Paris

Monday, May 5

This morning we woke up from a really terrible night's sleep on the bus. It was fun to be driving around in Paris though, and soon our sleepiness gave way to excitement. We were finally there! The bus parked and we started walking to our apartment. We knew it was going to be a really long walk, but we thought we would enjoy getting to see the city. We started walking with our giant packs and quickly made it to a giant archway in a huge round about and knew that it was the Arc De Triumph! The bad news was that it had scaffolding all over the top so we didn't think we would be able to climb to the top. :( I was really sad because this was one of the things I was most excited to do in Paris, but then I decided it would be fine and the trip would still be great. I would just have to find a different place to get a great view of the Eiffel Tower. We decided to go underneath it and get a good look at it because it was really far from our apartment so we knew we probably wouldn't want to walk all the way back there. To get there you have to use an underground pedestrian pathway because the round about is four lanes wide and has a constant stream of cars, motorcycles, and scooters. After all, this is the Champs de Elyss- the most famous and expensive shopping street in Paris! I'm embarrassed to admit but it took us quite a while to figure out how to actually get down into this secret tunnel haha. When we finally got down there we saw a lady waiting by something that looked like a ticket office. We talked to her (luckily she knew some English) and she said that you could still climb up! This was the best thing I'd ever heard! The office didn't open for another 30 minutes, but you could buy the Paris Museum Pass there and then go straight up. We decided to just wait because we knew we could skip a bunch of lines with that pass and we were already second in line for the Arc! We bought our tickets and went running up, but this guy starts yelling a bunch of stuff. My face probably looked heartbroken because then he explained nicely in English that we weren't allowed up because of our backpacks. Now, I'm tired and adjusting to a new country and I feel so sad that these dang people don't want me to go up the Arc de Triumph! That's all I wanted! Then common sense kicks in and we decide that, while not ideal, we will just go one at a time so the other person could watch the bags. I went up first and just about died. It's kind of embarrassing, but I really did get kind of emotional. Maybe part of this was because I got maybe three hours of sleep the night before or because of the emotional roller coaster this monument put me through, but it also was just one of the most breathtakingly beautiful views I have ever seen. I realized then that the Eiffel Tower is a symbol of my dreams to see different parts of the world, and in that instant it was coming true. This view was truly inspiring to me and I just stood there silently trying to etch it into my memory. I fell in love with Paris right then; a deep, quick love that leaves me yearning to go back to my city even now. I ran down the stairs and gushed about the experience to Rusty until he went up. When he came back down he asked if I would like to go again (he is the best) and I sheepishly said, "Yes if it would be alright..." I don't think I let him answer before I was running up the stairs again.

Scaffolding side...

Pretty side!!

Down in the tunnel

Underside of the Arc de Triumph

Climbing to the top!

Views from the top!

I was even brave enough to ask someone to take my picture!

And Rusty took his own :)

When I finally came back down we walked down the Champs de Elyss. We enjoyed seeing all of the expensive stores, people, and restaurants until we eventually stopped in one that looked promising and ate delicious pastries for breakfast. I got a cinnamon roll type thing that was called Escargot. We were very hopeful that it was called that because of the snail shell shape of the roll, and not because there actually was snail inside :) Rusty got one, surprise, filled with chocolate chips. If I hadn't already been in love with this city the breakfast would have done the job. Heavenly. We ate and strolled and basically just loved our lives. Paris has an exceptional amount of motorcycles, so with that and culturally allowing chocolate for breakfast Rusty was following quickly behind me and my love affair with this city. We had been sure we wouldn't love Paris, which is why we only had a little more than two days there. Get in, see the sights, get out. We were already surprised at how much we liked it!

Macaroons!

