El Viaje a Paris!

Hello hello hello everybody!! Or should I say, bon jour! I probably shouldn't, because that might imply that I speak even a little bit of French, and after this weekend I can assure you I certainly do not. I have spent the last two days recovering and worrying about how I was going to do this post, but here goes! 


The trip was amazing. Going back to Paris nearly 8 years after visiting with my family was strange, and I remembered so many of the sights, but the experience was completely different! First of all, having never gone sight-seeing without my mother means that I have never had to worry about getting lost or knowing where we were going next, the all-knowing trip-planner did all of that for me (thanks, Mom!). So, naturally, I became "the map girl" for this trip. I was nervous at first that Nikki, Neha, Sinead, and I may have different goals, or maybe we wouldn't travel well together because one person needed too much time to get ready, but I needn't have worried. We meshed very well. Neha and Sinead had never been to Paris before, so Nikki and I suggested things that we had done, and we decided as a group how to spend our days. I mapped out museums, schedules, churches, and graveyards, and Nikki did all kinds of research on food, night life, and hidden gems around the city. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I'll give you guys a rundown of our trip and then some pictures!! I also put all of the pics up on facebook, so feel free to look there as well.

We arrived in Paris on Wednesday night, exhausted and hungry. On the way to our hostel from the airport, the weekend's jokes began... the street our hostel was on was called "Villa de Gobelins" and since none of us can pronounce anything in French, we decided that it was pronounced just like "goblins". As in Gringotts goblins. Moving on, we found a cafe near our hostel, grabbed some quick food, and hit the hay to gear up for our action packed weekend! Our hostel was all we could have asked for. It was much more of a hotel, as we had our own room and bathroom. They served breakfast every morning which consisted of croissants, coffee, and cereal.

Day 1: While we were still in Spain, we bought 2-day museum passes, which would get us into everything except the Eiffel Tower. We decided to use those on Friday and Saturday (days 2 and 3), so Thursday was the day of free sight seeing! We started off by walking from the Jardin du Tuilleries all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. We popped into our new favorite store called Naf Naf, where Nikki bought a fabulous fake-fur vest to fit in with the Parisians! Notably, I found a trench coat that was fabulous, but I put it back. Bummer. Anywho! Back to the sights! We took a million pictures of the Arc, and I did indeed run out into the middle of the street to get a picture... I guess I am turning into my mother after all. Further proof of that hypothesis is that next we headed north of the city to Sacre Coeur, the church situated on a hill overlooking the entire city. We climbed the many stairs to the building and enjoyed the sweeping views! The inside of the church was gorgeous as well. Next we wandered west to Montmartre, a very large and old cemetery. It was like a city: there were street signs and winding streets. Some of the graves were new, some old, and there were some huge family crypts as well. Once we'd had our fill of Montmartre, (we didn't fancy wandering around there in the dark) we sought out a famous Parisian candy shop that Nikki heard about from a friend. It was right across from the Moulin Rouge, and is famous for it's caramels. We of course tried them, and it's a good thing we waited until we had already left the shop, because otherwise we probably would have bought every single one she had, they were so delicious! So then we headed back to Oops! (our hostel) and took siestas, like true Madrileñas! That evening we had dinner at yet another cute street cafe (all the outdoor areas had fantastic heat lamps!), and then met up with some of Nikki's friends from Berkeley who are studying abroad in Paris!

Day 2: Friday brought another early morning, as well as the initiation of our museum passes, and what better way to kick off Paris museums than with the Louvre! We said "hi" to Mona, of course, and the Venus de Milo as well! I had forgotten how beautiful the building itself was. So after about 2.5 hours we departed the Louvre and headed toward the dreaded stairs of Notre Dame! The top level did not open until later in the afternoon, but we climbed to the highest point that we could and started snapping pictures like there was no tomorrow! As a bonus, the sun came out while we were climbing, so we had some nice sunny views! I took a million pictures of the gargoyles, and there were a ton I didn't remember from last time. We stayed on the island in the middle of the Seine for lunch, crepes, and our next adventure, Sainte Chappelle, the church with possibly the most complete stained glass collection in Europe. The windows tell the entire biblical story, from Genesis to the apocalypse. The last activity for the day was the Musee D'Orsay, my favorite! It's the impressionist museum, so we saw Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Monet, and many others. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures, but it was a fantastic museum! We were pretty exhausted after the D'Orsay, so we headed back once again to Oops! for our siesta. That evening we went and explored one of Paris' most happening restaurant areas, in the St. Michel district. We met up with Stephen and Matt and had dinner and then took a night walk around Paris! 

