I’m finally back home in America…okay that’s a lie, I’ve been home for almost three weeks but my laziness has taken over. Ehh. Anyway the recap of my two week adventure begins with Paris. After packing all my belongings into two suitcases and leaving one for my roommate Theresa to put in storage me and my friend Nathan headed out to a 5:25am train to Paris on the famous Eurostar. To be honest I don’t remember much, being so early I fell asleep minutes after finding my seat. I woke up for a few minutes and was able to see some of the gorgeous French countryside in the early morning light, it was beautiful.
After leaving our luggage in the hostel we headed out to meet up with a group called Sandman that gives free walking tours in Paris, as well as around Europe. For the next three hours we walked around Paris getting to hear all about the complicated French history and seeing some of the world famous sights. Of course I took a ton of pictures.
This is our eccentric, but very nice tour guide (whose name I can’t remember) who was from Australia. Here he is giving our group an abridged version of the complicated French history…it seems the French like revolutions.
This is the River Seine that runs right through Paris; in the background you can see Notre Dame in the background. Unfortunately since we were only there for two two days we were unable to go take a look inside.
We walked across Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge across the River Seine. Considered one of the most romantic places in Paris, next to the Eiffel Tower of course, couples put their names on locks and lock them to the bridge to symbolize their eternal love.
Girl Alert: This was the bridge where Sex and the City filmed their final scene of the series in which Carrie and Big finally get back together awwww
After the tour we headed to the Arc de Triomphe where we saw the eternal flame. Apparently a guy was arrested for putting out the eternal flame by peeing on it…he is forever banned from entering France.
Next we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. We were so lucky because it was such a beautiful day.
The view from the second level of the Eiffel Tower.
Nathan got a picture of me on the Eiffel Tower, again just look at that ridiculous view behind me.
Nathan checking out the view a little closer up.
Needless to say after a lovely dinner of French Onion Soup and cheese (oh the cheese, it was soooooooo good I couldn’t stop eating) we collapsed after the day of sightseeing. We needed our rest because the next morning we woke up early and headed out to Versailles. As some of you know I am absolutely obsessed with all things monarchy, such as anything relating to the Tudor Dynasty, and that love includes Marie Antoinette. So one of my had to do things was to take the train outside Paris and to see the once capital of France.
This is just one side of the incredible palace.
The gardens were just HUGE, we only saw a fraction of them.
AHHH it’s the Hall of Mirrors, how beautiful and over the top is this room.
After just a mere 3 hours of walking around we headed back to Paris to go to the Lourve , because clearly we are crazy people and are trying to makes ourselves collapse from exhaustion.
The Pyramid is the modern entrance to the Louvre designed to unify the expansive museum. The subject of much controversy, many do not believe that it takes away from the museum’s beauty.
I found this little girl who was playing in the fountains at the Louvre.
This is the Raft of Medusa, a painting on display in the Louvre, it was one of my favorites from a class I had taken on French painting the semester before. When I finally found it I just stood with my mouth hanging open for a few minutes, I couldn’t believe I was finally getting to see it (I’m a geek and I’m okay with that).
The rest of our trip was spent sleeping and eating of course and the next day Nathan left early for the south of France while I went to the Museo Dorsey since my flight was not until 5pm. Again, being the giant art history geek that I am, I was overwhelmed by the fact that I was getting to see so many of the paintings that I had studied and loved in the flesh. I was surrounded by the works of Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Courbet, Degas, and Gauguin. If that wasn’t enough they had a special exhibit called Crime and Punishment in which Gericault’s pieces Severed Limbs and The Death of Marar were on display. SO COOL! Afterwards I headed to the airport and took a quick flight to Barcelona where I was going to spend a week with my best friend Marisa, my best friend since I was 5 years old, who had been studying there for the semester. The flight was uneventiful except for the fact that everyone on the flight had just come from Euro Disney and were covered head to toe in Disney gear. I was jealous.
Next stop Barcelona, Spain.