My kind of Escargot

Pain au chocolat

We continued walking towards the apartment and walked through the square in town that had the oldest monument in Paris, the Egyptian obelisk. This was also the site of the guillotine during the French Revolution, where 1300 people were beheaded including King Louis and Marie Antoinette. So kind of interesting, kind of eerie. We also walked in the Tulieries Gardens, past the Louvre, and a ton of other buildings that were beautiful but I didn't know what they were. Eventually, we got to the road where our apartment was supposed to be and the GPS said that we needed to go further. We did, but then we realized that the numbers were getting too big. The address was 68 Rue Reaumur, one that I don't think I'll ever forget haha. So we walk back and find the right number and it looks like an apartment so we're like, heck ya. Made it. But then we can't get inside because it needs a code. All that I had from the guy was instructions to ring his name, no code to get inside. So then we think we'll go back to the one the GPS sent us to... But nothing is there! It's like a bar. So we just kept walking around on the street back and forth for a good hour, trying to figure out what to do. We were trying to get WiFi so we could email him or find a phone so we could call him. I thought it would be good to go get some lunch because it's noon now and maybe the cafe would have Wi-Fi, so we go into this cute cafe on the corner by where we think our apartment is. Luckily they do have Wi-Fi! I start to settle down a little bit and order our food but I was still pretty upset and nervous. I got some onion soup (they don't called it French Onion Soup here haha) and Rusty got steak and fries (also not called French Fries) :). They were both delicious!

The backside of the Louvre

A Parisian street

Steak and fries

The best French Onion Soup I've ever had!

Cool building!

We kept trying to make the tablet work but for some reason it wouldn't connect to the internet. We tried a million times but it just wouldn't work. So I stated freaking out and for the second time in Paris felt like I might cry, but this time it was for a bad reason instead of a good one. We decided that we would find a phone and when we left the cafe we did find one, but it only took calling cards... Our options were running out. And we didn't have very much time in Paris! We needed to make every minute count! We went and asked a lady in a store that was right next to the building if she knew anything about how to get in and she said she didn't. So we decided to just stand at the door and ask random strangers if they knew how to get into this apartment. A lady walked past and became our first victim. She was super nice and tried pulling on the door and pressing random buttons, but eventually she said she didn't know how but she was sorry. A man walked past right as the lady was about to leave and asked us if we needed a phone. OH MY GOSH. Best blessing ever. Not only did he let us use his phone, but he did all of the speaking because our host was gone with his wife at home and she knew very, very little English. And people say that the French aren't nice! Ha! They were so far a million times nicer than people in London. We got the code and walked into a sweet old building with a spiral staircase up to our apartment.  We meet Marie, the wife of the man I had coordinated everything with, and then saw our room. It was so much cleaner and brighter than our one in London, and the view was unreal. I could see the Eiffel Tower! Talk about a bonus! I had no idea we could see that from our room.

Our apartment! So cute!

Views from our window

The tiny elevator in our building!

We quickly changed and then headed immediately out to see the Louvre. By now we had lost a few hours so we were going to have to hurry. We walked back to the Louvre, which was pretty close to our apartment, and then went in. We got to skip the lines because of our passes which was fantastic, so we went in and hit up our favorites. My favorite piece (Winged Victory) was being restored so we couldn't see it which was a bummer, but we did get to see so many other things! We saw the Mona Lisa, which was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I knew it was small, but in comparison to the other paintings there it looks really tiny. There were so many people around it and I've never really understood the huge deal about this painting, but I'm glad that I saw it. It's the most famous painting in the world!

We also saw some of the most beautiful sculptures. Venus de Milo is obviously a must see, but I also found new ones that I loved! One that made me just sit and stare for a while was Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss. It was so graceful and light; it looked real.

Venus de Milo

St. John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci

Madonna of the Rocks by da Vinci

The Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Veronese. This is on the other side of the room from the Mona Lisa. Not very many people looked at it, but it is huge and beautiful!

The Rebellious Slave by Michelangelo

Dying Slave by Michelangelo

The actual museum itself is a beautiful work of art too. The ceilings are all painted differently, there are friezes all around the walls, and marble pillars throughout the entire building. It used to be the palace of Louis XVI but after he was killed in the Revolution the people took over this building. Later, it became the world renown museum that it is today.