Day 3: Our final day in Paris was slightly more laid back, but there was still a lot to see! We didn't leave the hostel until about 10:30 (as opposed to 9:00 the first two days), and we made our way back to the Notre Dame/Sainte Chappelle area to go to the Conciegerie, the prison made famous by the French Revolution. We saw Marie Antoinette's prison cell! Our next mission was to find a restaurant which claims to have the best falafel in the world... and we decided they may not have been exaggerating! We each got a HUGE falafel for 5 euros, and it was topped off with eggplant which I usually can't stand, but this was exceptional. I could eat that falafel every day. Next was the Pompidou Centre, or the modern art museum. While modern art isn't usually my cup of tea, the museum had some interesting pieces, and not everything was just a white piece of paper with a black line through it (although there were some just like that, and I just don't understand them!). After changing our clothes back at Oops!, we headed for the Eiffel Tower at last. Unfortunately we were fools and didn't think there would be a line. We were mistaken. The line to take the elevator to the top would have taken at least two and a half hours and we would have missed our dinner plans! So we decided to be big girls and hoof it up to the second level! Doing the tower at night was amazing, I loved seeing the city all lit up! For dinner on Saturday we met Stephen and Matt again and went to a Corsican restaurant where I had some incredible lasagna. It wasn't traditional marinara sauce lasagna, it had a red-wine sauce and strips of beef that were so tender it was incredible! To finish our trip off we got some crepes from the "crepes and chicken" establishment across the street from Oops!. Our flight back to Madrid was so early the next morning that we couldn't take the metro, so we had a cab pick us up from the hostel at 4:45am. Super fun! 

Ok so here are a few pictures to give you a taste...

Stormy skies over the Seine.

Throwback pic for Mom... the tanning wasn't so successful in January.

Parisian window shopping: the trench coat I just had to try on!

As promised, the Arc de Triomphe as viewed from the middle of a busy road!

View from Sacre Coeur.

Sacre Coeur.

Grave in Montmartre... we couldn't decide if the tree grew around the headstone, but it was pretty neat!

The Louvre!

Notre Dame... note the confused Parisians... Christmas was more than a month ago, yet there were still Christmas trees and lights all over the city! We also ran into a Chinese New Year parade, but that was completely unrelated.

Inside Notre Dame.

Clearly the best gargoyle.

But this little guy was pretty cool too!

Sainte Chapelle. Very small chapel with such incredible windows!

Four very tired girls at the end of a long day of museums and churches!

Just a touch of modern art!

Beautiful.

Paris by night.

And my favorite... O-H-I-O!!

So some general thoughts about the Paris trip... it was cold. We endured quite a lot of wind and drizzle, but it was all worth it. We found some amazing restaurant districts, which was a new experience for me, since I was so young on my last trip! I was so lucky to travel with girls who had similar goals to mine, and I will definitely continue to travel with them as my stay here in Madrid continues. The food was amazing, and the crepes were just as good as I remembered. And we walked a lot. I will put up some more pictures in a later post once some of the other girls put theirs all up on facebook!

While Paris was incredible, coming back to Madrid was awesome as well. It's definitely feeling like home here. Angelina continues to be frustrated with my roommates, who skip meals without leaving notes and apparently yesterday one of them was in the shower for a full 30 minutes. Angelina also told me that today they told her they would prefer to eat rice almost every day instead of potatoes and whatnot. Angelina is not having any of that, she is very clear that she's been doing this for a long time and there's no way she's going to change for these high maintenance girls! The slightly awkward part for me is that I sometimes have to come act as translator when Angelina is scolding them, because they can't understand her. Angelina and I will both be relieved when their month here is over. 

Most people in our program are traveling this weekend, because we have Friday through Tuesday off. Finals for the intensive month are on Thursday and the regular semester will start next Wednesday! I will no longer have classes on Fridays, which will leave lots of time for Madrid sight-seeing!  Since we had a big trip last weekend, I am having a little stay-cation time in Madrid, during which I will read, go to parks, and visit the flea market. I think it will be a lovely break! One thing I was worried about was the Super Bowl. First of all, I believe it starts at 2 in the morning Madrid time. But one of the clubs is hosting a party with a big screen and pizza, so those of us remaining in Madrid will be going there to watch the game (Go Giants!!). Good thing I don't have classes on Monday, because the game probably won't end until after 6am! 

Alright, well I think that's all for now! Hope this post wasn't too too long, and I'm sure I will think of other tidbits to relay later! I'll try to post Thursday after my exams, love you all!