TUESDAY | On Tuesday I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and I haven't stopped since. Jetlag is literally my absolute worst enemy and it hit me hard a few hours after I landed. So, I just powered through until 7:30 that night when I took some Zquil and fell hard asleep for the next 12 hours.
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| My first glimpse of Paris from the airport bus |
WEDNESDAY | We started out by going to the Louvre first thing in the morning (TIP: Go really early. By the time lunch rolled around, the like appeared to be at least 2 hours long to get in. The line at 9:30 a.m. took about 10 minutes). The Louvre was amazing and very overwhelming. I honestly paid more attention to the beautiful architecture of the building than the paintings...the Louvre used to be a palace and it is breathtaking.
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| To me, the statues were way more cool than the paintings |
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| I also really liked the architecture of the palace a lot, too! |
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| Outside the Louvre |
After the Louvre, we crossed Pont Neuf where thousands of couple place 'love locks'. Not sure about the tradition, but the effect of all of the locks on the bridge looks really cool. There was even one from the 1970's!
Then, a few people went to a spot in Paris off of the metro stop 'Trocaderos' where you have a great view of the Eiffel Tower. It was the first time I had seen it except for from the airplane. It's basically magical.
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| First time seeing the Eiffel Tower! With Monica and Mallory |
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| A couple taking wedding pics...how perfect?! |
THURSDAY | We took the RER to Versailles on Thursday and the day started off on a sour note because it was freezing, pouring down rain, the lines were so so so long, and it was very very crowded. But, after you finish the tour of the palace and start to explore the rest of Versailles (it's literally the size of an entire town), it's so much less crowded, very pleasant, and breathtaking. I think this is what I'm most excited to go back to when Tara and I go to Paris.
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| I bought a brown pancho in my umbrella-less desperation... |
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| The line was super long! |
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| But it turned out to be a beautiful day! (I actually took this picture!) |
After going to Versailles (and taking a nap), we went on a river boat tour on the Seine. It was just at dusk (which is at 10 p.m. here!) and it was a very cool way to see Paris. (TIP: If you're always freezing like me, take a million jackets or do a tour that's not open air. It's soo cold!) Seeing the Eiffel Tower light up from the river was basically magical.
FRIDAY | Friday was packed with different sights and museums. We started the morning with Norte Dame which is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. Then, we went to Saint Chappel which I had never heard of but was such an amazing place to go. It has huge floor to ceiling stained glass windows depicting over 1,300 stories from the bible. It's under renovation right now but you can still go in and see the parts that they're not currently working on.
The Museé d'Orsay is in a converted train station and it was very manageable. It houses a lot of impressionist art and can be easily done in around two hours. After Museé d'Orsay, I went to the Museé Rodin with a few other people. I think that this was my favorite thing I did, tied with Versailles. This museum is not very 'museum-ey' at all and is actually in on the grounds of an old mansion in the center of Paris. It houses the famous 'The Thinker' sculpture among many others. The grounds are almost as beautiful as the sculptures.
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| 'The Thinker' famous statue |
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| The world's most perfect house |
SATURDAY | Saturday was quite an experience. The one thing that I had been dying to see was the Catacombs. Basically, it's a mass underground grave where millions of old skeletons are buried and stacked very neatly in designs and you actually see and come very close to the bones. It's something that I'm so glad I got to experience, but I'm not sure if I'd ever do it again. Nothing puts reality to the history textbooks like coming face to face with millions of human skeletons.
After the catacombs, we went to the Basilica de Sacré Coeur de Montmartre. It's that giant church on the top of the hill where you can look down onto all of Paris. Breathtaking yet also very freezing, rainy, and windy (in my experience).
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| The view from the top. Look how it's raining way off in the distance in the very middle |
SUNDAY | Have you ever heard of that Australian church called Hillsong that has locations all over the world? Well, they have one in Paris and my friend and I went and it was so awesome. It was such a blessing to be able to worship God in different languages with people from all over the world. Also, I learned my new favorite saying:
Aimer Dieu --> Love God
Aimer Les Gens --> Love people
Aimer La Vie --> Love life
We raced back to the hotel after church so we could catch the TGV train to Lyon. Sunday was mothers day in France, so I stopped at a florist to get some roses for my host mom. My heart was racing as the train approached Lyon, wondering what my host family would be like. My host family is basically perfect in every way. I'll tell you all about them next week, but for now here's a picture of the view from my backyard in Lyon!
À bientôt!
