I went to Paris this weekend. It was really fun and really busy because we fit sooo much in! We (Adam and I) left Lyon Friday morning and took the speed train (only takes 2 hours) to Paris. When we got there we went to the Museum of Natural History and saw some exhibits and had lunch outside in the really pretty gardens. Adam brought food for a picnic. Nom nom nom. We fed the birds too, they were the healthiest looking birds I’ve ever seen!

Then we went to the Russian embassy to try to talk about our visas but they were already closed. From there we could see the top of the Eiffel Tower so we headed that way. We wandered around it but didn’t go up because I wanted to wait for Cloe. We were tired at this point so we took a rest/nap in the grass at the base of the tower. Luckily Adam had an emergency camping blanket in the bottom of his pack so we had something to sit on and stay dry.

Then we went for more of a walk and got some coffee at a café. We wandered up this street, Rue de Montagne, that was SOOO rich. There were Aston Martins, Mercedes, and a Bugatti parked on the road! The Bugatti had Arabic plates…I really want to know who owns it! The stores were major designers like Valentino, Prada, Jimmy Choo, Dior…wow.

On our walk we wandered past other sights like the Grand and Petite Palais, statues of Churchill, sculptures, gardens, etc. That evening we met Cloe at the Arc de Triumph, a big circle that many roads in Paris radiate out from. We saw the sunset there, and the Eiffel Tower light up. It was really pretty. We met up with Cloe, dropped our stuff off at her house, and went to dinner at her favorite local restaurant.

The next day, Saturday, it was rainy so we planned to go to the Louvre. First we took the subway to Notre Dame. It is such a beautiful, imposing building. The interior is so epic too. It was kind of sad though because they just cleaned the inside and out to make it prettier for the tourists, and yet there are beggars outside. Then it started to rain so we walked to the Louvre. On the way there we crossed the Pont Neuf (new bridge) which is actually the oldest bridge in Paris.

In the Louvre there is so much great stuff that you get overwhelmed. We only spent about 2.5 hours there but our brains and eyes couldn’t take in much more! We saw famous paintings (like the Mona Lisa, Muse’s Ship, and others whose names I don’t know but whose images I recognized), Italian sculptures, Egyptian artifacts, the glass pyramid…

When we left it wasn’t raining any more so we went on a walk and found some lunch, sandwiches at another cute café. We wandered for the rest of the day and went home to meet Cloe’s mom for dinner. She took us to her favorite restaurant. It was a little local co-op with delicious traditional French food. We got wine, frois gras (it is actually delicious), duck, and other delicious things. Adam left for Lyon after dinner and Cloe and I went home.

Sunday we went to the Eiffel Tower in the morning and went up. We didn’t get to go all the way to the top because it was closed, but we got to the second story. The view was wonderful. She pointed out a lot of the buildings we had seen from the ground. We took the elevator up, but walked all the way down the stairs!

For lunch we went to Montmarte an artistic part of town where La Bohem (the art movement “children of the revolution” period) started. We had a really good lunch that was slow but delicious. Then we went to this big beautiful church on a hill that we saw from the tower. The view from the steps of the church was beautiful too. This church was pretty too, but the inside was less ornate than Notre Dame, with beautiful stone formations instead. The shape of the church was pretty, it had lots of gargoyles on the outside and such.

Finally we walked down the hill to the Moulin Rouge. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. By this time there was only a little while before I had to leave, so we went home so I could get my things. I took the train back in the evening and fell into my bed exhausted that night. What a great weekend. I feel I got a little taste of everything Paris has to offer (though not a good bite by any means!).

Some Pictures:

Tada! There it is!