Bonjour! Valentine's weekend in Paris was quite an adventure. I'm going to do my best to detail everything since it's still fresh in my mind!
The
Thalys is a train you have to reserve for rides to Paris. Three groups of us girls had booked our seats separately, but we all ended up in the same compartment of eight people on the train....well, except for this unfortunate slick-haired French guy. His seat was next to mine, and while I felt bad for him because he was surrounded by girls, he slurped at his nails the whole ride over, so I didn't feel that bad!
Brittany, Caroline, and I checked in at
Hotel Andre Gill when we all first arrived. At least 10 Baylor students were in Paris for the weekend...and this may seem improbable, but somehow each group of about 4 ended up in the Latin Quarter one night, and we all bumped into each other after dinner! Anyway, more on our hotel, which was guarded by two cats and a dog, later below.
We decided to check out
Sacre Coeur before meeting everyone else for dinner. It was gorgeous, and though it was a little foggy, the view from the top was great. As we descended the 300+ stairs, we were approached by like 8 men trying to make money by tying strings on our wrists. It's not tradition or for charity as they claimed, but we had been warned already so we avoided them.
We met our group at the
Louvre for dinner and had decided to walk around to find some food. We found out later that the street we were exploring,
Rue de Honore, is the second most expensive street in the world...thus it was a little difficult to find a place to eat! We found a nice restaurant, where Lexie ordered only a muffin. It is still amusing to me that fries over here in Europe can be part of a formal dinner!
After the Louvre (see the other entry) we considered walking to the Eiffel tower, but it was too far. So we just walked along the
Seine and enjoyed the lights and getting to know the city. You can see the tower in the distance!
When the time came to head back to the hostel for the night, the three of us took the
Metro. We stepped out of the Metro into blinding neon lights. Having never seen this area at night, we were a little turned around, but kept walking to where we thought our hostel was. But we weren't walking toward Andre Gill. No, we were right in the center of Paris'
red light district. Apparently, our hostel was located at the edge of this district, and we had walked the opposite way! But don't worry, we finally turned around and walked quickly back. The next night we made sure Chris (one of the only guys on the trip) accompanied us.
Aside from that bump, our first night in Paris was fun! And don't let everyone tell you French people are rude to Americans. No one was rude to me during the whole trip. As long as I used the words for thank you and excuse me in their language, I was fine. :)
(One of the greatest things about France-- crepes! And Nutella, which I had never heard of before Europe. I am now a devoted fan!)
He had a pink mohawk-- thus, if we got lost, he was easy to find!
We met at the Fountain of St. Michel- there were a ton of us!
While it was hilarious, I would call our tour PG-13. But so are some of the statues in France.
It was a blissfully nice day-- gorgeous sky and people lounging by the ponds at the Tuileries Gardens!
Fantastic Rodin statues at the Gardens.
Notre Dame was quite imposing! We were able to go inside while the organ was playing!
James told us about this AMAZING bookstore, Shakespeare & Co. - two stories with books floor to ceiling, complete with ladder. Hello, design for my future living room!
Our reunion was sadly very short, but I met up with Paige and Julia!! They are both studying in France this semester. :)
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