To start, we left the college on Thursday at 7:30 in the morning. That's quite early here as our classes usually don't even start until nine. We took the charter bus to Nice to catch our plane which left a little after ten so we ended up in Paris around noon. That particular day was the only one that the sun actually came out but that's to be expected. Our first stop was Notre Dame which has got to be one of the coolest church's I've ever seen, inside and out. Afterwards, we went to the hotel to get our rooms and drop off our things before having quite a bit of free time before dinner. With it, my friends Maxzene, Rachel, and myself went to find one of the world most famous macaroon shops (so I was told); the name was Laduree and they were amazing. Next we went in search of one of Maxzene's friends who worked at a fast food joint; we ended up getting free crepes. Afterwards, I ended up going back to the hotel to get a much needed siesta before heading out for supper. That night was especially unique because we had it on a 'Restaurant Boat' as described by my roommate Nick. It took us down the river and past the Eiffel Tour as well as quite a few other monuments. Not the best picture but it's still not bad:
Friday was a really good day in terms of how many different things we accomplished. The morning began with a tour of Le Musee d'Orangerie which is right on the edge of Tuileries Gardens. It had a lot of really nice art work including paintings by Monet, Picaso, Renoir, and possibly Degas. The one painting, or should I say four, that are burned into my memory from that morning are Monet's Water Lily pieces. They are absolutely stunning in person. After we finished there, we were given more free time to explore Paris on our own. I'm sure there's a more official name for it but we headed across town to see Napoleon's grave. Once there, we didn't think we were going to get in because not all of us had our passports but through the amazing persuasion techniques of our friend class, we ended up getting in for free. For such a little guy, his coffin was enormous!
Also in the area were the World War I and II museums, as well as an Arms Museum (which turned out to be one of the most interesting for me on the trip.) I visited that particular place with my friends Kevin, Daniel, Clay, Stephen, Lily, Kaila, Audrey, and Jean-Philippe. However, when walking out of the Arms Museum I had somehow only made it out with Audrey and JP. We then got lunch and headed towards Montemartre, the most expensive area in Paris. This is where we found the Moulin Rouge (yes, just like the movie.)
From there we went on a tour with a true Parisian who gave us a brief but interesting history on a lot of the buildings and places we saw in the area. At the end of the tour we ended up at the tallest point in the city where you'll find Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart Cathedral.) The view from the church steps is nearly comparable to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, but I'll tell you about those a bit later. When entering the church, I realized that there was actually mass being held so that was quite an experience. I didn't stay for the whole service but it was really impressive to be apart of that. After leaving the cathedral, we were met once again with more free time. We then visited a market with painters everywhere in the square ready to create a masterpiece out of your face (which was actually the case with some of them.) We only stayed there for a short period of time before meeting back up with the group from earlier at the hotel to go visit the Louvre. Now, I regret saying this because it's slightly embarrassing but when we went to the Louvre, I B-Lined straight for the Mona Lisa, took a picture, and left. However, before judging me completely, we had been walking all day and I had been there before but missed the Mona Lisa so I had to get a picture. Here is it:
After retreating back to the hotel for a little while, we made our way out to dinner and then got to see the Eiffel Tower light up. For those who have never seen a picture, he's one we had taken.
Saturday we woke up pretty early but with good reason; we were headed for the Eiffel Tower. Now before we actually got there I though for sure we weren't going to have the privilege of going to the top; I was wrong. After waiting in line for about fifteen minutes we began making our way to the top. The first lift we took went straight from the bottom to the second floor where we had to get off and into another line. The good thing is we, couldn't have waited but five minutes for the second lift. The bad thing is, if you hate heights then going up it is quite a doozy. I thought it was going to be bad but apparently my fear of hear aren't anything like that of a few of my friends. Here's a picture from the top of the city:
Finally, after descending a few hundred stairs we made it the bottom and headed out for food. I was really excited about that because we were on a man hunt for some chinese food, which I've been deprived of the whole time I've been here; needless to say, it was great. Once we were finished we made our way over to the Musee Rodin, most famously noted as the keeper of the Thinker statue. Here was the outcome:
Myself, Nick, and Audrey then left the museum to go meet up with some of her friends who are studying abroad in Paris. We talked for a little while about all of the places we had been and were still planning on going Paris and then headed back for the hotel, once again for another siesta. The rest of the night consisted of Kebab's and good company.
Sunday morning we had to check out of the hotel at nine o'clock and seeing as we didn't wake up until 8:15, we were a tad bit short on time. Our last major stop in Paris was the Arc de Triomphe which before then, I didn't even realize you could go inside of it. Here's the result from the top:
After leaving there, me and a few of the guys went to France's version of Burger King who's name is 'Quick.' This is where I got to experience the 'Dark Burger' which is only made by them in honor of the Star Wars movie being re-released in 3D. It was a double cheeseburger on a red bun with pepper corn sauce; pretty interesting really. We then made our last trip back to the hotel where grabbed out luggage and hopped on the charter bus to head back to the airport.
That's my story from the weekend! As for everything around the college, it's going to be really nice this week with a high of about 65 degrees everyday and a low around 40; sounds like beach weather to me. We started our seminars last week which, while interesting, aren't exactly the most entertaining classes ever. But that's partly because on Tuesday's and Thursday's I have class from nine in the morning until six o'clock at night.... which is especially difficult to sit through when you can see the sun out the window. Oh well, at least it's only two days a week.
Hope you enjoyed it and that everyone's having a fun spring break!
Hayden
