Seeing the World with Rose Colored Glasses

Day 1:
Our journey started with a train ride. It’s funny how traveling, not matter what the mode you take, is all about hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. We boarded our train to enter our couchette (sleeping car). It was funny because every time we would talk about our couchette I thought about the Knight bus from Harry Potter. Sorry to disappoint but, this train did not look anything like the Knight bus. These cars were very small and had 6 bunk beds. We really lucked out because it was only part of our group in the car. We slept all night and woke up in the morning to be 30 minutes outside of Paris!!



Once we finally got our metro tickets we hopped on the metro and rode to our hotel. It was a place by the name of Fiap. It was a pretty neat place but when we got there we could not yet check in so we put our baggage is storage. A couple of friends and I then decided to go do a little exploring to see how far away we were from all of the sights. We decided to get off of the metro at one of the stops for the Louvre because there were many things there we could go see. Once we were there we found out that the Louvre was closed on Tuesday which meant that if I wanted to go see it, I had to go that day however, we still had to meet back at the hotel. So, we decided to run and get lunch and head back to he hotel to check in and let everyone else know about the Louvre just in case they were in the same situation.

When we made it back to the hotel we didn’t see anyone so we just dropped our luggage into our rooms and then ran back to the Louvre. Being there was almost too much to handle. The museum is just unbelievably breathtaking. We had only 2 and half hours to see the museum but I could have used 2 and half days. The Louvre was everything that I expected and then some. The overwhelming feeling when being in there was just awestruck. The shear size of some of the works was something that I didn’t expect. We were talking as we were walking around and we just didn’t know how an artist could visualize their works in such grandeur. After we were finished at the Louvre, we once again raced back to the hotel so that we could eat the dinner that was included in our room rate. We met up with a few more friends and then headed to one of my favorite parts of the day, the Eiffel Tower.




It seems horribly cliché to love the Eiffel Tower but until you are standing on the top, you can’t completely understand the feeling. It was just such a breathtaking view and so worth it for the cramped ride up the elevator. Once we made it to the top there were little placards up around the tower talking about some of the history of the tower. One thing that I learned was, that the Eiffel Tower was used as a place for scientific experiments. I tell you what, if that was where my experiments could happen, I might consider majoring in the science field. It was just a lot of fun being up there and getting a bird’s view of the city. Once we felt like we had sufficiently soaked up the sights of the city we started to head back down to the street level. Back down on the street level, we decided to sit down on the grass in a park right under the tower and watched the lights in the dark. It was a magical sight to see and a perfect end to our first day in Paris.



Day 2:
We awoke very early Tuesday to have as much time as possible in Paris! We ate a somewhat filling breakfast (also included in our hotel cost) and then headed out. The first item on our list was the Musee D'orsay art museum. The museum is found in the centre of Paris on the banks of the Seine, opposite the Tuileries Gardens, the museum was installed in the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. The building itself could be called first "work of art" in the Musee d'Orsay, which displays collections of art from the period 1848 to 1914. The museum does not allow pictures to be taken at all. While at first I was supremely disappointed, as I was walking around I didn’t even mind because it allowed me to really experience each painting that I saw. We spent about 2 hours walking around the museum looking at all of the art. It was very beautiful and worth every minute. After walking around the museum, we headed over to the majestic Notre Dame.
On our way to the Notre Dame we spotted a small music store and of course we just had to stop in. When we stopped in there was a little old man standing behind the counter and surrounding him on all four walls were wall to ceiling bookshelves of sheet music. Needless to say I could have spent a fortune on music but was able to resist and just look. Being in there was just fun though because it felt so intimate, not like the brash, florescent lighted, music stores in the states. It was no bigger than a really oversized closet. After a friend and I sufficiently scoured the music we continued heading to the Notre Dame to meet up with the rest of the group we were traveling with. When we reached the Notre Dame it was such a sight to see. The detail and grandeur of the cathedral was just indescribable. The stained glass windows were probably my favorite part. The colors that were used and the size just took my breath away. These pictures that I have posted underneath are of the same window, one from the inside and one from the outside. If you look closely at the picture from the outside, at the top where you see what looks like a railing is where I ended up after climbing 400 steps! It was a beautiful sight.




After we left the Notre Dame we started walking and headed over to the Latin Quarter to see what we could find because there are all kinds of shops and restaurants. It was a really neat sort of kitschy kind of place, and had I had more time I could have really done some serious shopping. We couldn’t spend much time in the Latin Quarter because we had to run back to the hotel and get ready to go see… Les Miserables!!

While we were at the Notre Dame we ran into one of our group members who had been staying with her friend instead of with us and she told us about a theater that was showing Les Mis. Not only were they showing it, it was in English with French subtitles and how we could get very cheap tickets, if we showed up an hour early. So, we ran back to hotel got ready ate a quick dinner and then sprinted to the Theater (well via Metro… ☺). When we got there we met up with our friend and waited to see if we were going to get tickets. Not 45 minutes later I was sitting in my 20 euro seat (which usually would have been 70+!!) completely content. I was able to snag one picture before I found out that there were not pictures allowed in the theater. Below is the contraband picture just to show you how amazing my seat was!!



The show was something like I had never seen before and more than I expected. I had never really heard much of the show so it really was a new experience. It was also really neat to see a show set in Paris… in Paris. Also, not only did I see a show set in Paris in Paris, I also understood everything that was going on because they were speaking English!! It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.

After the show it was a little late but we wanted to do one more thing while in Paris soo, we went to meet the rest of our group at the Eiffel Tower to see the lights one more time. We jumped on the metro and went to the Tower. We walked around looking for our group but never found them, so we decided to sit down. Later we found out that they decided to leave about the time that we got there. It was a beautiful night to sit and once again see the lights.





The next morning we woke up ate breakfast and prepared for the train ride home. Overall it was a wonderful trip and if I had three wishes one of them would definitely be to visit Paris again to catch everything that I missed.

I hope that you enjoyed my Parisian adventures!!

Auf Wiedersehen!!