I think the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas is bigger...

Hello!!! SOOOO the long weekend of March 25th-29th I spent in PARIS, FRANCE!!!! EEEK, so exciting:) It can only be described as fantastic, that is a fact. We took a train from Grantham to Kings Cross station London, and then the Eurostar to Paris. The Eurostar was a just like a normal train, but my ears popped a lot. Once there (it took about three hours), we had to take the metro (all forty something of us, luggage and all...tourists ya think?) to our hotel. It was pretty much just like the tube in London, except more homeless people I'd say, and it smelled like pee. We got to our hotel and checked in, and it was about 8:30. My friend Abby and I decided to just explore the area around our hotel a little bit. It wasn't very impressive honestly, and some guy came up to us and mumbled in French and told us to follow him, "it's no problem, come with me, no problem". We said no and walked away...but I'm still very curious what he was saying...interesting people in Paris! Though that wasn't the last time we were approached, I generally felt safe where we were. As long as your smart, it's easy to not get taken advantage of. I think the most interesting thing that we were told to me aware of is gypsy children. They're kids that are trained to look needy and then they steal your wallet. So sad...

Thursday was our first full day in Paris. We started off with breakfast at the hotel, which was wonderful! I haven't eaten so much bread, in I don't even know how long. OH and the croissants were SO good! I snagged some of the baguettes to take with for lunch and a snack too. Abby and I were going to explore on our own, but a few more people joined in. I've learned that I definitely travel best in small groups. The day was full of a lot of walking. To get to some places we took the metro. Abby and I split a pack of Carnets. Which is 10 metro passes. That lasted us the first to days perfectly. That was about 6euro for each of us (about 9 dollars). We started out at the Arc De Triomphe, which was very cool! I heard that the view from the top is even better than the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't go up. A lot of people visiting Paris get the Museum pass which is like 32 euro, but I didn't because I knew i would be entertained enough without going into places (some may think that's lame, but I don't regret it at all, I was thoroughly entertained:)). We stopped at the Eiffel Tower of course...and I shouldn't' even admit to this...but i think it's funny so I will...I thought it was pretty ugly actually. And a little anticlimactic (however, seeing it at night was so beautiful, that it suppressed all my negative feelings of the structure during the day!), but I'm not really into the big touristy things like that, so that's probably part of it. There were so many freaking people trying to sell crap, I wanted to punch them all in the face by the end of the day. they're just annoying...and they gypsy women that try and tell you how sucky their life is, and then they pickpocket you while you're pitying them. It's a very interesting city. When I see people like that, I'm really intrigued by what they're really like. I wonder if their nice people that are really desperate, or if they really suck that much to do that...hmmm...Life's unanswerable questions. We also saw the Louvre, and Notre Dame and some other stuff along the way. By about 4 we were SO tired. We sat in Notre Dame to take a little break, and ended up sitting there for like half an hour. Eventually we made our way back to the room. Abby and I decided to take a little nappy poo and then meet up for dinner at 6. We went to a supermarket down the street and got bread, meat, cheese and grapes. It was seriously one of the best meals of my life....SO GOOD! Yum...I also saved some of mine for the next night as well. That's the best way to do dinner while traveling without a doubt. We planned on going out for some cafe or something...but somehow we ended up staying the room for the night. Which was needed, since we were so tired from the days activities. Overall the first day was pretty good, a little anticlimactic...but the next few days made up for the fully. They were amazing!

Arc de Triomphe

Hmm, what's that?

