Paris! Day 3

Wednesday 3/17
Happy St Patrick's Day! I wish I was in the UK for celebrations... but hey Paris is great too :) Well today i spent a few too many minutes at breakfast and everyone left for Notre Dame without me. Sad. Well Sister Howe was wating in the lobby for stragglers so a few slowpoke girls and I went together.
Notre Dame was beautiful. A little smaller than i expected, but i blame my misperception on Disney. I loved the stained glass patterns. I didn't get to spend very much time inside, but the best part of the visit was climbing up the bell towers. I was on top of Notre Dame! The view was marvelous, and there were plenty of grimacing gargoyles up there too. I couldn't find the hunchback but i did see the huge old bell.

our gargoyle faces

Afterwards we went to the other side of the island (Notre Dame is on a island on the river Seine) to visit Saint-Chappelle. It was one of the most amazingly beautiful things have ever seen. You walk in and there's a dark, ornate shrine area. You walk upstairs and your socks are knocked off. It is a chapel with walls made entirely of stained glass. And it's about 800 years old! wow. Pictures do not do it justice. With the sun shining through the colors were dreamy and fantastic.

downstairs - shrine

upstairs - chapel

sun shining through the stained glass walls..

 Next we headed towards Musee Cluny (medieval museum) to see some tapestry we're supposed to see for our Civ class. Met Cam, Calvin, Katie, Brit, and Caitlin along the way and grabbed lunch (giant panini!). The museum was slightly dull. I don't love the medieval era, and the tapestries we saw ("Lady and the Unicorn") were interesting (only because of the unicorn) but not worth the trip. We split up and Ali and I headed towards the Catacombs! No one had really heard of them which is weird. I remember them from Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame (the walls of skeletons that come alive!) but i didn't know they were real..! :)

We found the tour's startin point and headed underground. It was so awesome. The Catacombs are a massive underground crypt with human bones lining the walls, sometimes in cool patterns. This was one of the coolest craziest things i have ever seen. First of all, it was nearly empty! Ali and I wandered a maze of dark tunnels underneath Paris, til we came to the skeletons. Creeeepy but so cool! All of the walls were lined with bones... mostly long bones (femurs?) and skulls. We had so much fun being weird dorks and trying to scare each other. :) We were there for hours! After awhile you get used to the bones and darkness. We took some cool pictures. :)

    Historical note: In the 1700s the cemeteries of Paris were overflowing, so they moved mass cartloads of skeletons to the underground mines. Somebody had the idea to organize the bones into patterns and crosses, and now it's a sort of morbid memorial and tour - the Catacombs!

i am a ghost.... :)

After leaving the Catacombs we got crepes and a giant diet coke, then headed over to the Eiffel Tower in late afternoon. We planned to spend a long time in the line and be up in the Eiffel Tower for the sunset and night, but the line went pretty fast so we spent a long time sitting on a bench up in the eiffel tower, waiting for the sun to set faster. Total - we were up in the Eiffel Tower for 4 hours! It was so high up... the view was spectacular, of course. Definitely glad we took the elevator... the stairs would have murdered me. We went up to the very top after awhile, and after sunset some building lit on fire and smoke filled the whole sky. The COOLEST thing was being on the Eiffel Tower when it lit up and got all sparkly! I freaked out :)

 sparkle!

By the time we left, our feet were bloody stumps. 3 very long days prancing all over Paris can kill your feet! I want to burn my boots. They are falling apart. Only one more month with the boots!
We took the metro back, and guys were walking around playing the accordian and cello. Speaking of... guys are kind of weird in Paris! As in creepy. I'd expected some differences... but here guys stare at you, sometimes even leer. Giving them the quick look "i caught you staring at me for longer than normal so stop already" doesn't do a thing. So i just don't look people in the eyes very often. Quite a few girls have been followed by creepers (and a couple almost pickpocketed) so it's better to avoid! I don't want a French boyfriend anyway. :) We walked around near our hotel looking for dinner, then saw Laura and CJ in a cute little build-your-own-noodle place so we ate there. It was so good! Not very french but oh well. I eat a lot of crepes here :) On th way back we stopped at a grocery store and i bought the FERRERO ROCHER's DUPLO NOCCIOLATO which is the best chocolate "bar" i have ever eaten. (thanks Laura for the recommendation!) It's chocolate with hazelnuts... which sounds simple but it's chocolate ecstasy.
Haha this is my second time posting this picture on my blog... :)

Haha i also saw the movie The Hangover there but it was titled "Very Bad Trip." Lost in translation? so funny :)  My feet are swollen. ouucchhhh... backpacking for a month will be an adventure! haha i hope my feet don't fall off.
One more (half) day in Paris!   :(

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!

Paris! day 1

Monday 3/15
Bonjour Paris! For our "spring break" we get to spend the next four days in Paris! Early this morning we took the Chunnel to France (train under the Channel). I was really excited :) Like embarrassingly excited to see France. I kept falling asleep and then jerking awake and asking if we were in France yet. The countryside looks pretty similar to England actually. Beautiful.

Our first stop was Chartres, a pretty little French town with a big, ancient cathedral. We had a couple hours to explore the town. The little french shops and patisseries were so cute! There was an adorable carousel in the town square too. We met at the cathedral, which is originally 1200-1500 years old! Parts were added or rebuilt during the Renaissance so it's a cool mismatch of different centuries' styles. I loved it! My favorite cathedral so far. Inside was pretty dark and there were candles everywhere. There was a massive "rose window" made of stained glass and with the sun shining through it was spectacular. Our tour guide in the cathedral talked on and on and onn.... (almost an hour and a half) so i split off a few times to explore and photograph.

 

 

After Chartres we headed for Paris! At our hotel i roomed with Katie and it was pretty funny because we had one big bed to share. Honeymoon suite? A group of us searched for dinner and ended up at some type of Italian restaurant? (so wrong) and i ordered a bland pasta. Fail. I'd rather save money and eat better (aka eat crepes all week) then waste money on boring food in France! haha that's exactly what i did here. :)

We then went out to find the Eiffel Tower! ..after figuring out the Metro (French tube) which sucks compared to the British tube! I may be spoiled... but it was terrible. Dirty and smelly and old and SO confusing and difficult to navigate. But we reached the right area and... it was amazing. Just like the first time i saw Big Ben... i walk out and look up and it's RIGHT ABOVE ME all lit up and beautiful! I freaked out haha. It's amazing!! I walked right under the Eiffel Tower, and saw an adorable couple kissing underneath. Aww. :) City of Love. And City of Lights. Everything was soo pretty. To make it perfect, i ate a chocolate crepe right under the Eiffel Tower! *sigh... i love my life haha.

Oh! And surprise! Every hour (at night) it lights up all sparkly! I freaked out, again. It was amazing. Fortunateley I had Ali's extra camera to use so i took loads of pictures and even a video. Good day.