It was 12 AM when Becca and I were half asleep on the hour bus ride from the airport into the city, when suddenly she grabbed my arm and said "LOOK!" When I looked to my right I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time sparkling like diamonds in the distance. Seriously, it was like diamonds. I got goosebumps it was so beautiful.
We arrived in the city and promptly had to begin figuring out the metro system. It wasn't too unfamiliar as it reminded me a lot of the Washington D.C. metro.A friend from Elon that graduated with my sister, Brian Carroll, lives in Paris and hosted us in his great apartment for the weekend. He lives about 10 minutes away from the Eiffel Tower, so when we woke up on Friday morning, we immediately made our way to the tower. We took all sorts of cheesy pictures in front of it, and the whole time I was just so in awe that I was seeing it in real life and not just in a movie or other peoples pictures. We didn't go up the tower, but we did eat ice cream underneath it, which is probably just as awesome. Just joking, but seriously. We then made our way to the Arc De Triomphe. Which I thought was in London. All these historical places get mixed up in my brain. But nonetheless, we saw it and then walked down the Champs-Élysées, which is a street of really expensive shops and restaurants. So. Much. Walking. We continued on to the Louvre and spent a few hours wandering around. My personal favorite was seeing the Mona Lisa. Seeing well-known things like that in real life is cool to me. Museums aren't my favorite place in the world, but I did enjoy seeing art by people I had heard so much about. We then met up with a friend of Becca's who is studying in Paris, and went out to dinner with her and Brian. I ate the best meal of my study abroad experience that evening. Thank you Paris.
Saturday morning Becca and I got up and took the metro to the Palace of Versailles. We struggled to use the metro system well that day. After wandering around the town of Versailles for an hour wondering where the heck the palace was, we finally found it. It was quite extravagant. All of the King Louis' that contributed to the decorative style of this place loved gold. A lot. Fun fact about our tour of the palace: We had head-sets. They totally came with our tickets. I felt like a real tourist, and didn't hate it. After getting tired of looking at ridiculously decorated rooms, we headed out to the garden, and just layed. For so many minutes. Maybe even hours. It was so relaxing, and the beautiful sun made it so enjoyable. We then took the train back to Paris and walked our butts off to make it to the store Longchamp (it's a purse store) before it closed. Literally as we walked up and were about to open the door, the lady inside locked the door in our faces. Closed. Until Monday, after we left. Awesome. We then felt like it was appropriate to treat ourselves to a nice dinner since we spared spending money on semi-expensive French bags. And that is precisely what we did.
On Sunday, we slept in and Brian made us croissants. So good. We ate so many. But I felt that it was legitimate since we were in France and all. Brian then took us to Notre Dame and the area where the Moulin Rouge is (aka the skethcy red light district). Becca and I then went to the Musée d'Orsay which is a museum with art from Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas. It was really neat to see such famous work. We then sat on a bridge over the Seine River and watched the sun set before heading to eat dinner. The waiters were quite flirty with us at dinner, and one of them even fed Becca the last bite of her dessert. Those French men, so romantic.
Although I was happy to come back to Dublin on Monday, it really was a great trip and I'm so thankful for Brian's hospitality and the opportunity to see so many famous things. I'm going to Galway this weekend with our study abroad program, so stay tuned for more travels!
The Eiffel Tower lit up at night.
Me in front of the Palace of Versailles.
Notre Dame.
The Louvre.
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