“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – Benjamin DisraeliApril 8th marked the trip that I had been waiting for since I started taking French in sixth grade: PARIS! Before leaving for the semester, I said that the only place that I would truly be upset if I didn't see was Paris, so needless to say I was very anxious for this weekend.
It was just me, Cara, and Syd traveling to Paris. Korissa was supposed to come with us, but she missed her flight home from Ibiza and had to pay 400 euro to get on another flight. She said she "could get to Paris but do nothing there", so she ended up just eating the cost of the flight that she had already booked. Our flight was on Thursday night at 6:55 out of FCO. When we landed in Paris, we found out from an airport worker how to get to "Gare du Nord", the main train station. For there, we hopped on the metro line #2 to Anvers station.
Anvers, which was two stops from Gare du Nord, is in Montemartre, the section of northern Paris in which the Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge are. We had reservations at Hotel Luxia which was....interesting to say the least. We booked it the week before which was a mistake on our part, because lodging in Paris books quickly and is not cheap. This was the only place that we could find availability for three nights and that was also within our price range. It is difficult to give a just description of our hotel room. It had gaudy, 60's-type wallpaper. The tub had no shower curtain and no shower head holder (which caused many floods in the bathroom). I found a legit booger on my sheets, and Sydney had a blood stain on hers -- SO GROSS. We stayed in hostels for about 1/8th the price that were a ton times better, but we were in Paris and I would have slept on the streets just to get the chance to go there.
On Friday, April 9th, I woke up at 7:15 AM to shower, because we wanted to get an early start on the day -- there is so much to see in Paris! We all got ready and were out the door by 9:30. We went to a cute little Parisian boulangerie for cappuccinos and croissants. We tried our hand at ordering in French-- well, at least Sydney and I did. Sydney took French in high school, and I took it from 6th grade through high school which probably should have been enough for me to be fluent, but foreign languages are not my forte.
When choosing a city to study abroad in, Paris was one of my top choices. Pretty much the only reason I did not go to Paris was because my study abroad adviser scared me when she said that the French visa is very difficult to get. I was actually surprised at how many signs I was able to read/ generally understand, especially since it's been three years since I had any practice with the language at all. The one phrase I used a lot during the weekend was, "Est-ce que j'ai..., s'il vous plait?" ("Can I have..., please?) -- one thing that I do remember from my seven years of French. Picking up spoken words wasn't as easy, however, but I actually did understand several things. I think that if I had ended up in Paris for the semester, I would have learned more French just by living in the city than I had sitting in a classroom being taught it. I absolutely love Rome, but sometimes I regret not going to Paris just because the language barrier would have been less harsh on me. A lot came back to me, such as verbs, just from being there for just three days. I even remembered the word for stamps (timbres); and of all the words to remember... stamps?!
Anyway, after eating breakfast, we decided that our first stop would be Mus
ée d'Orsay to pick up tickets for the next day in order to avoid the lines. However, when we got there, we weren't sure where to get them so we left. We walked across the Seine to the Louvre and bought tickets in a convenient self-serve machine that were all over the place -- a great invention. The line wasn't that long so we decided to go ahead and knock that off of our list.
The Louvre is
huge. You need a good four days to see everything, so we planned out what we thought were must-sees. We meandered about and ended up at THE MONA LISA! I heard from multiple people that is Mona Lisa is "anticlimactic" because there is so much hype over it and it's so small which is true, yet it is still amazing to see in person. I couldn't believe that I was standing in front of the most famous painting in the world. They don't let you get too close to it, but I still got pictures. Another awesome painting was directly across from Mona -- the Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese. It is huuuge-- takes up the whole wall. It's depicts the biblical scene of Jesus's miracle when he turned water in wine.
We saw more of the Louvre but our goal was to find the Venus de Milo, a very famous ancient Greek statue. We got lost on the way but I guess "getting lost" in a museum isn't all that bad of a thing because we got to see more that way. After spending about two hours in the Louvre and finally finding the Venus de Milo, we left. FUN FACT: (thanks to Wikipedia for this one) the Louvre is the most visited museum in the world!
Cara and me in front of the Seine River
Hanging out with Mona
Outside the Louvre
Solo shot in front of the LouvreAfter the Louvre, we stopped at a pastry shop called "Paul" which we later discovered was a chain. Sydney and Cara got sandwiches and I got a nutella waffle (I swear I gained 850 pounds in Paris -- the croissants and crepes were too delicious to resist). We sat on steps in the Jardin Tuileries and ate our lunch.
Jardin des Tuileries (right in front of the Louvre)
Sydney and me enjoying the beautiful day!
