Paris!

Well, here I am, laying on my bed in my hotel staring out my window at the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur.  It has been a long couple of days but very fun ones nonetheless :)  The train trip yesterday was very long indeed, and running on now sleep made it a bit of a challenge.  The Eurostar was interesting, but I fell asleep for about an hour of it, but it was alright.  I arrived in Paris and walked for about 15 minutes to my hotel.  I was supposed to go see the Galleries-Lafayette but was running on negative sleep so I just stayed in and prepped for the next day.

I woke up at 6am, and was able to be up and out at 6:45.  I walked down to the Metro station at Anvers, after having walked into a car park because it was dark and I couldn't see a sign for the metro.  But I made it and was off to Versailles! I grabbed a raspberry muffin for breakfast during one of my train changes.  The ride there was really nice.  I was actually on a double-decker train, which I didn't know existed.  I got to Versailles and the sun was not up yet and the castle didn't open until 9am.  I killed the half hour walking around the gardens and taking pictures :) Disney World music (from the actual park, not songs from the movies) came on and just added a sense of grandeur and a certain je ne sais quoi.  So I switched my iPod to play just that album and it was EPIC! Rather nerdy, yes...but it seemed to choose the right songs and would swell at such good points (like when I walked into the Hall of Mirrors). ANYWAYS, after walking around I queued for tickets, and I heard a person talking with an English accent and I smiled.  I got my ticket and walked inside the gate.  I turned around the sun was rising just over the one side of the Palace.  It seemed so fitting that I saw the sun rise over the former residence of the Sun King.

The heels = WONDERFUL

I walked through the chateau and it was stunning! I couldn't believe that I was really there, after the years of learning about it and seeing pictures in french class.  The Hall of Mirrors was just as amazing as I thought it would be.  I also had a mini fit of joy when I saw the painting of Louis XIV in his heels and wig :D
Have a glance through my pictures on facebook to see everything!

After that I headed back to the train station, which ended up taking me at least a half hour to find.  The Chateau has a bunch of small streets that come together right before the main street to it, and so I ended up taking the wrong one.  But I eventually found it and made it back to the city :) After that I headed to Notre Dame! Again, just as spectacular as I thought it would be.  I was thinking about going inside but it was SWARMED with people so I decided I would be okay skipping that.  After that I walked over to the Louvre.  But on my way I decided to head over to this one interesting looking building that seemed to have a mob of people in front of it.  It turned out to have a giant ice skating rink and a stand along the side selling crepes!! FOOD! SO MUCH HUNGER! I got a crepe with nutella, and it was warm and it warmed up my freezing hands and it was DELICIOUS!

After that I headed over to the Louvre.  There were a butt ton of people around trying to get everyone to sign something, but I managed to slide past them and get down into the mall.  I bought my ticket and headed up to see the Mona Lisa.  As I suspected, it was incredibly underwhelming.  It was tiny...and quite frankly, when you think about it, I still don't quite understand why this of all paintings is so insanely famous! After that I walked around some more, walked down to the Greek artifacts and then the medieval section.  

Arc du Triomphe 

I headed out and across the gardens to the Champs-Elysees!!!  Before that I walked past a Ferris wheel and this really cool Obelisk. I grabbed a ham and cheese crepe from one of the vendors.  Onto the Champs-Elysees!  It was in full Christmas mode and stretched for a few miles! Stalls lined up side-by-side selling crepes, hot wine, Christmas ornaments, souvenirs, and many other things.  There was also a section for free 10 minute massages, but I decided to press on instead.  Along the way I saw a soldier in fatigues with his gun on his shoulder...which kind of puzzled me.  But onward! The Christmas Market ended and soon I found the Holy Grail aka Laduree.  This place is known for its macaroons so I waited in line and got 6 macaroons in a very pretty light purple box.  I saved them for later though and continued on to the Arc du Triomphe.

After walking around the Arc du Triomphe and seeing the tomb of the unknown soldier with the eternal flame, I hopped back on the Metro.  I got off and headed to the Eiffel Tower :) I was actually a croque monsieur...because I had to (ham toastie with melted cheese on top), and enjoyed the amazing view.  I wasn't on ground level with it, and it was getting cold so I didn't go up.  I hung out, enjoyed my croque monsieur, and took in the fact that I was actually seeing so many of the places I had read about in high school.  Ir was definitely an amazing day :) I am now EXHAUSTED! I also wanted to give a shout out to Kara for making my entire itinerary for me! Even though I took a few wrong turns, I still saw everything, plus a few things that weren't even on there thanks to those wrong turns :-P  I have now spent the rest of my night in my hotel, delaying packing by skyping people and blogging :D It's now a little past midnight, and the light on the Basilique is off.  Maybe I should just pack and go to bed.  Alright, night everyone!!
~Carolyn