Paris

Paris, Paris, Paris. I don’t really know where to start here. The city itself was beautiful and enormous. It was kind of a combination of well-restored historical architecture and more modern European architecture. The city was very relaxing. The Eiffel tower was a lot taller from the top than it looked from the bottom. It made me reconsider the idea of skydiving. The city was beautiful.

The nightlife was decent although we really only stayed out one of the three nights. Keith, Bri, and I had drinks at a few bars. The Havana club was the nicest and most modern of them all. This was also the night that one of my friend’s passport got stolen. She had to rebook her flight and I offered to do the same so that she would not have to travel alone. The process ended up being rather simple but was quite a hastle in figuring out the details. The extra night was well worth the stay.

Because of the passport shenanigans I had to rush to see the sights. Luckily the extra night gave me a chance to go back and see more of the stuff. I saw the Louvre and the Eiffel tower both during the day and at night. The Eiffel tower is amazing when it is lit up. The Louvre is enormous. Seriously it’s monstrosity is overwhelming.

I visited several other sights with my group. We saw the Pantheon which is a larger version of the Pantheon in Rome without the dome. We also saw the Cathedral of Nortre Dame. The inside is enormous and the style of art was much different than the churches in Rome. We saw the Sacre Couer. It sits high above the city on a hillside and the view from there is awesome. This church and the Eiffel tower were overwhelmingly infested with immigrants trying to sell you all sorts of souvenirs.

The St. Christopher’s Hostel was one of the nicest I have stayed in. The hostel had a bar on the bottom floor and people staying here pretty much never sleep. The first two nights, our group took up nine of the ten beds in our hostel room. After rebooking the flight, to stay with my friends and help her get home, we had a group of strangers who kept me up all night. Not to mention there was music blasting outside our window for the few hours when the hostel-goers were quiet.

On a different note, the police force in Paris is strict. We found out that it is not impossible for six or seven police officers to jump out of a van and search you because they think you might be causing trouble or that you are being too intoxicated. We also learned that it is not impossible to get kicked out of a bar for having a little too much fun. Names will remain nameless but this memory is one that I had to be sure to put in here somewhere. (Sorry mom and the rest!)

The food in Paris was delicious. I ate my first banana and Nutella crepe which was incredible. I ate a ton of baguettes because the breakfast at the hostel was free and this was one of the two items on the breakfast bar.

One of my favorite parts about Paris was the shopping area. In this area there were a ton of very inexpensive clothing shops. I bought my first ever leather jacket which I looove. I also bought a new pair of classy brown dress shoes. Keith and I were overwhelmed by the selection of clothing along the strip. This was the same strip where a lot of the sex shops were and where we saw the Moulon Rouge. I also bought a scarf and a new winter hat here as well. Thank you Uncle Ron!

Public transportation in Paris was expensive. Each ticket was only good for one way on the underground. This added up quickly as we travelled all around the city for four days. We were buying tickets in bulks of ten. On the very last day I found out that there is a pass for three euro to travel for 24 hours. Instead I spent almost 20 euro on buss passes. Live and learn.

Overall, the trip to Paris was awesome. I am so glad I went. I could have gone without the difficulty of a stolen passport and rowdy hostel-goers but the trip was very enjoyable. My favorite night was the last one. It was very calm and Bri and I got to see a lot of the sights that we had missed the day before.