Bonjour family,
This week has been one of my favorites the whole time I’ve been in Europe! On Tuesday all 40 of us girls and the professors and their families took the Chunnel over to Paris for the week. I LOVE PARIS!! The first place we went was Sacre Coeur, a church on top of a hill that overlooks the entire city.
It was beautiful and I got my first far-off glimpse of the Eiffel tower, which was such an exciting moment! That day I also walked down Champs Elysees, the main shopping district along one of the roads fanning off of the Arc de Triomphe. I loved just walking down the street, seeing the shops and enjoying the city. To finish off our day we did a boat tour of the Seine which was a lot of fun, probably one of my favorite things we did the whole time! It started raining right as we passed the sparkling Eiffel Tower-it was magical!
The next day we took a train out to Versailles. Wow—what and insane place. It is SO much bigger and more extreme than I ever expected. King Louis was a spoiled man. Everything is plated in gold and intricate paintings, not to mention the Hall of Mirrors, which-by the way-is one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve ever seen!
We lucked out with the weather and didn’t have rain so we walked through the enormous gardens and saw Marie Antoinette’s hamlet. Out of everything there I would choose to live in her little play town and eat cake all day, it is beautiful and more my taste than Louis’ palace. After Versailles we went and spent about 4 hours at the Louvre. There’s so much art there it’s overwhelming.
I did get to see Nike of Samothrace, my favorite sculpture and that was even more amazing than I was expecting. Unfortunately Venus de Milo was closed as of that day, I was really disappointed but I guess that just means I’ll HAVE to go backJ. Mona Lisa is tiny! I guess when you’ve heard that name all your life and have seen all the hype about her, you expect something big. It’s just not. Plus it’s roped off and behind a giant pane of glass so the closest you can get is about 15 feet. Oh well, I did see her and I think I’ve finally figured out her secret.
After exhausting ourselves at the Louvre we made our way to the Eiffel Tower where I was hit by a vespa (long story) and got the best crepes of my life! This was my first time seeing the tower up close and it far exceeded my expectations! It is SOOO big! Out of all the monuments I’ve seen, it is the one that is actually bigger than I was expecting, I loved it! Even though we almost blew off it was so great to be on top and look out of the whole city in lights. It was such a fun night!
Thursday we went to D’Orsay and saw some more amazing art and then headed over to Notre Dame. I love that place! Going up to the top and pretending to ring the bell was so much fun. By the way, Quasimodo must be amazingly strong because I learned that it took 16 men with ropes just to ring the bell-super impressive, Quasi! After singing a few songs and posing with the gargoyles, we went to see the windows at St. Chapelle. The stained glass is incredible in there, plus the sun was shining and it couldn’t have been more beautiful in there!
At this point the rest of the group had left for London but five of us wanted to stick around for another couple days. Once we were officially on our on in Paris, we went to the Rodin museum which was really great, I love his sculptures.
We also tried to see Napoleon’s tomb but got there right as it was closing so we went to L’Orangerie instead. The Monet in that museum is crazy, it covers entire walls and is just a beautiful relaxing place, I really enjoyed it! After being extremely museumed out we walked along Champs Elysees again passed all the little Christmas stands that made me so happy! It reminded me so much of the Festival of Trees and I got so excited for Christmas! Once we got to the end we climbed up to the top of Arc de Triomphe. After climbing up Notre Dame and walking so much my legs felt like jelly but luckily I made it to the top. It was a beautiful night and it was really cool to look out and see all the streets and lights fanning out around it. After the hike to the top we successfully snuck all 5 of us into our 2-person hotel room. We’re planning on writing a “how to vacation in Paris for cheap” it should be a best-seller.
Friday showed my true colors and the fact that I am still such a child. Yes, we went to Disneyland Paris and it was one of the greatest days! Five 20-year old girls running around Disneyland, it was the best thing ever! As we walked in, the magical Disney music was playing and I saw the giant Christmas tree and castle from far away and felt so happy! Really, it’s pathetic how happy Disney STILL makes me. But the park has most of the same things as the real Disneyland only I still love California betterJ Also, in Paris there apparently is no such thing as ride regulations. Space Mountain was the craziest ride I have ever been on and I honestly feared for my life. It unexpectedly launches right away and then moves so fast that you can’t even tell you’re going through “space.” I just laughed and screamed the whole time, and it was so great.
Another great part was Pirates of the Caribbean. Same general idea as California only they sing in French—so great to hear “yo ho, yo ho” in a different language, it was pretty funny. The parade was also fun, it’s so funny to watch the characters march around singing and speaking French, I loved it! The rides were all great and so much fun but my favorite part was just walking down “Mainstreet USA: Paris” (thought that was a bit ironic) but I loved all the Christmas decorations and the lit up street, I really couldn’t have been happier! I’m really glad that I spent my 18th and now pretty much my 20th birthday at Disneyland—in reality, it’s official...happy fifth birthday LeAnnJ.
Our last day we saw Moulin Rouge which was not only the sketchiest place I’ve ever been, but kind of disappointing. Oh well, I can now say I’ve seen it and I never have to go back!
The rest of the day we went back to the Eiffel Tower (because we loved it so much), the Opera House, Galleries Lafayette, and back down Champs Elysees for one last time before getting back on the Eurostar and coming back to London. So far Paris has been one of my very favorite places besides London. It’s a great city with SO much to do, I’ll just have to go back somedayJ
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