If you recall, I went to Paris a few weeks ago for the Jimmy Buffet concert. We were there for less than 24 hours and while the concert was incredible, I was unimpressed with the city so I wasn't really looking forward to going back again. But I'm sure glad I did because Paris this time around was so much more than I expected.
We flew in Thursday night and didn't really do anything because we got in so late, but totally random! - This Australian guy I met at Oktoberfest three weeks ago was staying in the bunk below me in our hostel. How crazy is that? Such a small world.
Friday morning we got an early start. First, we went to Notre Dame. The architecture and stain glass windows were so cool. We walked around inside the church and initially I thought I would sit down and say something. I've never felt very comfortable in churches, but here I felt okay. I wasn't going to pray, just sit and think I guess. But by the time I had walked around a while I felt like it wasn't my place to do that. Not like I didn't belong, just like it wasn't the place for me to sit and think to a God I don't believe in. I was a little discouraged because I thought feeling comfortable in a church for the first time was maybe part of me growing and maturing. But then I realized, I don't need a sacred place to do that. I can find whatever it is I'm looking for anywhere.
After leaving Notre Dame, we went to the lock bridge (or so we thought). Apparently there are many. We ended up taking a lot of pictures on one of the smaller ones, but finally made it to the real one. Although I wonder how many of those couples who locked their love onto that bridge are still together, it was still cool to be in a place where so much love was felt at least at that moment, if not forever.
Somehow Martha, Graham, and I got separated from everyone on the bridge so the rest of the day we spent just the three of us. We headed toward the Eiffel tower and it took us forever to get there because we kept getting distracted and I'm glad we did. We found this huge chalkboard and spent 30 minutes or so just messing around. Then we climbed under a bridge out over the water. And then we ended up in some sort of outdoor art gallery/festival. I love just taking our time, wandering and exploring. We finally got some lunch and made it to the Eiffel tower. It had been overcast all day and when we first got there you couldn't even see the top, but luckily the skies cleared up soon after and we decided to go all the way up. The views were incredible, take a look:
We took forever up at the top and shared one glass of champagne (it was so expensive!). We didn't want to leave but eventually had to because some people were going to the Jay Z concert. Me, Martha, Shannon, and Maty didn't go to the concert so instead we went out to dinner. I tried escargot and it was actually really good - it was a lot of garlic and butter yum! Then we went to bars and I got a little drunk oops.....
The next day we went to the Louvre and I was pretty mad at myself for being so hungover. I couldn't really enjoy much because I wasn't feeling too good. I was that pretentious little shit (sorry Mom and Dad, couldn't think of a better way to say it) who consciously decided to not see Mona Lisa. I saw her in passing from the back of the room, but I just don't get the big deal around her and there were so many other paintings that were way cooler that don't get any attention at all. There was an artist in the next room that was painting a copy of a painting and that was awesome to watch for a while.
The art on the wall behind Mona
Then we went to lunch at a cafe nearby. I got a banana split, which did a nice job curing my hangover! Afterwards we went to the Arc de Triomphe, which was incredible and then the Champs Elysees to get macaroons, which were delicious! I got pistachio and coffee and I really wish I had gotten more because they were so good. We then went to Montmartre and Katie and I got separated from everyone else, but we had planned to meet everyone at the Eiffel Tower at 8 to see it sparkle. Katie and I walked around for a while and ended up at an awesome restaurant that specialized in mussels. Some of the best mussels ever. We got crepes after and headed back to the Eiffel Tower.
Homiez at the Arc de Triomphe
Macaroons for days
We were late, but met up with Jaclyn, Leah, and Adrianna and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at 9. It looked so cool lit up and even cooler when it sparkled (which it did for 5 minutes every hour). After laying in the grass for a while we decided to go up. This was my second time, so I went up 669 stairs twice and came down 669 stairs twice....so many stairs. The views were even cooler at night. You could see the Arc de Triomphe lit up in the distance and the river looked so pretty. We ended up staying up there for a few hours (we saw it sparkle two more times) and headed back to our hostel around midnight. Perfect way to end our weekend in Paris.
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