Paris!

This past weekend, the weekend before Valentine's day, Mel, Anna, and I went to Paris. It was wonderful! A girl on my dance team, Sarah Erxleben, is going to grad school in Paris and speaks French fluently. Luckily for us, she was more than happy to show us around and take us out and such. It was perfect!

We saw the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe on Friday. Apparently Paris has a nasty habit of being overcast, much like London, but knowing that Mel and Anna and I were coming, she opened up the skies and it was blue and beautiful all day on Friday. I didn't even need the coat that I carried around all day. So we climbed up the stairs of the Eiffel Tower; our workout for the day. It was amazing. The view was incredible, and we got an idea of where everything was and where we would be going.

That night, Sarah took us to Sarce Couer, which is a basilica near our hostel. It was beautiful, and of course had steps leading up to it. We drank wine and ate cheese and it was really fun. Sarah brought brie and Camembert cheese, both of which I had never had before. The brie was so tasty! I'm going to have to work my way up to the camembert though, its a real cheese and I'm still a noob.

The next day, we went to Notre Dame. It is the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen. I know I loved the cathedral in Toledo, and then I loved the cathedral in Burgos and for each one I said that it was the most beautiful one I had ever seen, however, I doubt this one will be topped for quite some time/ever. The arched ceilings and stained glass were stunning. And both of the other churches I saw were over the top. They had gold plated walls and their jewelry on display, and everything. I found Notre Dame to be beautiful with amazing detail, but to still be humbling. It was the perfect combination and definitely my favorite classical European aspect of my entire study abroad trip thus far. I would say the only thing that beats it in any aspect, is the Eiffel Tower, cause I mean, come on... its the Eiffel Tower!

We also went to the Louvre, and it was astonishing! I had no idea the Louvre used to be a palace and I had no idea how big it is. People say that it is large and you could spend days in there, but honestly, you could spend months, maybe years! It is incredible. Unfortunately, I'm not much of an art fan myself, so it was a bit wasted on me. But, I did see Napolean III's apartments, and they were luxurious and by far my favorite aspect of the Louvre. I guess the good thing about it being so big, is that of course it will have something for everyone.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. The not speaking the language part was a lot more difficult than I imagined, but we got by. We also learned that we are going to learn some key phrases each time we travel, such as "do you speak English" "where is the" "bathroom" and "thank you".

It was an amazing trip, and I can't thank Sarah Erx enough for everything she did!


Au revoir!