Paris - The City of Light

I was SO excited to begin my exploration of Europe (outside Maastricht, of course) in Paris. I love art and couldn't WAIT to see some of the amazing historic landmarks that call Paris home. Our group consisted of Carolyn (MN), myself, Theresia (Sweden) and James (Canada)...just as planned. We left EARLY on Sat morning, and despite a slight hiccup with the train/alarm malfunctions, we made it to Paris in one piece. We checked into the hostel, which was only about a 10 minute walk from the train station, and then headed out for the day.

Our hostel was in the northern part of Paris, so we had to hike down to the central area to see all the 'big' sites. We stopped for some lunch on the way, little pizzas and a mini pastry for the road. We hit the Louvre first, and our first glance of the glass pyramid had us all excited! We took quite a few pictures out front before we headed into the pyramid, and down into the museum. We found out that European Union students got in for free - which I found quite ironic. (The Minneapolis Institute of Art is NOT free...but the LOUVRE WAS! Nuts!). We immediately set off to see La Joconde (french for Mona Lisa). It's a ways into the museum, so we got to see quite a lot of famous art on the way. I recognized a few from Art History, which was really fun. We finally found the Mona Lisa, and I won't lie, my heart rate definitely increased. It's so insane to see something that you've heard about since you were little, and has been around for so long, as well as has quite the mystery AND history about it. Was a terrific way to start our Paris weekend! We looked at the statue room and then headed out to see Notre Dame.

The cathedral is on an island in the middle of Paris, but it's hard to tell it's an island at all. Everything is so closely packed together, you don't really realize you're crossing that many bridges. I was surprised by how light the stone was, but was not about how majestic it seemed. We walked around the inside (also free!) and it was surreal. So calm, with people EVERYWHERE! The area where people sit, called the nave, had people scattered everywhere in seats. Some praying, some gazing up at the magnificent architecture and some simply people watching. My camera was a bit inept at getting some decent pictures, but it WAS pretty dark - so at least my pictures capture that.

After Notre Dame we took a crepe break. Mine had nutella and whipped cream on top. SO GOOD! We became official crepes fans after that! Getting our second wind, it was off to the Eiffel Tower - which was on the far West side of Paris. (Notre Dame is in the Central area of Paris).

We could glimpse the Tower, but it seemed like we weren't ever going to reach it! When we finally did, and stopped to take our first pictures, it lit up for the night! It was so beautiful to see against the dark sky - one of the most beautiful pictures I got of all the weekend! We went to go wait in line, and as the VERY top was closed, went up to the next best thing - the second level. The elevator goes up at an angle at first, then rises vertically the rest of the way. I was a little freaked, I'll admit. The top was FREEZING but an amazing view of the city. We were able to walk around and take pictures from each side. We didn't stay for long as it was REALLY COLD and quite windy. We then headed to a little French cafe to grab some dinner and rest our legs. I got bœuf bourguignon (basically a beef stew) that I only knew about from the movie Julie and Julia, haha. It was delicious, filling, and warm - the perfect thing to end the day. We hailed a taxi, and were lucky enough to have it drive right around the Arc de Triomphe (though our driver was a bit of a maniac, especially in the roundabout around the Arc!). We hit the pillow around 10/10:30, wiped out.

Sunday we were up and eating breakfast by 7:30/8 (which was some great coffee and croissants with apricot jam - the hostel's complimentary breakfast) and off on the train to Versailles! It took about an hour to get there and we all were still a bit sleepy. We spotted a Starbucks on the way to the Palace, and stopped for some java. The caffeine was necessary. Coffee in hand, we headed to Versailles. (We then lucked out AGAIN as Versailles on the first Sunday of the month is free!) We toured the inside first - and saw all the State Rooms (including the Hall of Mirrors, Throne Room and King and Queen's respective bedchambers) and then went out to explore the extensive gardens. Statues were everywhere, and the garden was HUGE! We just walked around the main walkways, but there were numerous little off-shoot type mazes all over. We took an great picture in the front of the gardens - which you can see above. We grabbed some paninis for lunch as we walked around and then headed out.

Next on the list were the Catacombs of Paris. We took our metro from Versailles part of the way to the Catacombs, and then walked the rest. (It's in the southern part of Paris.) We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes, and munched on some delicious French candies while we waited. :) Once inside we all got a little creeped out as we descended the stairs and began walking down the stone tunnels. It reminded me of the fortification tour in Maastricht, but here we were walking into an underground graveyard - so a bit more creepy. We had to walk a ways before we even entered the area with bones. The bones were stacked up, very tightly packed to about 4.5 feet high. They were even stacked to make designs with the skulls. All you could really see were skulls and femur bones, and it looked like the other bones were stacked back farther towards the walls where you couldn't see. Supposedly over 8,000 people are buried down there, but by the looks of all the femurs, you'd guess it to be a lot more. At one point we lost the people in front of us, and behind us, and became a little freaked that we had gotten lost. Lost in the Catacombs, mind you. We were VERY relieved to spot the shadows of the people ahead of us a few minutes later, haha.

We grabbed some snacks and then decided we'd attempt to walk back to our hostel. This was quite the feat as we were in southern part of Paris, and had to walk back up to the northern part. We took our time, but were very relieved to spot our hostel in the distance. After a stop at a little grocery store for some food - we headed in to eat and relax. Our dinner was a bit of a hodge podge (red wine, crusty bread, cheese, BBQ chips, Pringles, orange flavored chocolate and chocolate waffle cookies) but it was filling and a great end to a wonderful weekend. Our group of four had some great conversation as the wine was consumed and no topic wasn't touched. Off to bed around 11/11:30.

Monday was simply travel-home day. We caught a train around ten and enjoyed the comfortable chairs and the view out the window on the way home. We walked home from the train station as well, getting home a little after 1.

All in all it was a great trip - lots of fun! It was amazing to see the sites of Paris in person, and we got some great pictures to remember it all by. My Shutterfly site has ALL my pictures if you'd like to look through them. Can't wait for the next trip!!!