Paris!

Okay, so this Paris trip had a bit of a rocky start but ended wonderfully! This trip was through my student living building, NIDO, and so we got a great deal on the trip. We signed up the second day we got here, because there were only 20 spots open, and only paid 45 pounds for the train ride and two days in a youth hostel. So long story short, the manager in charge of our trip got us there too late on Friday evening and we had to reschedule our train to the next morning at 5:30 am!!!!!!!! He felt really bad and took us all out to dinner that night, upgraded our tickets to business class, and bought us all Metro day passes for Paris. It was disappointing but we wouldn't have had that much time in Paris Friday night anyways. So everything worked out, plus the train ride was only two hours (much nicer than Edinburgh!).

So we arrived on Saturday morning around 10:30 (Paris is one hour ahead of London), found our hostel and headed out on the town. Took us a while to find our way but we eventually found our way into central Paris. We had booked a bus tour ahead of time so we hopped on our bus and were off! The bus we took was called a "hop on hop off" bus tour. It went to all the major tourist sights and could could get off whenever you liked for photo ops and such; the buses circled around all day and a new bus would arrive every 8 minutes, so you could hop back on and continue the tour. It was a great way to see the city fast, especially we only had 30 hours in Paris!

The Opera

Louis Vuitton!!! Wish I could have a shopping spree there...

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower!!! So amazing because it is so widely known and famous, but not my favorite spot. 

Amazing sandwiches...basically all we ate while we were there (and crepes, yum). 

The Louvre, reminds me of The Da Vinci Code. Amazing museum, but we could only spend and hour there we were so pressed for time. 

Some obscure painting...

The Greek and Roman statues were my favorite, could have spend more time here. 

Notre Dame Cathedral. Georgeous, plus there was a ceremony going on outside. 

Inside the Notre Dame. Pictures don't do it justice. 

The Eiffel Tower just happened to start sparkling lights when we were right by it on the bus!!! It only lasted for a few minutes, but we caught it!

A beautiful Sunday morning in Paris!

Sacre Coeur

Moulin Rouge. Wanted to see it Friday night, but because of our change of plans had to settle for Sunday morning. 

Gymnast pose. 

This trip was an amazing whirlwind of excitement and tourist sites jammed into one and a half days. I had very little predisposed expectations of Paris, so I had several observations (mind, I was only there for 30 hours):

1. Breathtaking historical architecture. Actual history before your eyes, you don't get that in the US. Made me want to travel back in history...

2. The food was amazing! You can tell it's their pride...unlike London. 

3. The Metro sucks compared to London's Tube system. Plus, the Metro smells like pee. All the time. 

4. It's true, the people are not as friendly in Paris. 

5. Paris is more relaxed than London. They are prided on beauty, food, and relaxation. Much different feel than London, definitely. 

I loved Paris and would love to have more time there in the future, but I missed London. I'm impartial because it's my home, but I was glad to be back. I did love the laissez-fair attitude of Paris, along with the historical buildings; you really feel the importance and history that used to be Paris. Alright, I have two weeks off from travels, but next stop is Dublin, Ireland and I am really excited about this one...being Irish and all :) Then Germany after that. Thanks to everyone that reads this, post again soon. 

Liz