Finally back from a long weekend in Paris! I don't even know where to start! I don't think it's really hit me yet that I was IN Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower, Arc Di Triomphe, The Louvre & the Mona Lisa, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, the list goes on and on. I have over 150 pictures (and some videos at the request of Kenny) and a million stories to go along with all of them! It was an adventure to say the least... but most importantly it was a SUCCESSFUL adventure!
Over the course of 3 days we saw every major tourist attraction, ate crepes--eu claires--baguettes--etc, watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night, met creepy french guys, took the typical "Eiffel tower" picture, experienced RUGBY madness and super fans, dealt with the language barrier, mastered the Metro system, took way too many pictures, ohhh and almost got pick-pocketed (long, funny story). It was a great trip to say the least! Like I said before, I have no idea where to start... so I'll just give you all a brief, quick summary of what we did... and I'll share more stories when I get home!
Friday night: we took the train from Leuven to Brussels and caught the High-Speed train from Brussels to Paris. The trip from Brussels to Paris only takes about an hour and a half so it wasn't a bad train ride at all. Once we got to Paris we met up with Katie and Sandy (and Katie's friend Michelle who is studying in Paris). Our afternoon/evening in Paris included a quick tour of the city and our first siting of the Eiffel Tower, Arc di Triomphe, and a few other landmarks. We went for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant on Champs Ellysees (one of the most famous streets devoted to shopping and dining). The best part of the night? Going to the Eiffel Tower at night. Each night, on the hour, every hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles---literally sparkles. We were lucky enough to experience the sparkling while UP IN the tower... and also from the ground. (I got a really cool video of this).
Saturday: We got a good night's sleep and started the day at full speed. Our first stop was Notre Dame. So we hopped on the Metro (which we ended up mastering by Sunday afternoon) and headed that way. The Notre Dame Cathedral was beautiful (which may be an understatement). But personally, I found it weird and rather disrespectful to have thousands of tourists interrupting a legitimate mass. (maybe that's just me). From Notre Dame we went for lunch (crepes) at a little restaurant famous for crepes and sandwiches. After lunch it was off to Arc Di Triomphe. It was cold and rainy so we made a quick trip to the top to take some pictures before heading to the Eiffel Tower. Today, there was a special show going on at the Eiffel Tower (some guy was attempting the longest freefall and then skating down a ramp--well, something like that--Sarah and I got tired of waiting and decided to go take the "usual" Eiffel Tower pictures) From the Eiffel Tower it was time to get dinner (which was at a restaurant near Michelle's dorm).... after dinner we got on the Metro and made the trip back to our hotel. Here's where the story gets interesting....
*I really really wanted some candy. So I went to the vending machine while waiting at the metro station. I put my euros in and pushed the numbers for a Twix.... then we watched in amazement as both a Twix and a package of cookies fell down! It was definitely my lucky day... or so I thought. We were all excited and laughing about it as we got on the metro.... we sat down and waited while other people got on... all of a sudden some guy passing by reaches into our train and tries to grab the candy from me!!!!!!!! I grab back and luckily he was unable to get it... and then he just creepily smiles and me before running away. I couldn't believe it... he tried to STEAL MY CANDY BAR! He didn't care about my friend Anastasia's designer sunglasses, our purses, etc... he wanted my Twix! We were just in shock at this and couldn't help but laugh. The one time we almost got pick-pocketed it was over a candy bar!!!! How crazy... and funny!*
Sunday: Our last day in Paris didn't have much planned. We started our morning at the Louvre (which is absolutely GINORMOUS).... and I got to see the Mona Lisa. (which by the way... is actually really small! I was pretty surprised) We wandered around the Louvre for a few hours... (as I secretly hoped some "Dan Brown novel" experience would unfold--- "
This is just a veryyyy brief description of everything we did in Paris.... I can't even begin to go into detail on everything! I can't wait to tell you all the rest of the stories and show you pictures (trust me, I have plenty!)
I'm beyond exhausted though and we have a full week of traveling coming up! I can't believe the trip is already halfway done! Crazy how fast it's going!
We're off to Gent (another city in Belgium) tomorrow and will be there until Wednesday night. I'll update again soon!
Tootsies!
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