On the first day, we arrived in Paris mid-day and checked into our hotel. My friend Kelsie and I roomed together and we could see the Eiffel Tower from our window! After we were all settled in, we headed to see the tower! It was no longer than a 10 minute walk to get there. When we reached the Eiffel tower, I could not believe we were there!!! I have always wanted to see it and to finally be there was unbelievable. We took tons of pictures, then we went to go get tickets to go to the top of the tower. However, the line was so long just for tickets that we decided to come back later. We walked along the Seine River which was really pretty. After our Eiffel Tower experience, we headed to Notre Dame. Notre Dame was so pretty against the blue sky. Lacie, Brooke, and I had our first crepe at Notre Dame. It was so yummy!! That night we walked back to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. Absolutely beautiful. Every hour the tower sparkles with silver lights. It lasts for about 2 minutes. It was so so so pretty.
On the second day, we went to the Louvre. I was so excited to see the Mona Lisa and other famous paintings and statues. The Louvre was huge! We spent the majority of the day there and still didn't get to see the third wing of the museum. The Mona Lisa was not as big as I expected and it had a glass case around it. However, it was still really pretty to see in person. There were a lot of famous statues like the Winged Victory that I had studied about in humanities classes; that was neat getting to see those in person. That night we went to Shakespeare and Co. That was a really neat bookstore. It is wall to wall books! I bought a book called Paris to the Moon. I am reading it right now!
On the third day, we went to Saint Chapelle. It is a small chapel but has huge stain glass windows. The glass windows depict stories from the Bible. It was really pretty to see. Then our group headed to the Musee d'Orsay. This is my favorite museum because it has Impressionist artists like Monet, Degas, and Renoir. I loved getting to see those paintings in person. I could have spent all day there. We were really rushed so I didn't get to look at each painting as much as I would have wanted to. That night after our trip to the museum, some of us went to an orchestra concert in the chapel where we visited that morning, Saint Chapelle. It was an incredible performance. It was a small orchestra but they played very famous pieces that sounded beautifully within the small chapel. I loved getting to experience that. However, the highlight of this day was probably the chocolate and banana crepe I had. DELICIOUS!!!!!
On the fourth day, we went to Versailles. Versailles was massive! We only got to walk around a small portion of it, but the rooms were beautiful. They had tapestries covering the walls and decorative fabric all over the furniture. The hall of mirrors was really pretty. The chandeliers and the paintings on the ceiling were so fancy! After touring the inside, we were able to go outside and tour the gardens. Rick Steves said we needed almost two hours to tour the gardens. Sadly, we did not have two hours, but we did get time to take pictures and look around. I sure wouldn't want to pick weeds out of those gardens on a hot summer day! :) After Versailles we headed to Montmarte. This was a big, white church on a hill. Very pretty! And the view from the hill was great. All around the church there were venders and I bought an authentic painting from Paris! That night a group of us went to see THE OUTSIDE of Moulin Rouge. All we wanted to do was get our picture taken in front of the windmill and the sign that says "Moulin Rouge." Going down "Moulin Rouge avenue" was an experience. The Red Light District is not a place I would want to go and hangout!
On the fifth day, we went to DISNEYLAND PARIS!!!! What a fun way to spend our free day in Paris!!! We had the time of our lives. We rode all the rides and enjoyed acting like little kids! Paris' park is smaller than Disneyworld but there are almost all of the same rides. A 12 hour day at Disneyland definitely wears you out! I was looking forward to going to bed that night!
On our last day in Paris, we went to church. It was all in French, so I used that time to read some from my Bible. However, it was encouraging being able to be with brothers and sisters who live all the way in Paris! We made it home around 7:30PM and it felt good to be home! The laundry and schoolwork has begun again!
This was the best trip we have taken so far! I love Paris! In a couple days, four other people and I are leaving for our 1 week free travel to Spain, south of France, and Switzerland! I will post a blog about our adventures when we return. Thank you so much for reading!! A bientot!
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