Next, we headed towards Avenue des Champs-Elysees. I learned a lot about the Champs-Elysees during my time taking French; I was expecting it to be like the Parisian version of 5th Avenue with all really ritzy shops, but it wasn't really like that (the original Louis Vuitton store is there though!). We popped in and out of stores down the Avenue until we reached the Arc de Triomphe which is directly down the Champs-Elysees. To get to the "island" that the Arc de Triomphe is on, you have to go below the road and back up or else you would get hit by the crazy Parisian traffic whipping around the circle. The Arc was built in honor of those who served for France. There is the tomb of the unknown soldier placed directly under the arc.
Sooo excited for the Champs-Elysees!
Walking along the Champs-Elysees
Arc de Triomphe
Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower which was absolutely incredible to see in person. I literally could not believe that I was actually standing in front of one of the most iconic structures in the world. I loved every second of it. One of our main priorities was taking the ride up the Tower; however, the line was so long (not surprising), so we thought that we had better find an internet cafe to reserve our time online that night in order to surpass the line the next day.
Eiffel Tower!!
Next, we took the metro to the Jewish Quarter which we heard had good vintage shopping. We popped in and out of shops there, and even stumbled upon the monument to the Bastille. I'm rather embarrassed to admit this, but I had no idea that the actual Bastille prison is not there anymore. I was expecting to see the original building that was stormed during the French Revolution. However, apparently it was mostly demolished by November 1789 (how did I miss that?)... oh well, you learn something new every day! The area is now marked by the Opera Bastille and the July Column. We also ate dinner in the Jewish Quarter then took the metro back to our hotel in Montemartre.
The metro in Paris is such a great way to travel around the city. We bought a three-day unlimited pass for only 20 euro which really helped us get from place to place. I was in charge of figuring out the lines and transfers we needed to take to get to our destination, and I can honestly say that after only one weekend in Paris, I can more comfortably navigate the Paris metro than I can the New York subway.
Rick Steves + "Streetwise Paris" = how we survived all weekend!
Saturday, April 10th was another early start. We grabbed a (STARBUCKS) coffee and headed to the Musee d'Orsay. The line was a lot shorter than the day before so we did not have to wait long to get into the museum. Out of all of the museums I've seen in Europe, which was been
a lot (Uffizi, Vatican, Louvre, Academia), I definitely enjoyed the Orsay the most. There are several reasons for this. First of all, the building itself is so charming; it's an old train station which reminded me a lot of Grand Central Station. Secondly, the Orsay is comprised of a lot of pieces that I recognized, and also, there was a focus on impressionist work which I really enjoy.
At the Orsay, I learned a lot about my preferences regarding artists; for example, I realized that I do not like Van Gogh at all. I know that he is talented, but frankly, his paintings just seemed sloppy to me in person. I loved seeing his
Self Portrait though just because it is so recognizable! My favorite artists with paintings exhibited in Musee d'Orsay are Monet, Renoir, and Degas, although Monet is my number one by far. A highlight was seeing Renoir's
Bal du moulin de la Galette. Sydney's "Rick Steves: Paris" book had of descriptions of works which really gave a lot of meaning to them; we all enjoyed learning more about the paintings rather than just looking them.
Musee d'OrsayCara, Sydney, and I went to the supermarket and headed to the Luxembourg gardens, where we enjoyed our lunch consisting of cheese, wine, and baguettes! We felt "very French" (all we needed was a beret) and basked in the beautiful day in a gorgeous setting! It was very relaxing, but we could not spend too much time in the gardens because we still had a lot more to see.
Adorable little Parisian girl in the Luxembourg Gardens
Baguette, wine, and cheese... could we get anymore French?!
Luxembourg Gardens
Of course we could not go to Paris without setting some time aside for Notre Dame. Entrance is free into cathedral so we went in, walked around, and lit a candle. Mass was in session so we sat in on it for a few minutes, as well. Rick Steves taught us that the Notre Dame took two complete centuries to complete, and laborers worked for free completely through their faith and goodwill. Also according to Rick, the hunchback of Notre Dame comes from the hard labor that the people building the Notre Dame endured which often resulted in their backs breaking.
Notre Dame
The most photographed gargoyle on the Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, obviously.
