Paris, Finally!

Sorry it took me so long to update! Friday October 9th I went to class with my packed bag (that's right...a bag. only a backpack for the whole weekend! I'm such a good packer. It was kind of necessary though to avoid paying for checked bags out of our own pockets. and much easier in the end) and went to one class on Friday. We took a taxi right after class to the airport and before we knew it we were in Paris!

I LOVE Paris. It's so great. First off, it's very strange to be the "foreign one." Almost all of us on the trip hardly know any French at all (besides Rita and Katie!). I don't think we really looked out of place until we spoke aloud to each other. Only then I think people stared at us. We were warned to always say Bonjour or Hello when initiating a conversation with someone so we are not perceived as rude, as many Americans are by the French people. I found that the French are very friendly, and most who work in public places especially the tourist areas spoke some English.

Friday night we went to dinner at this cute restaurant not too far from our hotel. I ordered a chicken salad, and when we were finished we took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, which honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleanic Wars. Fun Fact: Napolean's body was processed through/under the arc on its way to its second and final resting spot. We took the elevator up to the top of the arc, since we only had fifteen minutes before it closed. The view from the top is amazing. You have a wonderful panoramic view of Paris, and can see for miles. The Eiffel Tower demands the most attention of course. It was our first view of the Tower, and we were awestruck. At night it glows red and white, and every hour on the hour for three mintues it sparkles. So pretty. I couldn't believe I was actually looking at the Eiffel Tower! It seemed so surreal.

We then had to leave the arc for closing time and we walked over to the Eiffel Tower. It is here that I experienced my first Chocolate Crepe. SO GOOD. We took some pictures, and ran into a few other Loyola people before heading back to the hotel.

The next day was hectic, yet exciting. We woke up early and had the continental breakfast in the hotel. Our first stop was a cemetary where apparently Oscar Wilde and a few other well-known people are buried, but we had difficulty finding them. I think we spent too much time there, but the graves were very elaborate. Our next stop was the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which was so pretty! It's very tall, and built in Gothic architecture, which in it's time was only beginning to become popular. It's one of the first buildings to use flying buttresses, and has elaborate carvings of scenes all over it. It took 200 years to build. Those who started building it never got to see it finished, only knew the importance of what they were working on. Fun Fact: The row of statues along the Cathedral are the 28 Kings of Judah: biblical kings. In the revolution people thought they were kings of France that were hated, so they stormed the church and cut off their heads. The heads were found in 1977 buried and are now in a museum! The heads on the Cathedral today are replicas.

After the Cathedral we stopped in a small gift shop, and then headed for THE LOUVRE! I was literally jumping out of my skin to see the Louvre. Of course when we got there we took a bunch of photos with the famous pyramid, and then had just under two hours to explore the museum before meeting again for lunch. The Louvre is HUGE. You could spend a week in there, maybe longer. So, I had to pick and choose what I wanted to see, and the first stop on my list was the Mona Lisa! I headed for the Italian Painting floor and found Mona. Took some pictures of her and then one with her, hahah, and then just observed the painting for a few mintues. I also observed the commotion around her and the room she was in. There were so many people that it was almost hard to enjoy the painting, but I guess when you're as famous as Mona that's to be expected. I had my trusty Rick Steves Audio guide on my iPod to give me some information so people probably thought I was listening to music in the Louvre but in reality I was learning information they probably didn't know themselves.

I viewed some more paintings, including Raphael's and more DaVinci. Then gift shop again...and off to lunch. We ate a small cafe, which was really tasty and cute. Afterwards the group split up and I went with Jenn, Rita and Katie for a walk through the Jardin des Tuileries, which was pretty. It had many statues and flower beds, as well as a few fountains. At the end you can see a giant obelisk as well. We then made our way over to the Musee Orsay. We only had about forty mintues in this museum, so again I chose to go to only the impressionist floor. I saw paintings by Degas! Monet! Manet! Van Gogh! and others. They were great to view, and it was exciting to see how they looked up close as well as far away.

We then headed over to the Eiffel Tower again! I love the Eiffel Tower. It's so big and powerful. We waited in line to get to the top of the it, but then decided not to and we grabbed more crepes! and headed to our Bike Tour. The Bike Tour was probably one of my favorite things we did so far while abroad! I think it deserves its own entry, considering it was so fun, and this one is pretty long!