European Tour: Paris, France

The trip to Paris came after our first final, yes...a final after less than a month of class. We once again hauled our bags and ourselves the half mile to the train station. We arrived in Paris early in the morning and had to make our way to the hotel bright eyed and bushy tailed. 

This was our first lesson in European elevators. Some people had brought suitcase/rolly bags (I carried a back-pack) and didn't want to lug their suitcase up the stairs. However, European elevators are not the same standard as American ones. You can fit 2 or 3 people on one at once, and if those people have bags...2 at the most. And that's if you really like the person and are willing to stand thisclose to them for as long as it takes the elevator to get to your floor. So I was definitely grateful for having my backpack that I could just lumber up the stairs with and not have to wait in line for the elevator.

After a quick change and freshening  up, we ate breakfast in the hotel. The traditional "European" affair. Fruit, pastries, breakfast meat, hard-boiled eggs. My favorite was to take the croissant and put ham and cheese on it. My own version of the McDonald's biscuit.

After breakfast G-Rod (I will introduce our professors, and how the school part of it actually worked later) gathered us around and gave us our train tickets, and our tickets to the Louvre, Notre Dame and the classic Paris sights. He was even nice enough to walk us to the museum before cutting us lose with the orders "Be in the hotel lobby by 6 to walk to dinner." As you will later find out, G-Rod did not mess around. If you were not there on time, your butt got left to fend for yourself. We broke off into groups (where the cliques started forming) and explored the HUGE museum. I don't think a week is even enough time to see everything this place has to offer. But since we only had a limited amount of time, we decided to see the "big" things. Like the Portrait Gallery (including the Mona Lisa), Winged Victory (the picture in the far right bottom corner and in the middle with the girls standing in front of it), and the Venus De Milo (the unfortunate woman with no arms).

After spending the entire morning at the Louvre, we (Me, Kathryn, Katie, Tamara, Monica and Molly) moved onto the other famous Paris sights. First up? Notre Dame. We walked around the inside, seeing St. Peter's Chapel and the famous stained glass window. It was our introduction into the churches of Europe (we were destined to see hundreds more...at least that's what it felt like).

Notre Dame

Me, in front of the Arc de Triomphe

Second Stop: Arc De Triomphe. Insert funny story here: The Arc de Triomphe sits in the middle of an eight lane roundabout. There is (apparently) a tunnel that goes from the sidewalk, under the lanes of traffic and pops up at the Arc. We, being our first time in Paris, did not know about said tunnel. So we said a little prayer and ran across all the lanes of traffic...horns blazing and all.

Looking back, it makes WAY more sense that there would be a tunnel, cause that's a lot of people having to run across traffic. But not knowing how to ask in French, we just rolled with it. You can see the cars driving behind me in this picture...really gives you a sense of the danger and the stupidity we had.

The spiral staircase

Walking up the stairs

As if car dodging wasn't work out enough, we then climbed up 1.3 million stairs...well, not really but that's what it felt like. There was an elevator option but considering the food we had been eating (once again, we were obsessed with food) we decided it would be the better thing for our health to walk up the stairs. And I'm pretty sure we saw a grandma doing it cause Kathryn turned to me and said "If she can do it, so can we." So we did.

View from the top of the Arc

With Eiffel Tower in the background

The view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe was totally worth the walk up the stairs. You can see all of Paris from the top (including the Eiffel Tower). It definitely provided us with some good photo-ops. The street in the picture is the Champs De Elysee, the famous Parisian street for shopping.

 
After the Arc De Triomphe, we did head down to the Champs De Elysee for some window shopping. One of the stores included Louis Vuitton, where one purse costs more than my car. So we stuck with the window shopping, made a pit stop by McDonald's for a drink and broke even more laws. I present exhibit A: Molly and I, crossing the street (using a cross-walk this time though) and we decided we needed to have our picture taken right then. Well, me, really. Notice my beautiful self-shot that I have.  You can even see the Arc de Triomphe in the background...

Yummy

We went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, cause remember G-Rod will leave you behind. And why would you want to pay for a meal when it's on the house? We walked from our hotel (as a group) to the restaurant. It was amazing food, but would you expect anything less from a restaurant in Paris, France? I tried escargot for the first time. I'm a pretty picky eater, but I will try anything once (I just don't usually like it). But I actually really like the escargot, then again, the only thing I really tasted was the garlic butter. This picture was proof to my parents that I actually tried it. Looking back on it, I should actually be eating them...but I promise I ate them!

Megan, Kathryn and I with the Eiffel Tower behind us

After dinner, we then made our way (as a group) to the Eiffel Tower. It was starting to get dark, and the walk through the surrounding park and seeing the Siene was absolutely breath-taking. At night, the Eiffel Tower lights up, and there's even a little light show that goes on for 5 minutes or so every hour. We showed up just in time to watch. After the light show, we got in line for the elevator to go to the top of the Tower. Taking the stairs was NOT an option this time. Well, it was...but we definitely weren't going to use that option. Once we got to the top, we enjoyed the views of Paris from it's tallest point. The only downside to the top, it's SO windy. Trying to take pictures (especially when you have a wee fear of heights) can lead to panic attacks. Hence, why there aren't any pictures from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Please google images taken by people who are way braver and less prone to height induced panic attacks.

Some people stayed out near the Eiffel Tower to go to the Moulin Rouge, others of us made our way back with G-Rod. We stopped by a local bar/cafe to grab some dessert and wine/beer. G-Rod even paid for us. I then went to bed, so I could be fresh-faced for our adventures the next day.

We went back to the Louvre the next day. Took a tour of what was Napoleon's living quarters...for such a small man he sure needed a lot of space. We then headed over to the Modern Art Building. Running the risk of sounding uncultured, I'm not really appreciative of art...especially when it's really weird. And no one let us know that "Modern Art" = "Really Weird Stuff." Needless to say there were shoes, and bricks, and a huge pink room with hula hoop looking things in them and nothing else there.

After that interesting experience, we went back to the hotel so we could go to dinner and then on a boat tour of the Siene with our group. We walked past the tunnel where Princess Di was killed (the golden torch in the picture), and saw Notre Dame from the Siene. Other sights included the lit up Eiffel Tower, and the minature version of the Statue of Liberty that France gave the USA way back when. We circled the city of Paris, getting to see the version of it from the water.

After docking, some of us decided that it would be cool to go back to the Eiffel Tower and hang out there. When we got there we found out that vendors come around selling bottles of wine and champagne...sounded like a good deal to us. So a couple of bottles of wine later, we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a photo-shoot.

The boys

The Girls

The Group

The next day was spent in more museums and churches (of course churches), and then we spent a casual night at a bar right next to our hotel.

When we went to get back on a train to Switzerland, our plans were changed due to striking railroad workers. People are constantly on strike in Europe...it's how they get things done around there. So we thought we'd have to sleep in the train station, that was not my favorite idea. G-Rod really came through though, and was able to get us on another train to get us back to Switzerland in time.

To Be Continued...Next Up: European Tour: Cinque Terre