Paris Holds the Key to my Heart

 I had the most amazing time in Paris! It was like a dream, it was unbelievable. We flew in early Wednesday morning and what a great start to a day, flying into France! We took the trains and metro from the airport to where we needed to go. On the way we met a fun family from Holland, and saw a French man dancing for us out on the platform waiting for his train haha.

When we walked up out of the metro we were taken aback by the Eiffel Tower! We weren’t expecting to see it so soon! It was soo beautiful! 

 I still can’t get over it. We walked along the river and couldn’t get enough of the Eiffel Tower. We walked over to the lookout point, and as we were taking pictures we made some friends with some local French boys. They ended up being 15 and 16 haha and thought we were so aged, the one who knew English kept saying we were aged it was funny. He Antóne loved English and wanted to know it and loved learning it and practicing it. It was fun talking with them and learning some French words.

 After we had talked to them for forever we decided we were freezing and wanted something to eat. So we grabbed some food and the only place we found to eat was inside a museum…on the floor haha…desperate times call for desperate measures. It was fun, and we really felt like our adventure began. After we ate we went and found our hotel, which was just on the other side of the Eiffel Tower. It was a cute little hotel and the workers were awesome we loved them.

 After that we went and walked to the Champs Elysee and looked in at all the fancy shops. The craziest ones we saw were car dealerships that went up 5 stories!

  At the end of the road was the Arc de Triumf, which was beautiful. We took a tunnel under the road to walk around the Arch. It was fun being in the center of such a busy road, and being able to see the beautiful Arch and the flame that signified the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 After we walked around there we had to get some crepes. So we went to this little crepe shop by our hotel. We got an apple one, and he set this liquid on fire on top, it smelled and tasted like apple cider, which we remembered later that it has alcohol in it in Europe, so good thing he burned that all out haha.

 The next morning we got up to go catch the Bato Bus on the river. It was a boat tour that was just like a bus where we paid for an all-day pass and you could catch it at any of the stops whenever you wanted. It was awesome I loved it!

  Our first stop was the Louvre Museum.v It was HUGE! It was a gorgeous building with tons of gardens and sculpture and artwork it was beautiful. There is a student deal for students under 24 and European Union Citizens. When we talked to the ticket lady she didn’t know English quite that well, so she didn’t really understand what we meant when we were just studying in Madrid. So she just told us to talk to the ticket collector people. So we walked up and she was kinda confused and we had to get our passports and everything out, after we showed her our documents she let us in! Without a ticket or anything. So we basically snuck into the Louvre! Not quite, but when we said that it sounded more adventurous haha…desperate times, desperate measures.

 I loved seeing all the different kinds of artwork from all different time periods. I also loved seeing all the famous and classic ones, like Mona Lisa for example. Or all of the works I learned about in my Art History class this past semester, like Venus de Milo and the Babylonian Walls.

 Our next stop was Notre Dame. I was beautiful, and truly Gothic. In our Sociology class here in Spain, we took a decent amount of time talking about the Cathedrals and it has been so cool being able to go and see what we have been learning about.

 Right by the Notre Dame there was this Chapel that was beautiful and filled with tons of stained glass. What was really cool about it was that it was under renovation of the stained glass. So half of the glass was the way old and dirty stained glass, and the other side was the freshly cleaned and repaired side. It was way neat to see, and we saw a video on how they carefully take apart and clean every little piece, it was crazy. But so beautiful and so worth it.

 We then crossed over to the Latin Quarter which had a bunch of cute little shops all around it. We got these cute little treats, we didn’t know what they were, but the store was called Odette so we called the odettes haha.

 After our treat we went over to the shop called Shakespeare and Company. It has been around for a lot of years and it was this cute little store that had tons of books. I think they sold their books, but also had them there for you to read. There were little nooks, and crannies to be in; tons and tons of books, and one room upstairs had a piano in it too. I loved it; it was such a cute shop.

 After that when we were walking back to our Bato Bus we saw the bridge with all of the locks of love! It was FILLED with tons of locks all different shapes, sizes and colors. It was so fun to look at them. It was amazing to see how many people had locked their love. Whether it is newly weds, families, friends, or anything. It is so amazing to see how much love there is in the world. It just made me so happy looking at all of these locks and seeing how much love people have for others.

 We then rode the boat back to the Eiffel Tower. Still can’t get enough of it. And we went to the very top! It was so beautiful! You could see all the lights of the city and the river and everything was so pretty from up there! We met these two guys that were studying in Jerusalem and one carved our initials on one of the walls so I guess I will forever be up there! It was pretty cold and windy up there but it was worth it. It is crazy to think how amazing this building still is today in modern society’s standards, and what a feat it was to build so many years ago.

 That night on our way home we wanted to get macaroons but the shop was already closed so we decided the next best thing would be getting them from Carrefour…desperate times haha. We also bought some bread to have for dinner as well. When we got back to the hotel the man at the front desk first of all was appalled that we would buy bread from a grocery store while we were in France. So he got some bread left over from breakfast that day and gave us some butter and cheese to go with it so we would actually have some good bread. So we went up to our room and had a little feast together! It was fun.

 Sacred Heart Basilica was a beautiful sight on top of the hill. It was beautiful inside as well. It was cool because it stood as a symbol of Christ, and when one would look up to it they would know that someone is praying for them and felt for them in their heart.

 Friday morning we got up and rode the metro over to the Montmartyr area. Right outside the metro we found this huge wall that had ‘I love you’ written all over the wall in all different languages. It was super cool! This city really is the city of love and I keep falling more and more in love with it!

 As we walked back towards home, we walked through all the ritzy shops of Paris. Over in that area I really felt like I was in Paris with all the local people dressed to impress, all these nice stores, and all the expensive diners too. It was fun to walk around and look in all the windows. We then got dinner at a restaurant closer to the Eiffel Tower. We literally couldn’t get enough of the Eiffel Tower. It was so yummy. I got tomato and mozzarella, which made me think of Dad because he loves that, so I had to get it in honor of him. Afterwards we were able to see the twinkling of the Tower again! It never gets old:]

 Saturday morning we got up and got crescents to eat on a bench in the morning and watch the cars and people go by. I felt so French! And the crescent was literally the most delicious crescent I have ever and probably will ever eat in my life. It was better than I even imagined it would be. Afterwards we headed over to the Musée d'Orsay. Another thing we were able to get into for free. We were able to get into every museum and anything that required a ticket by showing our student ID’s from The University of Alcala and our passports to prove we are under 26. It was awesome! I loved Musée d'Orsay, it was so cool, and I liked how it was made out of an old Train Station. I think my favorite part was the impressionist art. I love Monet. It was so fun being able to walk around and look at all the beautiful works of art. It was also fun to see art students sketching the famous works and doing their own renditions of them. That was one of my favorite parts.

After the museum we had to go lock our love on the bridge before leaving of course! We got our lock and wrote our names on it and locked our love in Paris forever! Paris holds the key to my heart:]