I went to Paris!! Yeah, it happened. Just a weekend getaway with a couple of cool peeps (Caitlin, CJ, Holly, Annalise, Casey). I took detailed notes so I could come home and blog about EVERYTHING. But let's be real - I'm going to get bored just writing all of it, so there's no way I'm going to subject all of you to that. It'll be great to read in my journal later, like when I'm old and grey and want to peruse my travel logs. But for now, I'll spare you all the mundane details and skip to the cool parts, our points of interest.
General facts:
1. It rained the whole time. And if it wasn't raining, it was frigidly windy. But hey, if I'm going to be cold and soggy, why not do it in Paris? :)
2. Flying Ryanair is extremely stressful. They will take any excuse to charge you a 50-60 € fee for an over-sized bag, failure to print your boarding pass before you get there, smelling funny, etc. They are ruthless.
3. We stayed in a youth hostel - great experience, 3 snoring Aussies in the room, Peter from China..."obviously", party every night, nutella and baguettes and apple juice every morning - YOLO!
4. I felt like THE BIGGEST tourist ever, snapping pictures like an Asian. But ya know, everybody else was doing it... I've never really felt like a tourist in Spain since we go to normal places where regualr people live, but this was hardcore American touristing.
Anyway, we met Caitlin's friend, Casey (our resident Frenchman, tour guide, and photographer extraordinaire), at the bus stop and took off down the Champs-Élysées -- seeing everything from the Arc de Triomphe to The Louvre.
I climbed up the Eiffel Tower!! All 6 bagillion stairs to the mid level! There are not words to adequately express the view, the hike, the wonder, the fame. Gah!
I promise this isn't a food fable, but there was this quintessential French bakery. And the chicken sandwich and fruit tarts were unfathomably delicious!
The Catacombs - morbid but awesome. The cemeteries got too full and started causing health problems so the people voted to exhume all the remains from some of the biggest cemeteries all over Paris and deposit them in an empty limestone quarry. They started by simply heaping the bones in, but then somebody had the idea to organize it. So it's got an artistic and appealing pattern to it. Lots of bones and memorial stones with quotes about the balance between life and death. Kind of heavy stuff, but I'm so glad I saw it. (photo courtesy of Holly)
The Père-Lachaise Cemetery - where a bunch of famous people are buried. I got to see the graves of Chopin, Jim Morrison from The Doors (there's this tree covered in gum, pictured below, where people pay their respects by adding to it), and Oscar Wilde (funny story about that: It was closing time but Holly had to kiss his headstone to win a bet with her sister. Unfortunately, the security guard didn't think that was a good enough reason to not leave post haste and started screaming at us to leave. She struck fear in our hearts and we had to leave without the kiss. Never fear, she went back and got it the next day.)
The Galleries at LaFayette (on the Champs-Élysées) - the height of Parisian fashion. This mall was unbelievable. Really, Baby Dior? Prada and a bunch of designers' names I can't remember? A whole floor for wedding dresses? And (drum roll please) Ladurée - the most exquisite French treats you can get - macaroons. Wow! Worth every pretty penny I spent. Literally, I don't think I will ever eat anything so delicate and scrumptious again.
And, of course, McDonald's #2.
Sacré-Coeur and it's very modern stained glass. This was a cool contrast to all the ancient styles we've seen in Spain. Montmatre and it's super cute neighborhood - close enough to the city, but separate and quiet. The Moulin Rouge - I could not resist.
San Chapelle Cathedral - highest stained glass to wall ratio in the world. That was A LOT of glass.
Notre Dame - when I looked into the belfry, I could swear I saw someone scurrying around.
The Love-Lock Bridge - how romantic! Couples write their names and the date on a padlock, clip in to the grating on the bridge, and then throw the key into the Seine River below. Even better, while we were there, we saw a couple actually doing it. When they kissed, my heart broke - forever alone! haha ;)
The Orsay Museum or Musée d'Orsay - so much impressionism!! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I was in heaven for the whole 4 hours I was in there!! So much Monet, Manet, Renior, Degas, Van Gogh, room after room. If you folow this link, you can click on each room and see what was there - just in case you wanted to be jealous :) Yeah, I saw it all.
The Seine River boat tour - probably the worst €11,50 I've ever spent...oops. It poured, we got stuck on the open top with nothing but our umbrellas, and we'd already seen (up close and personal) every point on the tour. I don't recommend it unless you only have 2 hours in Paris and still want to see everything. Then, and only then, is it a good use of your resources.
The Louvre - Although, I almost liked the Musée d'Orsay better, you can't be in Paris and go there. I feel like it was more my thing. Despite the vastness that could easily swallow up a patron without a floor plan, we saw the big things in 2 hours - Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory, some Michelangelo statues, and others.
