Oui, Oui, Paris!

The first stop on the whirlwind spring break I went on with my friends Clara, Chloe, Alli, Katelyn, Mitchell, Erik and Robert was Paris, my top pick of the trip. We got to our hostel Friday night around 10:30, checked in, and then ventured across the street for Greek food, which we had heard from a lot of kids who had already been to Paris that it was cheap and filling. Check! After eating we settled in to our rooms, and I realized that from my bed, looking at the window, I could see the Eiffel Tower. This is when it really hit me, that I’m living in Italy this semester, travelling for my spring break around Europe, and here I am in my hostel bed, able to see the freaking Eiffel Tower!

One of the many metro stops in Paris designed by Hector Guimard

The next morning we woke up and went on a tour that we had seen a pamphlet for downstairs since it was free. Our tour guide, Onno (from Amsterdam) was a little perv-y, bet very knoweldgable about all the sights. On our tour we saw: Notre Dame, the famous Bridge of Love (from Sex and the City), the Sane River, The Louvre, Toulerie Gardens, the Grande & Petit palace, Harmony square between the main church and the hall of the government, we walked by the d’Orssay museum, the Arc de Triomphe and we finished at the Eiffel Tower. It was a long 3 and a half hour tour, and the fact that it was cold and windy didn’t help, but we got to walk by and see a lot of things that we probably would have had trouble finding on our own. After the tour we went with the tour group to a small French Bistro where we got a full meal with wine for 11 euro (steal!). I ended up getting duck, and it is probably the best duck I will ever have- it was delicious! After lunch Clara and Chloe and I decided to buy tickets for the Montmartre district tour that night with Onno, which was more centered around the artistic side of Paris.

Looking over the Sane River

The lock bridge

ToulerieGardens

The Petit Palace

The Grande Palace

Tomb of Napoleon 

 By the time we got finished with lunch we had enough time to go back to the hostel, change in to warmer clothes, and metro over to Montmartre. The tour was about the art district, red light district and the outcast artists that became some of the most famous artists to date. Our tour started outside the original Moulin Rouge which was really cool to see, just because it is the inspiration for the movie (and it actually looks like that). From there we saw the Moulin de Gallette (the Red  Windmill- windmills are a huge thing in France), Van Gogh’s house, some original favorite cafes of Van Gogh and Picasso, the last vineyard left within the city of Paris, and artist colony that Picasso once lived in and we ended outside the Sacre Coure. Luckily I had bought an umbrella that morning because it was pouring rain when we came outside from the church. The inside of the church was beautiful (as they all are) but the outside was truly incredible because the church is built out of travertine, which is a self cleaning material that washed clean in the rain, so it has actually gotten cleaner over the years. So it was truly beautiful to see at night while it was raining because it was a brilliant white.  From there we could see the Tour de Eiffel, and then headed down to one of the local bars for the free glass of wine we got on the tour. It also happened to be St. Patrick’s day, so it was a little crazy, but we made it out safely and made our way to the Eiffel Tower.

Original Moulin Rouge

Van Gogh's Apartment

Moulin de Gallette- one of the last windmills in town

Sacre Coure

After taking tons of pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, we somehow managed to meet up with Alli, Katelyn and Erik. We hung around for awhile longer to see the tower “sparkle” (which it does every hour) and then we made the trek back to the hostel.

Twinkling at night!

 Sunday morning we enjoyed our incredible breakfast at the hostel- fresh chocolate croissants, granola and chocolate cereal and fresh baguettes. It was also Chloe’s 21^st birthday so we celebrated by  training to Versailles. With our student visas we got to in for free, so we walked around the palace for about 2 hours. It was breath taking. I was so excited to be there, because I knew how beautiful the palace was, but I was kind of freaking out that I was actually there! After our tour through the king and queens chambers, we decided to walk through the gardens…to Marie Antoinette’s estate…in the rain. It ended up being me, Clara, Chloe and Robert, but we had a great afternoon walking through the gardens to the estate (it was a 45 minute walk there) and exploring the grounds. Unfortunately it was too early to see the garden in bloom, but we could still appreciate the pristine landscape work that is maintained there.  We ended up spending 6 hours at Versailles before we headed back in to the city.

Versailles!

Gardens of Versailles

I was coughing, laughing, and hiccuping all at the same time
...oh and trying to take a picture!

...10 minutes later

Marie Antoinette's Estate

 When we got back to Paris, the 4 of us decided to go to the business district and Pompidou museum, but first Chloe and I had researched an inexpensive place to get REAL French onion soup…it was to die for! After enjoying that we walked over to the Pompidou which is a modern art museum, but the structure is on the outside- it is desinged so the outside looks like the inside, and the inside looks like the outside- a playground for architecture students. After exploring we made our way to the business district to see the Grand Arch and the modern architecture of Paris. We ended the night metro-ing over to the Arc de Triomphe and Champ de Elysses (the main expensive shopping street). The Arch was really pretty lit up at night, and the street was bustling with life. One of the main things I really loved about Paris is the fact that the streets and sidewalks are really wide, and lined with trees. It’s absolutely beautiful to just walk around because it’s not cramped on the sidewalks like many other European cities.

Cafe with amazing French onion soup!

The Pompidou- exterior

The Pompidou- interior

The Grand Arch

Business District of Paris

Arc de Triomphe

Monday we did a more in depth tour of some of the famous landmarks such as Notre Dame and the Louvre. We tried to go to the d’Orssay museum but it was closed, which was a little upsetting because I LOVE French impressionism, and would have loved to see an entire museum full of it. But Notre Dame was amazing because I enjoy Gothic architecture so much. It’s actually pretty cool, because we had to write a paper about the Middle Ages and our favorite style, and I got to write about Gothic, and how I’d actually been in a Gothic cathedral. After the cathedral we headed over to Louvre and entered through I.M. Pei’s famous “invisible pyramid” (…that’s not so invisible…). Of course inside the museum we had to pick just a few iconic pieces to view because the museum was so massive, but I did get to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Cardsharper by Carravaggio, the statue of Psyche & Cupid and many others, but those are the major works.

Notre Dame- exterior

Notre Dame- interior

the rose window

The Louvre

Venus de Milo

Psyche & Cupid

The Mona Lisa

On our way home Chloe and I stopped to get some dinner crepes, which came with chocolate mousse, and we ate under the Eiffel tower…it was one of those moments when you’re like “hey…what I’m doing is really legit”. We then ventured over to a building and park that was designed by Frank Gehry. Personally, I thought the building was pretty disappointing for a Gehry building, but then I found out that the park had been dedicated in memorial for Yitzhak Rabin- pretty cool! After taking more pictures we headed back to the hostel because we had to get up at 5 the next morning to head to Dublin!

Favorite!

Twinkling!

In front of the Arc de Triomphe