Lovell Me True: Paris!

We left Barcelona to fly to Paris on Monday, June 16th. We were lucky enough to arrive in Paris during the Metro strike. This meant we weren't able to take the tubes to our hotel, and instead had to figure out, without knowing any French, which bus we could take to get to our hotel. It was rush hour, with no tubes running, so everyone was trying to get home on the buses. This was probably one of THE worst experiences of my life. At every bus stop, more people got on, and we got pushed farther and farther against the side of the bus, with our luggage between our legs. I was unlucky enough to be against a pole, into which I kept getting shoved harder and harder. There was a pole against my knees that they kept getting pushed into. Not a good thing with bad knees already. I also managed to end up with the pole in my chest. So anytime someone tried to reach for the pole to hold on, they would also grad my chest. There was much pain and groping involved. I believe I will never take a bus in Paris again.

By the time we found our hotel, we were all really tired, especially after another day of travel. So we spent Monday evening just getting dinner and walking around some. We got pizza at a little cafe, where the chef kept trying to hit on us, and made our pizza in the shape of hearts.

We tried going to The Louvre on Tuesday, only to discover that it is closed on Tuesdays. We didn't have any other plans made yet, so we decided to go straight for the Eiffel tower. As it was also Rachel's birthday, I decided to call her from the top to wake her up to tell her happy birthday. I called her when it was about 7:30 AM in Seattle, and she wasn't too happy about being called that early, especially for me to tell her where I was. I think it really made her happy, though.

The Eiffel tower took most of the day. We climbed up to the second deck, and then took the elevator to the top. I don't remember how may stairs there are, but there are a lot! I think it was 700-ish? But I'm not entirely sure on that. The view from the top was amazing! We were all worried about climbing that many stairs, but I was really glad we did it. Here are some of the pictures we took:

Wednesday was my birthday, and we spent it visiting Versailles palace. It was absolutely beautiful! It was a great way to celebrate a birthday! It took the whole day to travel to Versailles, see the palace and the gardens, and travel back to Paris. I thought it was worth it! The gardens were so amazing, it was nice to just walk around and enjoy the sun outside of the city. We also ate some crepes and ice cream. Is there a better way to spend a day?

It's a VERY large complex. I couldn't get all of it in one picture, even from this far away.

Me in the Hall of Mirrors with my audio guide. I think I could handle living here...

Birthday dessert!

Thursday we were planning on doing a bike tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours, founded by an Aggie, but this was the part of our trip when we all came down with a cold. We woke up Thursday morning not feeling like riding bikes. Instead, we found Notre Dame and spent some time there, before reading at a Starbucks for a while to enjoy a break and escape the rain. After Starbucks, we went to see Champs-Elysees, the famous shopping street in Paris, along with the Arc de Triomphe. We ate dinner at an outdor cafe on the Champs-Elysees before heading back for some rest!

Friday we decided to go on a walking tour of Montmartre, where many famous artists have lived and worked, including Van Gough and Picasso. We also saw the only vineyard left inside the city of Paris, Montmartre Cemetery, the Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coeur Basilica, and some of the remaining famous windmills. It was a really fun walk! Friday night we went to The Louvre, after discovering that they have free admission on Fridays from 6-9 PM for 18-25 year olds. We didn't have a lot of time, but we still saw most of the highlights, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. We met up with my friend Lexa from my job at A&M for dinner, and also got more crepes for dessert.

The real Moulin Rouge

One of the famous windmills

Sacre Coeur Basilica

Inside the Louvre - I've read The Da Vinci Code, so I had to take this pic

Kristin and Lexa at dinner

Saturday we spent the morning doing laundry and getting some French baked goods from a bakery down the street. FYI - the laundromat we went to was pretty sketchy, including a crazy, foaming-at-the-mouth guy and all. Then we packed up our cameras and books to go take some pictures in front of the Eiffel tower and read in the park.