Eating our crepes

Friday morning we had breakfast again, then Abby and I headed to the metro, and then to the train to go to Versailles. It's a rich suburb of Paris, took about half an hour to get there, and is home to the Chateau de Versailles (where Marie Antionette lived etc...). It was pretty neat, and we actually paid to go in! The rooms were gorgeous just like any other palace I've been in, but the murals were breathtaking! So amazing! And the Hall of Mirrors was so cool. It was kind of a crappy windy day, but we still walked around the gardens for quite a bit of time. The statues outside were covered because it's still a cold season for them (they should come to MN if this is cold...ha) which I was bitter about:) Next we went to a little side street shop for a hot dog baguette thing that they have everywhere here. It was very yummy. Once back from Versailles at about 3, we planned to head to Monmarte in the North of France. When we were on the metro to get there, it took a little longer then usual to start going. Then every once and awhile an announcement would come on, and a few people would get off...but of course we didn't understand any of it. I figured we might as well stay on until everyone gets off, then we know it's for sure not going anywhere. I think we waited about half an hour, it finally moved one stop, and then a worker actually told us to get off. Well, that line that just shut down was our way home AND way to Monmarte, so we asked a worker what to do. They sent us on another line that would get us about a ten minute walk from Monmarte. We got there OK, but once we exited the station and got on the street, we glanced at each other and just laughed. We were pretty much in the ghetto of France. I definitely saw a coke deal go down and there were people EVERYWHERE. This was one of the only times I truly thought I was going to get my bag stolen. I held on for dear life while we passed through the huge crowds and these guys lining the street tried to sell random crap like sunglasses that they had just bought in the store they were standing in front of. It was bizarre. I got some super cute postcards though:) It was a straight shot at some point Abby said we should see it to the right. Then I looked right and was SO pleasantly surprised! All I really knew about this place was that there was a basilica, artists like to hang out there, and that it's Abby's favorite place in France from when she traveled there a few years ago. When I looked down a street there was a beautiful grassy hill with an AMAZINGly gorgeous white church on the top. Blue skies just made it that much more gorgeous. We swung right and there was a little street with all kinds of cute touristy shops and crepe stands. I was already in love. We got a Sucre crepe and headed up the stairs to the church. On each side there was a group of guys with bracelets, and I guess I didn't really notice. As we started up the stairs they got closer and closer and then Abby mumbled "OH, don't let them grab your wrist". They try to grab your wrist and tie a cheap string bracelet they made on it and then charge you for it (or swipe your wallet as you take it out to pay). I tell you what, if they tried to do that, I would not be happy). We survived the sales pitch, and Abby explained to me that they did that to her when she was here and her dad was really pissed. We decided that we should leave before dark, so we only stayed about an hour, but decided we would surely come back because we loved it. We found a different line home, so it was far less sketchy on the way back. We ate some more supermarket dinner once back at the hotel, and then met up with a group of people hang out. It was a great day.

The beauty of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

The gardens

Abby trying to sneak a peak at the covered statues

"Stay of the grass" we think the sign said...but then again we don't speak the language so it doesn't apply:)

First visit to Sacre Coeur, Monmarte

Some artists at Monmarte

After fro'in my hair

Saturday, we planned to go back to Monmarte right away with two other girls. We got a day pass for the metro which was super cheap (only 3.20 euros) and we were very excited. We spent the morning there exploring and souvenir shopping (not that I bought much, but it was really entertaining to check out all the little shops). We walked to the infamous Moulin Rouge and took the touristy pictures there. Then we took the metro to the Cimetiere du Pere Lanchaise, which is where Chopin and Jim Morrison are buried (along with thousands of other people...but those are the ones we took pictures of ha). It wasn't really one of my priorities to see the graveyard, but it turned out to be one of my favorite adventures! It was so interesting and different! You can see the pictures below, and I don't know if it's a typical French graveyard or what, but it just seemed really different. After that we hopped on the metro back to the hotel. It was fun how familiar we got with the metro...it was so easy to use by the time we left Paris. I feel like I get so connected and attached to these cities that we go to, and then I have to leave so soon. It's kind of depressing...but I love it:) We burned an hour in our rooms relaxing a bit, and then went to a part of Paris called Little Athens. Abby wanted to go to a Greek restaurant, so I went with her. It was the funniest eating experience I've ever had. Every restaurant there were guys standing at the door trying to get people to come in and eat, and the first one we stopped at he convinced us. 3 courses for 10euro...so not too bad. But it was just funny, I can't even explain it. And we would watch as more people got convinced to come in, and we would look at each other and laugh. It was like everyone was thinking the same thing when they walked in...and we were all connected by the hilarity of it. Great times ha. Then we went back to the hotel, met a group, got some wine, and went to the Eiffel Tower. We just hung out in front of it and watched it sparkle (which it does every hour for ten minutes, and it's beautiful!)

Monmarte day 2!

The shops of Monmarte

Moulin Rouge

Pretty shop...if I hadn't literally any euros left, I probs would have broken the bank in here

The cemetery

CHOPIN! Is he famous or something?

wonderful:)

Sparkle tower, SPARKLE!

Sunday we got to sleep in, and left at about noon for the Eurostar back to England.
It was such a good weekend, and I am very thankful for having the opportunity to go;)

Love to all!