Paris, quelle magnifique!

Bonjour! What a great weekend. Paris, was, of course, absolutely beautiful, despite the absolutely FRIGID weather there! Again, I feel so blessed that I have this opputunity to see all of these places that I had only dreamed of seeing. Seeing landmarks like Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower and just walking around the streets of such a remarkable place is so thrilling...all I want to do is see more!

We flew to Paris on Thursday evening. Our flight was delayed a little, and by the time we finally arrived, took a bus into the city center, and then took a cab to our hostel, it was almost 11pm. We quickly learned that the Paris schedule is much different then the Barcelona schedule. 11pm in Paris is not dinnertime, and in fact mostly everything was closed! Despite our desire to experience everything French, we had to settle on the only open restaurant we could find: a Japanese place. It ended up being delicious, but we thought it was funny that our first Parisian experience was Japanese. After Japanese, we figured out that there was nothing nearby open, so we just went back to the hostel and went to sleep so we could get an early start the next morning.

Our hostel was the typical student traveler hostel. It is called "Aloha Hostel" and has sort of a Hawaiian theme, with neon colored paint on the walls and doors. They had a huge downstairs room with free internet and TV, which was nice. Our room itself was pretty standard, 3 bunk beds and a sink, with a shared bathroom down the hall. It was just what we needed, though! And an added bonus: we were walking distance from the Eiffel Tower!

Our very brightly colored hostel room

Friday morning we got up and found a cafe for breakfast, where we pigged out on croissants and omelettes. We then decided to walk to Champs Elysees, which is the main road for shopping in Paris, and see the Arc de Triumph at the end. We wandered around for a while and finally made our way there. We walked up almost the entire street (very long!) and hit up a few shops (don't worry, I didn't buy anything! I'm saving my money for trips!). After, we walked back in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to go up, then discovered that the top was closed. We decided to wait until the next morning, when they told us it should be open again.

Exhausted from all of our walking, we headed back to the hostel for a nap, then changed and went to dinner at a restaurant nearby. After, we debated going across town to find some open bars, but decided that without a plan it would probably be a waste of time and money. Instead, we went to a bar by our hostel, which ended up being a lot of fun...except when they closed and kicked us out at 1:30am. What?! You mean places aren't open until 6am like in Barcelona everywhere in Europe?! Who knew...

On Saturday we got up early to try the Eiffel Tower again. When we got there, we found out that the top was STILL closed. We decided to just take the stairs to the second level (about halfway up) because that was the best we could do. All I can say about that is: SO. MANY. STAIRS. I thought I was going to collapse, but the view was worth it! The view from the top must be stunning...I'll just have to go back one day to see it!

In front of the Eiffel Tower! The lady who took the picture's thumb got in the way...

We also went over to Notre Dame and walked around inside, since we were too late to go up to the top (it closes at 5). We decided to try that again the next day before our flight. We then walked over to the Lourve. On the way over, we encountered a bridge where people had attached hundreds of locks to the railings! Apparently, couples get their names engraved and attach the lock. It was so cool!We didn't have enough time to wait in line at the Lourve and go inside (I feel like you need a whole week to see the Lourve in full), but we took pictures by the glass pyramid and walked around outside.

Notre Dame

Lock Bridge!

In front of the Lourve

That night, with the recommendations of some locals we had met, we went to a street called Oberkampf, which is where all the happening bars and restaurants are. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant (that served tapas...leave it to us to leave Spain to find the one restaurant in Paris with a tapas menu...) and then went to a bar down the street. We had a lot of fun there, despite some very intoxicated and persistent French men!

Sunday we got up and headed back to Notre Dame. I volunteered to wait in the long line for the towers so my friends could get some last minute shopping in. They ended up coming back after 10 minutes because all the stores were closed. I was in line behind a man from Tennessee who was there on business. He has a 19 year old daughter and was telling me all about what a great experience this was and how he wanted his daughter to do the same thing!

View from top of Notre Dame...gargoyle included!

After Notre Dame, we walked to Champs Elysees so my friend could check out the Louis Vuitton store (HUGE) and then we took the metro back to the hostel, and headed to the airport.

The plane ride home was pretty uneventful, for once, which was a nice relief! It's good to be back in Barcelona after two full weekends of traveling. I'm in Barcelona this weekend because we have midterms next week (eww) and then we're celebrating the end of midterms with a trip to Mallorca! Woohoo!

I hope that everyone is well! Miss and love you all. :)