Paris, An Amazing City

Our first day in Paris we woke up early to get to the Notre Dame early and avoid the rush of people. It was really cool to see and is beautiful on the outside. The inside is nice, too but very dark and not really decorated, like other churches are. After this we went to the St. Chapples church which was built by Louis IV to house the crown of thorns he got from Israel, which he believed was Jesus crown during the crucifixion. It was very beautiful on the inside, it was different from most churches because it had such brilliant colors painted on the walls everywhere.

Then we walked to one of the love lock bridges and David and I put a lock that we had painted in the state on the bridge and we threw our keys into the river Seine. Then we crossed the bridge and we were at the Louve. We only wanted to see the outside of the Louve because we had been told by so many people that it was not worth going to if you are only in Paris for a few days. But we did want to take pictures with the pyramids so we did go there. Us girls did not want to stay here long though because of all the issues they have been having with pick-pockters. And sure enough as we were leaveing these to Eastern European girls approached us and Kelsey, Brittany and I ignored them and kept walking but David stopped and signed what he thought was a petition and then they asked for money from him. He gave them some but he was lucky because they were doing this to other people and then taking their wallets and running off. I tried calling for David to leave them and then one of the other girls knew I spoke English andI tried to get me to do it so I had to leave him there with the other girl. He is lucky because another guyin our group had money taken from one of these girls, and another guy in our group was surrounded by children here trying to take his stuff, but he used some –choice- words and essentially had to hit the kid to break out from their pack.

Then we went and got lunch from a vendor and walked to the Pompidou Center. Some how David and I got in free so we were not going to complain! The lady said we were free but for some reason Kelsey and Brittany had to pay. The museum was so cool and really interactive and I really think we picked the best art museum to go to! The top floor also had an amazing view of the city and Eiffel Tower.

Then we went to the Bastille and then headed toward their Statue Of Liberty. I have never been to New York but I do believe their copy is quite minuscule

 compared to ours. From here we walked a beautiful path filled with cherry blossom trees to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is even more spectacular than I thought it would be! It is much bigger than I thought and really very breathtaking. We didn’t get to spend much time here because we had to get a quick dinner before our bike tour.

The bike tour we took was amazing. I would really recommend it to anyone who is traveling in a city like Paris. It was fun just to ride around and we got to see a lot in a quick amount of time. We got to watch the sunset while biking and here we also got to see the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle- this is so beautiful and I wish everyone could see it in their lifetime. Te bike tour included a ferry tour on the Seine and this was fun to see all the night lights of the city. After the tour we headed back to the hotel and did not get to bed until after 2! It was a long day!

Our last day in Paris we of course woke up early again to see as much as we could. We first went to the catacombs in the morning. They were much larger than I thought! The tunnels seem, to stretch forever and the skeletons fill every space possible! I did not realize that they were still using the catacombs for bodies up into the early 1900’s.

Then we went to the Arc De Triumph. This was very beautiful and very busy. From here we walked down the Champs De Elysees street which is a big shopping street with expensive designers and what not, so needless to say we didn’t spend much time here and basically just walked down the street. Then we got some cheese from a grocery store and a pear and we had this with the bread we snuck from breakfast for lunch. It was nice weather and we ate in a park. Then we walked to the Military School and looked at the bullet holes in the walls from WWII. These are from alley troops because the Nazi’s took it over and used it as a headquarters in the war.

Then David and I got our first macheron and it was delicious! We decided we wanted to try some more later! Then he and I sat on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed the nice day and the view of the tower. Then we rode up to see the view from the tower and it was quite amazing!

After this we went and had dinner and split a little pizza which was very yummy. Then we decided to wander to see what we would find and we found a really neat park area that we explored for a while. Then we found a little bakery in a ritzy residential area and got some macherones for dessert. No one there spoke English and we could tell not many tourists came here. They were very friendly though and because they felt bad for not understanding they gave us 3 free macherones other than the two we ordered and gave it all to us for less than the price of one!! It was so nice! We ended our little date night by walking down and sitting on the banks of the Seine right across the river from the Eiffel Tower. WE sat here and ate our dessert through sunset and waited to see the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle. It was the best way to finish off our time in Paris.