Interior of the Notre Dame
We had 8 o'clock reservations to climb the Eiffel Tower. We chose this time, because we heard its amazing to be on top at night but we also wanted to take in the view when it was still light out. We did not have to wait in any lines, so we were able to hop on an elevator right at 8. One of my biggest fears is heights so the ride up was a tad bit nerve racking! There are a few levels of the Eiffel Tower that you can get off at: the first is where the restaurant is (I can't even imagine how expensive that menu must be), the next is one level up (which is about half-way) and is an observation tower, and then the third level is all the way to the summit. We had the impression that our ticket allowed us to take the elevator all the way to the top, however, they made every one get off at the first observation deck (where it was chilly and very windy) . We took a few pictures of the view and then got in line to get another elevator up to the summit. When we waiting, we heard from someone else in line that we had to pay for another ticket to get all the way up. We could have sworn that we selected "to the summit" when purchasing our tickets online, but apparently the only place you can get them is at the first observation deck. We explored around and tried to figure out where to buy another ticket but apparently they were temporarily closed? I don't even know. It was kind of disappointing, but if i was nervous halfway up, I can't imagine what I would do at the summit.
We took the elevator back down and reached the bottom just in time to see the light show that happens every hour, on the hour, after it gets dark out. It was so incredible -- the lights on the Tower twinkled for about five minutes. We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant (nothing like a good, authentic French meal) and went back to our hotel.
View of Paris from the Eiffel Tower!
Eiffel Tower light show
Sydney really wanted to take a day trip to Versailles on Sunday, April 11th, but we had a few more places in the city to see. We had not yet explored the Montmartre area of Paris. Our hotel was very close to the Sacre-Coeur so that was our first stop. The basilica is is located on the highest point of the city and provides some great views of Paris. The area around the Sacre-Coeur was very lively, complete with souvenir vendors, artists, and street performers.
I did not know much about the Sacre-Coeur; however, I recognized it from the coasters with various landmarks in Paris that we had in our living room when I was younger! I even saw the exact coasters being sold on the side of the road near the Notre Dame. We, of course, learned about the basilica from Rick Steves; it was not harmed during the bombing of Montmartre in World War II!
Sacre-Coeur
View from the top of the hillWe decided to follow Rick Steves's Montmartre walking tour which brought us all over the area. This was definitely my favorite part of Paris. It was the artistic center of the city from which artists such as Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri Matisse drew inspiration, as well as lived and worked.
Some highlights of the tour were...
- Lapin Agile: a famous cabaret frequented by many artists
- Le Moulin de la Galette: a windmill, formerly a popular place, that is the subject of many paintings and is now a restaurant
- Le Bateau Lavoir: a building that artists lived and worked
Streets of Montmartre
Lapin Agile
Le Moulin de la Galette
Le Bateau Lavoir
Also in Montmartre is the Moulin Rouge which was our next stop! Of course, we were very touristy and took a bunch of pictures in front. I have never seen the movie "Moulin Rouge" (I'm not a fan of musicals), but regardless, I was excited to see the world famous cabaret and birth place of the can-can dance! The three of us had the song "Lady Marmalade" stuck in our heads the entire day.
MOULIN ROUGE!
Sydney had one more request as a final stop in Paris: the
Opéra Garnier; this is the opera house where "The Phantom of the Opera" takes place. It was absolutely gorgeous.
Opéra Garnier
We finished sight-seeing just in time to get to the airport to catch our 8 PM flight. I must say... I'm very proud of us for being super tourists and seeing as much as Paris as possible! I'm glad that we had three full days in the city, because there is so much to see that I don't think it's feasible to tour Paris in less than that. Paris is definitely at the top of my list of places in Europe I've been, and I cannot wait to visit again!
Au revoir!
Site in Rome: St. Peter's Basilica. Hands down the most amazing place ever.
Guarini campus of JCU. It doesn't get much better than soaking in some sun while watching cute Italian boys play ping-pong
Cafe: the Willy Bar, right downstairs from our apartment. We went for a cappuccino almost every morning; they loved us there. I'd like to thank "Sojo" (we're still not positive as to what his real name is), Julia, and the rest of the crew for the delicious caps!
anything too special but I absolutely loved the part in which JCU is located. It is characterized by small and narrow cobblestone streets with tons of shops, restaurants, pizza places, and gelato stands (hmmm.. I'm starting to see where all the weight I gained came from...). It was rather challenging to walk on the cobblestone, however. I completely ruined one pair of boots with scratches all over and rips in the toes. Also, if you walk too long on the cobblestone in sandals, the bottom of your feet start to kill. One day, while walking to class during the last week of classes, my sandal got caught on the cobblestone and completely broke. It was an interesting sight to see me try to walk down the street to a cafe that I waited at while Sydney brought me another pair. Cara did the 
same exact thing a few weeks before me, and we all made fun of her... karma.
