about us, where we're from, and where we're going in life. We talked for at least an hour before realizing we had to grab a train back to Paris but we both wished eachother luck in life and said bye. We jumped on the train back to Paris eager to get out of the cold and starving once again for a good meal.

We picked out a restaurant just across the river from Notre Dame called Pizza Marzano and had the most amazing meal any of us had had in a very long time. It was a typical European meal... 4 hours!!! but we talked a lot, ate great food, and drank the best wine I've ever had. I ordered a pizza and scarfed the whole thing down on my own and then one of the best desserts I've ever had too. The French really do know how to do food right. I find that the longer I'm here, the more European I become as far as my eating habits go. We always rush everything so much in the states but here, eating any meal is a long process. Four hours to any American sounds ridiculous but here that's pretty typical. I'm going to get back to the states and freak out when I only have a half an hour for lunch. That's unheared of over here.

After dinner, we went back to the hostel for one last night in the hole in the wall and then left the following morning. It was an amazing experience and Paris is definately a must-see city but coming back to Barcelona was a great feeling. I still like Barcelona over any of the other cities I've visited in Europe and appreciate it a lot more (especially the weather :D). France is amazing though too including the people... we didn't come across a single French person who wasn't willing to help us out and everyone was really really friendly. I'm not sure where all the stereotypes come from but now actually having gone to Paris of all places see it exactly in the opposite way. We had absolutely no problems. Also, the food (for the most part) is delicious! They know how to do food but they eat way to much bread. The thought of a croissant now makes me sick and it was two days before I wanted any bread again having ate so much in France. Spain still takes the prize for the best cup of coffee too!