I was surprised at how quickly time flew by in there. Before we knew it we had spent three hours looking at the paintings and artwork! We left and went outside and sat next to the fountains and big pyramid just soaking it all in.

Then we went over to Sainte Chapelle. But it closed at 6! So we just barely missed it. Worst day ever. We walked over and ate a delicious banana and nutella crepe on our way to Notre Dame. We got there right as the bells were going off calling people to mass. It was so cool! We went in during Mass and looked around and took pictures. It seemed kind of weird to be doing that while they were worshipping, but nobody seemed to notice the crowd of tourists. We sat and listened to them singing, and just like St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey it just felt so right to be hearing the walls ring like that, just like what they were made for. Notre Dame was beautiful, especially because of the stained glass.

Famous gargoyles!

After that we went to Love Lock Bridge and got some gelato. We put our lock on the bridge and then threw our keys into the Seine River. The deal with this bridge is that lovers come here and put a lock on the bridge with their names or initials on it. Then they take the keys to the lock and throw them in the river to symbolize their eternal love. Pretty romantic eh? Rusty even said a bunch of mushy stuff. :) After that we sat in a park behind Notre Dame and just enjoyed the evening. On our way back to the room we got a chocolate eclair. Delicious. Also I've never eaten so much dessert in one day in my life. Did I mention I love Paris? In our room we watched out the window as the Eiffel Tower lit up and then stated to sparkle! It sparkles every hour on the hour for five minutes. So breathtaking! I can't help falling even more in love with this city.

Love Lock Bridge!

Sparkling!

Tuesday, May 6

Tuesday the plan was to get up early and go crazy all day to make up for lost time. We had Versailles, Musee d'Orsay, Sainte Chapelle, the Eiffel Tower, a river cruise, and eating at a sidewalk cafe. We got up at 7 but it was rainy outside and we were so tired. We thought that maybe if it was rainy it wouldn't be worth going to Versailles, and it was going to take about three hours travel time. So we went back to bed to wake up at 8 to get started on everything else. Next thing I know I wake up and it's 10!! Rusty let me sleep in because I was so tired, which apparently we both needed. But now we were running even more behind! About this time I came to peace with the fact that we just weren't going to get everything done in Paris that was on our list, and I was actually perfectly okay with that because it meant we would have to come back. :)

We got up and ate brunch at a little sidewalk cafe while the weather was nice. It was supposed to rain throughout the day so I wanted to catch the good weather for this. We ate an omelette, a croque madame, hot chocolate, and even had a fromage platter!! Yay!! Two of the cheeses were good, but I hated the third one. Yuck. We were so excited because cheese is such s big deal there that if you go to an expensive restaurant they have a whole course devoted to cheese. This appetizer was an excellent way to get to try real French cheeses with homemade baguettes! Also, not to mention that the croque Madame is one of the best inventions ever. Delish. We spent quite a bit of time here just people watching and looking over the Seine River, relishing the fact that we were in Paris. This one a definite highlight for me of the whole trip.

Croque Madame

FROMAGE!!!!!!

Every table in the restaurants had this mustard, pepper and salt

Then we went to the Orsay Museum by walking along the Seine and looking at the things the people were selling. There is something about Paris that made me completely lose track of time. We did not get nearly as many things done here as we did in London, but we spent a lot more time wandering through the streets, soaking up the city, and talking to little shop owners. When we got to the Orsay it had a pretty long line even with the Museum Pass. The Orsay has impressionist pieces and post-impressionist pieces, and the actual museum is what used to be a very grand train station built for the world fair. It was so elegant. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside but I snuck some :)

 

 

