My Weekend In Paris!

This past weekend I traveled with three girls, my roommates Savannah and Caroline, and our friend Molly, to Paris. We left late thursday afternoon and arrived at our hostel just late enough that we got settled and went to bed. Friday we got an early start to the day, and headed a little outside the city to see Versailles. The palace was spectacular, the gardens were beautiful, but what I enjoyed the most was Marie Antoinette's estate and Hamlet. What I loved most about her estate was the amazing detail. All of the molding to the beautiful chandeliers were awesome (mom you taught me well). The Hamlet is basically Marie Antoinette's fairytale land. She created this village in her backyard that is straight out of a picture book. I can only image spending my summers outside near the pond and in these cute little houses.

Versailles

The Versailles Gardens

After Versailles, we headed on the RER train back towards the city, grabbed something to eat, and headed to The Louvre. This is the largest museum I have ever seen, and it would be impossible to go through every exhibit, but we dedicated about 2 1/2 hours to it and ended up really seeing a lot of wonderful art. Of course, we saw the Mona Lisa, and spent a lot of time in the Italian art section. We also spent a good chunk of time in the French art section. After the Louvre, we found a little cafe, ordered crepes, and ended the night with a walk through the city, seeing the Eiffel Tower at night.

The Louvre

Saturday morning, we got an early start and headed towards the D'Orsay Museum. This art museum is not nearly as extensive as the Louvre, but I actually liked it better. They have a lot of famous paintings from works of Van Gogh, to Monet, to Degas, and it was really exciting to take a break from all the Maesta's and other religious paintings we study. The Museums in Paris are free to EU students, and if you have a student visa, that also you to get in free. However, we found out that your visa has to be for at least six months (and ours are for four). Some of the Museums (like Versailles) were very strict about this policy, but others were not. We got in free at the Louvre, and just barely got in for free at the D'Orsay. When we went to buy tickets, they told us just to show our passports when we headed in. We went to the entrance, and the man that checked Molly's let her straight through with no problem. The women who checked Caroline, Savannah, and my visa, were unfortunately not as nice. They told us to go back to the ticket office, but instead of doing this, went over to the man who let Molly through. We showed him our visas, and as the french women yelled at him, he mumbled something back in french, handed us tickets, and let us right in. Needless to say, the women were not happy.

After the D'Orsay we headed towards the Notre Dame Cathedral, and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering and exploring the city. That night, we spend exploring Montmarte, the part of the city where we stayed. We had dinner and just pretty much enjoyed seeing the lively city at night.

The Notre Dame

Sunday, we woke up, had breakfast, and check out of our hostel. From there, went to see the Moulin Rouge, and The Sacre Coeur Cathedral. Moulin Rouge was really not as impressive as I was expecting, but Sacre Coeur was a beautiful church at the top of the city, with a great view of all of Paris. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower, and climbed to the top. The Tower really is amazing, and it was very cool to see the entire city. We then got lunch, saw the Arc de Triomphe, and walked around the Champs Elysees. From there, we headed to the airport.

Moulin Rouge

The Sacre Coeur

Top of the Eiffel Tower

The Arc De Triomphe

It was an amazing weekend, and we saw sooo much in three days. Besides the sites, I had some crazy moments bumping into people. In the train station in Pisa (where we flew out of), I ran into my friend Kyra, who lived across the hall from me in DC last summer. She was headed to Prague for the weekend. On Friday night, while watching the lights of the Eiffel Tower sparkle, my friend Andrew, who also was in DC with me last summer and in my Public Policy class, came walking by with his friends. He is studying abroad in Prague, and happened to also be visiting Paris that weekend. Then, if that wasn't enough, I ran into another girl from UofM, Joelle, at the airport on the way home. She is studying in Barcelona, and had also been in Paris that weekend. It's amazing how small a world this really is!

A presto!

Danielle