After enjoying Free Museum Sunday at the most famous museum in the world, we grabbed some crêpes and high-tailed it back to the airport in time to catch the last chopper out of Vietnam. I mean plane out of Paris - those Ryanair guys stressed me out though. All in all, it was a great weekend in the City of Lights, the City of Love.
1. It rained the whole time. And if it wasn't raining, it was frigidly windy. But hey, if I'm going to be cold and soggy, why not do it in Paris? :)
2. Flying Ryanair is extremely stressful. They will take any excuse to charge you a 50-60 € fee for an over-sized bag, failure to print your boarding pass before you get there, smelling funny, etc. They are ruthless.
3. We stayed in a youth hostel - great experience, 3 snoring Aussies in the room, Peter from China..."obviously", party every night, nutella and baguettes and apple juice every morning - YOLO!
4. I felt like THE BIGGEST tourist ever, snapping pictures like an Asian. But ya know, everybody else was doing it... I've never really felt like a tourist in Spain since we go to normal places where regualr people live, but this was hardcore American touristing.
Anyway, we met Caitlin's friend, Casey (our resident Frenchman, tour guide, and photographer extraordinaire), at the bus stop and took off down the Champs-Élysées -- seeing everything from the Arc de Triomphe to The Louvre.
I climbed up the Eiffel Tower!! All 6 bagillion stairs to the mid level! There are not words to adequately express the view, the hike, the wonder, the fame. Gah!
I promise this isn't a food fable, but there was this quintessential French bakery. And the chicken sandwich and fruit tarts were unfathomably delicious!
The Catacombs - morbid but awesome. The cemeteries got too full and started causing health problems so the people voted to exhume all the remains from some of the biggest cemeteries all over Paris and deposit them in an empty limestone quarry. They started by simply heaping the bones in, but then somebody had the idea to organize it. So it's got an artistic and appealing pattern to it. Lots of bones and memorial stones with quotes about the balance between life and death. Kind of heavy stuff, but I'm so glad I saw it. (photo courtesy of Holly)
The Père-Lachaise Cemetery - where a bunch of famous people are buried. I got to see the graves of Chopin, Jim Morrison from The Doors (there's this tree covered in gum, pictured below, where people pay their respects by adding to it), and Oscar Wilde (funny story about that: It was closing time but Holly had to kiss his headstone to win a bet with her sister. Unfortunately, the security guard didn't think that was a good enough reason to not leave post haste and started screaming at us to leave. She struck fear in our hearts and we had to leave without the kiss. Never fear, she went back and got it the next day.)
The Galleries at LaFayette (on the Champs-Élysées) - the height of Parisian fashion. This mall was unbelievable. Really, Baby Dior? Prada and a bunch of designers' names I can't remember? A whole floor for wedding dresses? And (drum roll please) Ladurée - the most exquisite French treats you can get - macaroons. Wow! Worth every pretty penny I spent. Literally, I don't think I will ever eat anything so delicate and scrumptious again.
And, of course, McDonald's #2.
Sacré-Coeur and it's very modern stained glass. This was a cool contrast to all the ancient styles we've seen in Spain. Montmatre and it's super cute neighborhood - close enough to the city, but separate and quiet. The Moulin Rouge - I could not resist.
San Chapelle Cathedral - highest stained glass to wall ratio in the world. That was A LOT of glass.
Notre Dame - when I looked into the belfry, I could swear I saw someone scurrying around.
The Love-Lock Bridge - how romantic! Couples write their names and the date on a padlock, clip in to the grating on the bridge, and then throw the key into the Seine River below. Even better, while we were there, we saw a couple actually doing it. When they kissed, my heart broke - forever alone! haha ;)
The Orsay Museum or Musée d'Orsay - so much impressionism!! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I was in heaven for the whole 4 hours I was in there!! So much Monet, Manet, Renior, Degas, Van Gogh, room after room. If you folow this link, you can click on each room and see what was there - just in case you wanted to be jealous :) Yeah, I saw it all.
The Seine River boat tour - probably the worst €11,50 I've ever spent...oops. It poured, we got stuck on the open top with nothing but our umbrellas, and we'd already seen (up close and personal) every point on the tour. I don't recommend it unless you only have 2 hours in Paris and still want to see everything. Then, and only then, is it a good use of your resources.
The Louvre - Although, I almost liked the Musée d'Orsay better, you can't be in Paris and go there. I feel like it was more my thing. Despite the vastness that could easily swallow up a patron without a floor plan, we saw the big things in 2 hours - Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory, some Michelangelo statues, and others.
After enjoying Free Museum Sunday at the most famous museum in the world, we grabbed some crêpes and high-tailed it back to the airport in time to catch the last chopper out of Vietnam. I mean plane out of Paris - those Ryanair guys stressed me out though. All in all, it was a great weekend in the City of Lights, the City of Love.
