A Weekend in Paris-Day 1

Bonjour tout le monde!!

This is the beginning to the best weekend of my life.

Our train left at 6:30 am on Saturday, and we arrived in Paris at 8:30 am. For now, it was just Andrea, Talia, Will, Brett, and I. The train ride from Lyon to Paris is not a bad one at all, and its pretty to see the French countryside. When we got to Paris, we we took the metro to the area our apartment was and walked around before we could check in. We walked near the Notre Dame and read about the construction efforts. We found a cafe nearby and ate a great breakfast.

coffee and omelet from brunch; Notre Dame

After we ate, we went to the Luxembourg Gardens. I had never been there before, but they were beautiful. Despite the amount of people, they still felt very peaceful. We watched some kids push boats around in the lake and admired the beautiful scenery. We walked around more and found a bunch of chairs, so we all sat in the sun and read our books for awhile.

all photos from the Luxembourg gardens

A little later on, we were allowed to drop off our bags at the property managers office, but couldn't go to our apartment yet. So we ditched our bags and headed to Montmartre, the area where Sacre-cœur is. Sacre-cœur is a beautiful church that sits on top of a hill. It directly translates to "Sacred Heart". If my memory from high school french class is right, a French bishop and martyr. was beheaded on Montmartre, and he picked up his head and carried it to the top of the hill. Montmartre got its name from him- mont meaning mount, and martre meaning martyr.

Montmartre might be my favorite section of Paris. The basilica itself is absolutely stunning, and the area behind is equally as charming. It is the best area to find Parisian art and I always find good gifts there as well. There are tons of artists painting in the moment and doing caricatures. I've never eaten in the area on top of the mountain, but the restaurants there also look great.

montmartre and the view from the top

We walked back down the hill and found a restaurant. I ate the best pasta I've had yet on this trip, it was delicious. After lunch, it was time to go check into our apartment for the weekend. We went back to the office and got our bags, and followed our host to the apartment. We walked through a charming area, and stopped at big red doors that were nestled in between bakeries. After opening the doors we went through a little tunnel, and then it opened up to a courtyard area with several doors. We were led through a door in the back, and up a spiral staircase to the third floor. He opened our door into the most beautiful apartment I think I've ever seen. It had huge open windows and tons of natural light. There were two bedrooms and a living room, as well as a huge kitchen and a stunning bathroom. Especially since we are used to tiny dorm rooms, this was a dream. It felt very Parisian, which I think is why I loved it so much. The girls got the master bedroom, which had a king sized bed. We hung around the apartment for a bit before going to meet the two other boys at the Eiffel Tower.

my dinner and the view on our walk somewhere in Paris

We decided it would be faster to scooter and bike there, so we rented some Lime vehicles and started on our way. Paris has tons of bikes lanes, and as long as you stay in them then Liming is super fun an easy. However, French drivers are very intense, so outside of the bike lane gets scary in a hurry. About halfway to the Eiffel Tower, it started to rain. These moments are some of my favorite from Paris- riding through the streets in the rain on the way to the Eiffel Tower. It felt like something out of a movie.

When we got to the Eiffel Tower, we stopped at a market and picked up some wine. We walked over to the park that surrounds the tower, and stood under some trees for shelter. We were all soaked at this point, and people were fleeing the park. The other boys joined us, and we enjoyed our wine in the rain. We had three umbrellas to share amongst 8 people: Brett and Talia, me and Parker, Sam and Will, and then Andrea and her friend Rico stood under a tree. We were definitely a funny sight-everyone was cold and tired but trying to keep good spirits.

At 7:00 we headed into the tower. Rico didn't have a ticket, so we gave him an umbrella and decided to meet back up at dinner. We still had to wait awhile for our time to go up, so we looked in the store and stood around complaining about the cold. Finally at 7:30, we walked over to the elevator line. At this point it was absolutely pouring the rain. The 7 of us squeezed together under two umbrellas as the line slowly moved. There were English-speakers in front of us, so we talked to them for a little bit. We had all 7 tickets on Brett's phone, and we had to go through several ticket checkpoints. Every time Brett had to point out all 7 of us and all of us awkwardly walk past the guards. I don't think they were annoyed but they definitely thought we were Americans.

We bought tickets to go all the way to the top, so we skipped the first observation deck and went to the elevator that goes to the top. It was still raining at this point, but we were far enough to the center that it was just cold. We skipped the second deck and went alllll the way up. The top observation level is technically two decks: the lower is inside and the upper is open air (that is fenced off of course). We stood in the closed one for awhile, just trying to warm up. The view from there was even better than I remembered. Parker is not a huge fan of heights (putting that lightly for you Parker), so we stayed with him and helped him conquer his fears. He actually was such a trooper considering the conditions. Eventually we convinced him to go to the upper of the top decks, and we actually hung out there for awhile. We bounced between the two decks on the top level. The rain stopped and the sun came out, which made the view of Paris even better. Parker, Sam and I stayed on the open deck for a long time sharing stories and talking. Eventually we were cold and had lost the others, so the three of us decided to head down and check out the two observation levels we had skipped. The second one is where the gift shop and bathrooms are. It was open air but there wasn't any seating or anything, so we went down to the first level. It has some restaurants-which someday I would like to eat at, but not today. The sun began to set so we went to that side of the tower and watched it. This moment is probably another one of my favorite things I've ever experienced.

views from the top; the bottom three are from the sunset

After awhile, Brett and Talia came and found us. We talked for a bit, and then Andrea called and said that her and Will had gone to the ground and were finding a restaurant for dinner. It was 10 pm at this point, so we were all starving. The five of us went took one last look at left for dinner.

the Eiffel Tower at night

We found them at a restaurant about a block away, and Rico joined us too. We all ordered pizza and fries, and the waiter told us the portions were huge so we ordered one for every two people. When the food came out, it was definitely just one serving per plate. A couple people ordered more, and we devoured what we already had. It was also crazy expensive- I paid 6.90 Euros for a coke. Worth it, but insane. After dinner everyone except Sam, who went to his hotel, took the metro back to our apartment. We sat around and talked for awhile. Parker and Rico went back to their hotels, Brett and I went to bed, and the others went out for a bit. I fell asleep immediately.

À plus tard,

Maggie

(Written for June 4)