Paris! Day 2

Tuesday 3/16
Day 2 in Paris! We had a lovely french hotel breakfast with croissants, french bread, fruit, and nutella. We took a field trip to VERSAILLES, right outside of Paris. It was absolutely gorgeous. Versailles was King Louis XIV's huge palace, and there are massive gardens surrounding it. There was scaffolding, as usual, and flowers still haven't really bloomed, but it was sunny and warm (!) and beautiful. Inside the palace are lots of paintings, sculptures, fancy bedrooms, and a magnificent hall of mirrors. Outside there were gardens, lakes & reflection pools, shrubbery mazes, and courtyards, in every direction. It was all so lovely.

After Versailles we headed to the metro station and met Kellan, Margaret, and Alyssa there and rode back to Paris together. Apparently all of us fell asleep except for Ali, who stayed awake to watch our stuff. I am so tired! This will be a long but amazing four days... very busy and fun-filled.
Next we went to the Arc de Triomphe, which was so cool. It's Napoleon's giant arc (obviously) surrounded by the biggest roundabout i have ever seen, lots of cars zooming around. We walked to it underground and came back up right underneath it. There are all these inscriptions and sculptures carved into it, and the famous Tomb of the Unknown soldier was there (with a flame that's been continuously lit since WWI). We climbed to the top and saw an amazing view of Paris. It was a beautiful day! Up there we met Sarah, Kalyn, and Margaret, which was awesome... i love seeing BYU students in random places in Paris! We walked back down and wandered down the Champs-Elysees together. It's a big long street with high-fashion stores and patisseries galore. Pretty much everyhing French and fancy. And McDonalds of course... haha which is where I tried my first maccaroon! haha there was a little bakery stall inside McDonalds with cheaper maccaroons than anywhere else i'd seen so i got a chocolate maccaroon there. It was pretty delicious. We walked down the street awhile and I got delicious french bread and pain au chocolat. YUM bon appetit!

 

view of Sacre Coeur

 

view of Arc de Triomphe, from Champs-Elysees

We met at the hotel and a group of us headed over to the Eiffel Tower for dinner and a boat cruise down the river Seine. My dinner was a delectable chocolate and coconut crepe! We sat next to a carousel in front of the Eiffel Tower (definitely my favorite spot in Paris) and it was amazing.

We realized that we were at the wrong boat tour so (for a good 10 minutes) we literally ran through Paris, across busy streets, along the river, even jumping over gates, to get on the boat in time. It was hilarious and crazy haha and i'm sure people were amused to see 12 American kids running like crazy through the city. :) 

It was so worth it! The cruise took us down the Seine, which is fantastic at night with everything lit up, and we passed lots of famous buildings, museums, Notre Dame, etc, and floated under plenty of gorgeous bridges. It is almost shocking how EVERYTHING in Europe is so pretty... at least to me. Europeans are so spoiled! The highlight was returning to the Eiffel Tower just in time to see it sparkling and reflecting onto the water. Wow. :)

Notre Dame!

We went back to the hotel, and Katie (my roommate) and I had drinks at the bar (flavored lemonade and a cocktail) with cute little appetizers. It was special :) I love Paris!