PARIS! :-)

So. I went to Paris this past weekend! (October  8 -10) And it was brilliant! It was much more admirable than I had ever dreamed it would be.

To be honest, my expectations about Paris were pretty low, just from listening to what other people had said about it. That they were glad they went, but wouldn't go back, or that it was dirty etc. But when I got there, I was actually pretty blown away. It ended up being way more historic and beautiful than I had ever thought that it would be! Which was such a great surprise. There was so much to look at and so many things to see, that I was so exhausted from taking it all in.

We got there in the late afternoon on Friday, and went up to tour the Jubile Church. To be fair, I'm not quite sure what the full name of this church is! I even looked at all of my brochures, but they are all in French. I guess I need to learn how to read French. Or I could probably look it up? But that requires more time. But anyways! They were selling glasses of wine, nuts, chocolates, etc. all throughout the streets. So, of course we had to join in the festivities, and tried just about everything. We wandered around a little longer and ended up eating at a cute little cafe. Which had excellent food! Paris has such wonderful food, I don't think you could ever eat anything bad there. They have such fresh breads, and all sorts of meats, and of course lots of wine! I had the best French Onion Soup on Sunday! Dad, you would have loved it! It was so wonderful. I don't think I'll ever be able to have a bowl again back in the states!

Saturday we woke up extremely early and toured Notre Dame, the Louve, and of course, the Eiffel Tower. Notre Dame was actually quite impressive. It was massive, with so much rich structure and history, that we were there for hours. The Louve was really neat, because I got to see the Mona Lisa! Which was more beautiful in person, but since it was blocked off from about a 15 ft radius, you couldn't get up close enough to it to really appreciate it. I did take loads of pictures in the museum though, mostly of all of the other paintings that I had recognized from learning about them in school. I was just so excited because I actually knew all of the symbolism and background information about each of them. The museum is enormous, and we only went through probably a forth of it that day. You could spend ages in there, but we had other stuff to see, so we didn't go through the whole thing!

We went to the Eiffel Tower at around 4 or 5 in the afternoon on Saturday, and I must say, it was way more remarkable than I had ever expected! I just stood under it in awe for a good long while, just thinking how impressive it was. We went up to the top around sunset -- which was quite perfect, because we saw the city during the day, but then we saw everything lit up at night! The river flows right next to the Eiffel Tower, and there were colours of all sorts from the city reflected off of it, and it was absolutely stunning. ( maybe that's the art nerd in me, I'm not sure! )

We were just up on the Eiffel Tower, and I just stood there in awe, and it literally took my breath away! I never thought I would say that about Paris, but it was amazing. I also took loads of pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night, which was magnificent as well. I guess if I had to suggest, I would definitely recommend going up the Tower at night! I think that was my favourite part of the whole trip.

It was such a great weekend! It really really was. It worked out all pretty well, and was worth every penny. (A little expensive penny!) Actually -- My trip wasn't too bad, considering I was already over here on this side of the world, transportation was pretty cheap. Everything went pretty smoothly, except our one friend Zack, actually got pick-pocketed on Saturday. Which was kind of a bummer for him, because it was such a hassle! I was walking right next to him and these two or three young boys started harassing him about signing a "petition" and unzipped his fanny pack in the midst of it all, and stole his wallet. It all happened so fast I don't remember exactly, but luckily, that's the only thing they took, because he has his camera, passport, etc in there as well! I'm not sure why they didn't attack me also, but I did had my belt thing on under my shirt..

so thanks Grandma and Grace for giving me those! :-)

They are so helpful! I wear my very often! And I held onto everyone else's important things in mine after that incident. I don't think I will ever travel to a big city like again that and not wear one of those. Also.. just for future reference: Don't wear a fanny pack when you go places! I think it's a direct target for things like that.

But other than that, the weekend was great! He still had a good time, and he only lost about 50 euros out of it, so he wasn't too upset. We got back around 8:00 England time on Sunday, and was exhausted from all of the walking we did. But I had to stay up pretty late to finish a project that was due the next day!

( Don't worry parents, I got it done and turned in.. with an A of course. ;-) lol. )

I should probably stop writing now, because this is mighty long! I took hundreds of pictures, but I'll try and only post the really good ones! ( Just for you Brother Brent.. I know you think I take too many pictures )

But don't worry! I'm going to get them all developed when I get back, and make a gigantic album to show all of you :-) And Brother Brent will look at it also. And he will like it. hehe!

Pretty trees!

Ritzy but sweet apartments / cafe. I wonder how much this costs to live in? Too much I'm sure

Random street picture that I like :-)

The cops had such pretty horses! But they were fenced in and wouldn't let me pet them.  And I couldn't speak any French to ask them nicely.. so they probably thought I was just crazy.

Cute cafe -- They are everywhere! I didn't see one club or bar there.. only cafes, which I thought was very strange.

The very pretty Jubile church!

Statue and Paris streets

The sun was rising, I thought it was so pretty. And yes -- we were up very early that weekend!

Eiffel Tower!

Me, Zack, and Jess!

Up top the Eiffel Tower. We got there right at sunset!

But looking out over the city was WAY prettier at night! -- This was my favourite part of the whole trip :-)

Another. : -) Again. Favourite part! It really was breathtaking. I can't even describe it.

The bridge at night!

Paris streets -- everything looks the exact same! Needless to say, we got lost a few times! (And yeah, this photo got out of order and it wouldn't let me put it in the proper place.. Sorry! )

Eiffel Tower lit up!

And again, by the river

And again, with me :-) I look photoshoped in there.. but I swear I was actually there!

Me being random. I thought these were pretty fall colours though!

Fountain

The Louve! ( The art museum where the Mona Lisa is! )

Inside the Louve :-)

Monument inside the Louve

Me and the MONA LISA!! I have loads of these pictures, but I will only post one. It was pretty awesome!

The art museum! I didn't realize the entrance looked like this, but it was pretty neat.

Me by it! I thought I was so sweet

One of the bridges in Paris

Random buildings -- but they were still so pretty.

Bridge

Notre Dame!

Doorway - It was so lovely.. So many beautiful sculptures

The inside of Notre Dame -- It was gorgeous, I wish you could see it in person.

It had just such a massive structure.. it was so impressive.

Statue outside of Notre Dame

(Sidenote --- Just before I posted these photos on here, I knew I had a lot of pictures but my iphoto just gave me the count: 817! pahaha! I about died. That's a lot of pictures! ) But, that's alright, I just tried to pick a few good ones! :-) I guess I should go back and delete some.

I hope everything is well back home!

Thanks again for checking up on me and my blog :-)