We looked around a little but mostly headed up to the impressionist pieces by Monet, Manet, Degas, and Courbet. This type of art is a favorite of both Rusty and I, and I really couldn't think of a better place to view this collection than in Paris. I saw beautiful pieces and even found a new one by Degas that I fell in love with (Dancers in Blue). We stumbled upon a lot of the artists that Rusty studied last semester in his Humanities class. One artist was Courbet and we saw one of Rusty's favorite pieces, The Painter's Studio, which reminded me a lot of Las Meninas by Velasquez which is one of my favorites. Other favorites were Lunch on the Grass, Blue Water Lilies, The Poppy Field, Rouen Cathedral, and more! Not surprisingly, we spent more time here than we were planning on, and should have gone to Sainte Chapelle right after but we still had good weather and I really wanted it to be nice while we were at the the Eiffel Tower. So we went over there which was a pretty long walk, about an hour. On the way we walked past some more incredible buildings and also got some macaroons. We got there and the weather was perfect! We went underneath it and then walked back through the park. Some dark clouds started rolling in so I was feeling good about my plan to go there first. But it never actually rained! We hung out on the grass in Champs du Mars and then knew we had to book it to get to Sainte Chapelle on time.

This picture looks so fake haha. But it is real!

We walked fast and made it there just in time, a little before six! Then we got to the door and it said it closed at 5:30.WHAT. Ah man! I was so sad and mad. We didn't go to Versailles so we would have enough time to do our stuff and we still missed it! And if I hadn't been so stubborn about going to the Eiffel Tower first we would have made them both! Grrr. Oh well. The nice man let us go back and look at the outside of the building which really was interesting, but the whole reason for going was to see the inside. After this disappointment, we sat on the Seine for a little trying to think of what to do next. Something that's tricky about Paris is that things open late and close early, about 9:30-6. Then after that you can't do anything else on your list! So we walked around and then ate inside a cafe to escape the crazy wind. It had been windy almost all day off and on and it was blowing these seeds around that were getting in our eyes and making us both have crazy allergies. We had a delicious dinner at a cool cafe. I had a salad and Rusty got a croque monsieur, which doesn't have the egg that the croque madame has. After dinner we had some unreal crème brulé and another crepe (not as good as the one from the street though) we walked down the river to take a river cruise.

We thought that this cruise would be a great way to end our trip in Paris, and it really was! It was so fun to see the city from the water and to pass under many of the 37 bridges over the Seine in Paris. We got to the Eiffel Tower right as they turned the lights on, and saw the city come to life. We passed under Pont Marie, where you kiss the person next to you and make a wish. Luckily Rusty was next to me :)

  

Pont Marie!

 I can't believe that we had so seriously considered not even traveling to Paris. We had just heard so many negative things and thought it wouldn't be worth it. (Side note: After the whole trip, Paris is my favorite big city that I visited. I AM IN LOVE.).

Wednesday, May 6

Today we woke up and packed everything up to leave Paris. We are leaving very happy with our time here, but feeling like we didn't have enough. One more day would have been perfect! That's alright, we already planned our second trip here while riding on the train haha. So we grabbed our bags and then walked to the Gare de Lyon train station. We took our time and stopped at a little grocery store to get some snacks for the train and also because, quite honestly, we didn't know what to expect in Murren. They said almost all of the restaurants were closed, maybe all. So we thought we'd get a few granola bars just in case. While we were there I hear Rusty yell, "This is what I've always wanted!!!" Next thing I know he's running over to me holding a box of cereal with this huge smile on his face. Apparently France has a cereal that is kind of like Captain Crunch but filled with chocolate (like Nutella). It was hilarious! So obviously we bought that.

A whole store just for cheese!

These were all over Europe. 

True Love!

Street signs in Europe are all on sides of buildings

Then we got lost again, finally found the train station (which was beautiful by the way) and then got confused when trying to find where to go to catch our train. We couldn't decide if platform 2 was upstairs or down, so we literally went up and down the escalator four times. No big deal. Eventually we found the right train, hopped on, and saw some of the prettiest French countryside as we traveled to Switzerland. It was so beautiful with the gently rolling hills and the small towns dotting the land. It was really peaceful and picturesque, and both Rusty and I felt ourselves relax as we left the bustling cities and went to more familiar territory.

The train station!