J'adore Paris

My travels to Paris were a whole other story. Cara very kindly called me a “rookie packer,” which means I packed WAY too many clothes considering I needed to lug my suitcase all over the place, including onto two trains and several subways (which have about a million stairs, by the way). Now, by this stage of the trip, Cara and I have done nothing but walk (or so it seemed). By the time we got to our hostel, Oops!, I was about ready to cut my feet off. But instead of resting, we wanted to explore, of course, and thought we’d walk to the Eiffel Tower (“it doesn’t look that far on the map!”). Oh. My. God. Two hours later we were sitting (thank God) on some steps watching the Eiffel Tower light show – which, granted, was pretty cool to see, even if I did want to die from exhaustion.

On our walk back to the hostel, Cara and I decided to make our days in Paris interesting with a little friendly competition: we called it Prowling for Points. This competition consisted of each of us taking secret pictures of hot guys – if the other person agreed that the guy was hot, they got a point. If the other person didn’t agree, they only got half a point. We did actually start to keep track, but eventually lost count. However, I would like to take credit for the best picture: we call him D&G (Dolce and Gabbana), and he was taken on our second day in Paris. D&G, though, was definitely NOT the most beautiful thing I saw that day. We went to Notre Dame first, then the Louvre (definitely my favorite part of the trip), and finally the Musee d’Orsay. It was a busy day, but I was mesmerized by the beauty of the city and the absolutely exquisite architecture that surrounded me. Everything was just so captivating; I didn’t want to leave.

That night we went to a cafe for dinner -- I have to say that I much preferred the food in Amsterdam to Paris.  All they eat is baguette and cheese, and although I like cheese, I'm not a huge fan of baguette.  It's actually quite tough, and my jaw kept cracking every time I took a bite.  Not cool.  After this, it was like people with baguettes were following me everywhere I went: literally, people just buy a huge baguette and walk around eating it as their meal...what the heck?!

The next day we went to the Eiffel Tower again because I wanted to see it during the day (although it was so foggy that morning it might as well have been night again). It isn’t anywhere near as dazzling as everything else in Paris, but it was still great to see. We then walked down the Champs Élysées and went to the Arc de Triomphe. And, since we hadn’t done any walking, we decided to climb the 286 stairs to the top (needed a few breaks throughout, I admit). It was an impressive view, although it would have been better if it hadn’t been so foggy...

Later on that day we went to Montmartre and saw the Moulin Rouge (just the outside – it cost over 60 euro to see a show). We saw the Sacre Coeur Basilica, which is this magnificent church on top of a hill -- we didn't go in, but it was so beautiful to look at - the sun had finally come out!  We also went to the Pere LaChaise cemetery, which is the cemetery where Chopin, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and Charlie Chaplin, among others, are buried. It was soooooooo beautiful: the leaves were just starting to change colour, and some were starting to fall and decorate the cobblestone paths. I loved it there; it was so peaceful, so beautiful, and great for taking pictures!

We had Chinese that night for dinner (I needed to get away from baguette!) -- and Cara gave me a very good lesson on how to eat with chopsticks...and I did it!  I am actually very proud.

On our last full day in Paris we went to Versailles which was simply immaculate. King Louis XIV wanted a palace that was bigger than the Louvre, and he got what he wanted! Again, it would have been nicer if it wasn’t such a foggy day (we had a couple of those unfortunately), but it was definitely worth seeing. The golden gates and the gardens in particular were amazing. I wish I had been there in the summer when the flowers would be blooming and the fountains up and running. Oh well.

Although I would have liked to stay in Paris, I was admittedly happy that the trip was over (I needed a break from walking and my own bed)!  I had a wonderful time on my trip, though, and I can't wait for the next one!