Paris!

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times- internet SUCKS in Europe. Our hostel supposedly has free wifi but it hasn't worked the whole five days I've been here. I have 20 minutes today so lets see how far I can get on a blog post.

Paris has been good. I think I really would love it more if the weather was great, but sadly, the rain takes away some of the charm. It was actually a pretty nice day when we got in from our night train on Thursday. So, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower right away. It really is awesome. We took a zillion pictures and walked all around it. While we were taking pictures, we made a new friend from Portland, Frank. Its so rare to meet Americans over here and he was really great. Turned out he was staying at our hostel too so thats fun.
I had been hearing a lot about the terrorist threats from my mom so we were a little wary to go around Paris, but thought as long as we are being careful we could still check everything out. There were tons of armed guards (ie HUGE guns) all around the Tower and they are definitely on the look out, but other than that it all seems pretty normal and safe. After the Eiffel Tower, we walked to the Champ Elysees and the Arc d'Triumph. Champ Elysees is the main street leading from the Arc. It is filled with shops and restaurants and is fun to just walk around. The Arc is really amazing too. It was built by Napolean as a celebration of all of his triumphs in battle. Its huge and the traffic around it is INSANE. Its a massive roundabout with something like 8 lanes of traffic. There are tons of cars zooming in and out... with no lane markings and no signs. We heard that there is a car crash every 30 minutes or something like that. Nuts. We ended up being there at the time of day that they do a ceremony to re-light the eternal flame for the unknown soldiers. So, we got to see the whole thing and hear people sing the French national anthem. Cool. Then, we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the Eiffel Tower for the light show. After that we crasssshed in the hostel and got a good nights sleep.

The next day I went on a tour of Versailles with Frank. It was a verrrry expensive guided tour. Versailles was built by Louis the XIV and is insanely gorgeous. It has 2000 acres of pristine gardens now (and our guide told us it used to be something like 10000 acres). The gardens literally seem to go on forever and are so pretty. There are so many flowers that I have never even seen before. My favorite part was the orange tree garden. Soooo gorgeous. I can't imagine what it would have been like in its prime. It was kind of a miserable day weather-wise, but we enjoyed ourselves. The other 10 people in our tour group were all from Australia. Australians are my favorite for sure. I LOVE their accents and they are just really nice people overall. We all had a good time and got to see so much of the grounds. I was disappointed that we didn't get to go into the palace on our tour, but I had already spent enough money that day so I just headed back to the hostel. That night, we hung out at the hostel. We were harrassed by some crazy drunk English guys and found refuge with two guys from Australia- Steve and Michael. Thank goodness for them. Seriously. They are wonderful and we've had the best time hanging out with them for the past couple of days. I definitely think the best thing about travelling is all of the great people you get to meet. We were talking about it yesterday and I think I have about 8-ish people that i will actually try to keep in touch with... maybe plan a visit soon if I can scrounge up the money and time :)

Saturday, Stef and I went to Notre Dame, the Pantheon, and the catacombs. Notre Dame is seriously impressive. It is so massive and detailed and beautifulll. The weather was rainy absolutely all day (surpise, surprise) so we were pretty much just running from one place to the next. I didn't realllly want to go to the catacombs, but Stef talked me into it and I ended up being really impressed with them. Apparently, all of the cemetaries around Paris were getting too full so they exhumed all of the bones and moved them to the old limestone quarry shafts. The bones are piled from floor to ceiling and it is thousands upon thousands of people. The bones are artfully arranged and marked with plaques to identify where they came from. It was kind of creepy, but cool. I got some fantastic pictures. That night, we went out with our Australian friends to the Moulin Rouge area. It was sooo fun and we ended up being out til around 4 in the morning. ugh. Exhausting but worth it for sure.

Sunday, all of the museums in Paris have free admission. We got up early (despite our late late night) and headed to the Louvre. The line was really long, but we ended up getting in after about an hour. We decided to just split up and take it all at our own pace. The Louvre is ENORMOUS. Seriously enormous. I just picked a wing and started going through it. The actual building is probably as impressive as the art itself. It used to be the palace before the royalty moved out to Versailles so it is very lavish and beautiful. I was very impressed. I wandered around the Louvre for about 5 hours and I think I did a good job of seeing everything. They had a big collection of sculpture which is probably my favorite so I was excited about that. I saw the Mona Lisa, the Nike, Venus, annnd so many other wonderful things I can't even remember right now. I also enjoyed the wing that was still decorated like it was when it was a palace- they call it the Napoleon wing, but he didn't actually ever live there.
After the Louvre, I was planning on walking to the Musee D'Orsay and touring that. But, I got outside and the weather was FANTASTIC- warm and sunny and perfect. I couldn't resist being out in it all day and decided to just leave that museum for another day. I walked alllll over the city and actually fell in love with it. Its amazing how much the weather changed my outlook on it. I felt like I actually got a feel for Parisian life and got to see all of the buildings, side streets, gardens, etc. Wonderful. Everywhere in Europe has been great, but I do feel like its all about the personal connection that you make with a place. Some cities are better for different people and I think thats a good thing. Paris won be over on Sunday. I ended my day by going up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was quiiiiiite a climb, but I think it was worth it. I love seeing the views of the city. Paris is absolutely HUGE. We were sooooo tired by the time we got to the hostel that night. We ate here and watched a movie with Michael. It was justtt what we needed. I can't believe its been a month since I've watched a movie or tv or anything. Sooo crazy.

Monday was Sarah and Stef's last day in Paris and last day with me! SUCH a weird feeling. We split up in the morning and I spent the day walking around again. I went back to Notre Dame and the Louvre, stood in line for houuuursssss to see the Monet exhibit at the Grand Palace and didn't get in. Then, shopped all along the Champ Elysees for the rest of the afternoon. My feet have been KILLING me and just can't take being in sandals anymore. The rainy weather is taking its toll on them. Soooo I bought a really cute pair of boots :) I'm excited about them buttt will probably be stuck wearing them for the rest of the trip because I have NO room for them in my bag. haha. whoops. That night, I met everyone back at the hostel and Sarah, Stef, Steve, and I went out for dinner. We walked alllll over Paris again and finally settled on somewhere to eat. We had a good time and mostly reminisced about what we miss back home. We hung out back at the hostel again that night and Steve set us up with a bunch of good Aussie bands that we need to look up. Gives us another reason to be excited to go home! I need some new stuff.

Today, I woke up early and said goodbye to the girls. I had SO much fun with them and am sad to see them go. I am looking forward to some time on my own though and going to the UK to see Loc and Megan! Yes! I felt like I had already done most of Paris so my only priorities were to buy socks, eat a crepe, and buy some mousse. haha. Steve and I wandered all around looking for socks (way harder to find than you would think). We pretty much covered all of the main sights again and headed back to the hostel. I still need to repack today and then will head out tomorrow. Paris has been wonderful overall. I am so thankful for good friends - new and old- and the fact that I am soooo lucky to be travelling right now!

I will try to be better about blogging. Trust me I miss it as much as yall do. I promise I am being as safe as I can so don't worry about me with all the terrorist stuff going on.


*I LOVEEEEE crepes.
*Parisian stare at my flip-flops like I am the craziest person alive
*They dress up SO much everyday
*they wear a ton of black and chain smoke
*Paris has good beer
*Paris is an expensive city
*its annoying to have no internet
*its annoying to have to switch rooms in your hostel
*rain sucks after a while
*I straightened my hair one day and felt like myself again. Sad? yes. i know it is.
*I miss home, but I'm not ready to come back quitteeee yet
* I want to visit Australia. NOW.
*I really do love America and am so glad I'm from there