J'adore Paris

Day 1

After an early flight from Madrid, we were in Paris before 8am. We had to take about an hour bus ride into the city and arrived pretty tired, but overall very excited. Chels and I have both taken about 5 years of French each and studied a lot about French culture and history so this visit was a really big deal for both of us.

But for some reason, when we saw the famous painting, we decided to not believe that rumor.

After getting dropped off by the bus, we were supposed to call the owner of the apartment where we were staying. However, Marta no longer had her cell phone since it was lost or stolen in Madrid. We thought it would be no problem to use a pay phone. We were totally wrong! In France, you can´t use pay phones by putting coins in machine, you have to have a special type of card. We walked all over and could not find a single pay phone where you could put in money. We asked people for help in trying to use one, but no one really knew what to do. But we really needed to call this lady so that we could check into our apartment and get our first day in Paris started! We finally decided to walk back to the bus station and luckily a really nice Parisian who worked in the office let us use their phone for free. After talking to the landlord, we grabbed a taxi to our apartment and were stunned as we drove right past the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. We pulled up to our apartment and looked down the street a few blocks... the Eiffel Tower was right there! We couldn´t believe it. We went into the flat and our landlord, the cutest Parisian lady, gave us the run down of the apartment, told us where we could buy groceries, etc. The apt was just like we had expected. Clean and spacious, with the most comfortable beds and pillows we have had on our trip yet!

We decided to go grocery shopping and found a market, Monoprix, a few blocks from our apt. Everything was a lot more expensive in the French supermarket, but we found some staples that were cheaper and decided it would still be wayy cheaper than eating out every meal. After unpacking our groceries, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, literally only about a 5 min walk from our apt.  We walked around it and sat near it and gazed up at it and couldn´t believe we were there.

Since the day was coming to a close, we decided to visit the Louvre that night. Our map turned out to be a little deceiving, and the walk on the map that looked like it shold have been about 20 minutes turned out to be about an hour (from then on we took the metro everywhere). We walked through the beautiful gardens and arrived at the famous glass pyramid at the Louvre. There was surprisingly no wait and I had read on the Internet that students get in for free on Friday night. Apparently what I had read was right, and we walked right in. Chels and I decided to to a ´Da Vinci Code´ Tour since we had both read the book and wanted to be reminded of the pieces that the book talked about. It was really interesting and pretty awesome to see pieces such as Da Vinci´s ´Madonna of the Rocks´ and ´St. John the Baptist´and of course... the Mona Lisa. She was in a glass case and a crowd surrounded her, everyone trying to get a picture of her, though trying to capture her through a camera really isn´t like seeing her in real life. We had heard rumors that it´s not the real Mona Lisa and that the real one is stored away somewhere. But for some reason, when we saw the famous painting, we decided to not believe that rumor. After getting home and making ourselves dinner, we collapsed into bed after a long and eventful day.

Day 2

The next morning, we decided to visit Notre Dame. We hopped on the metro only to find that the metro closed after a few stops. We instead had to take a crowded bus there... but nonetheless, we arrived. After a short wait, we walked into the cathederal and were amazed by its size. The famous stained glass was absolutely beautiful. It´s too difficult to describe places like this in words, but we were all overtaken by its beauty. Next, we stopped by Saint Chapelle, the Palais de Justice and the Conciergerie. Ste Chapelle was the place the housed Christ´s thorns and was built by Louis IX. The Conciergerie is the famous prison that housed Marie Antoinette before her beheading. We also walked to the Hotel de Ville, Paris´s town hall where the mayor has an apartment and people were playing beach volleyball in the big plaza out front. Along the Seine, we also saw the plage of Paris ... a strip of sand that is laid out along the river and is made up to look like a beach where people are laying out and getting sun. A really interesting sight to see. From there, we saw the Centre Pompidieu, but decided to not go in. We also visited the Place de Vosages, Paris´s oldest public square which is surrounded by 17th century Renaissance townhouses -- Victor Hugo used to live there. Our last stop of the day was to visit Ille St. Louis, which has been home to some of Paris´ most privileged elite. We stopped for famous Berthillon ice cream before heading home. On the way home, it was pretty funny because we met a guy on the metro who was from Adrian, MI and was living in Paris that summer and learning French.

After a quick rest at home, we decided to participate in one of Chelsea´s ideas -- doing a bike tour. We chose a night one that met at 7pm by the Eiffel Tower. Chels, Marta and I showed up to the group and found that a lot of other young Americans decided to do the same thing. We had a really cool group of about 30 people and our guides were both guys who were our age from Texas and were living in Paris for the summer. The bike tour lasted about 4-5 hours and was by far one of our most favorite parts of the trip. We rode around in a big group through the crazy boulevards and avenues of Paris, led by the calls of our faithful guides (´Here we go! Here we go!´) There were a couple of close calls with angry bus drivers and red lights that decided to cut in the middle of our group, but overall it was soo much fun. Chels, Marta, and I were so happy riding our bikes through the streets of Paris ... we were laughing and playing our ´Moi Aussi´game that we made up. Chels decided to start singing songs from the Sound of Music, and soon Marta and I had joined in. Marta was teaching us the Spanish version of the songs. I´m sure our group must´ve thought we were pretty entertaining. But we rode all around the main sights of Paris and learned more facts about places such as Notre Dame. We stopped again for Berthillon ice cream and we even saw where Johnny Depp´s apartment is. We crossed a famous bridge over the Seine where all the local Parisians sit with blankets, wine, and cheese and watch the sunset. This is also the famous Sex and the City bridge. After crossing the bridge, the sun was just beginning to set and we rode our bikes through the Louvre and past the famous pyramid.  We looked out from the Louvre across the Champs Elysees to see the sun dip down behind the Arc de Triomphe. It was incredible. After a little more biking, we arrived at the Seine where we got on a HUGE boat from the famous company Bateaux Mouches. The boat ride lasted about an hour and we enjoyed wine with our group and tour guides and got to know everyone. It was so fun to meet all of the people and talk with everyone. Chels and I met a lady that used to be in a sorority at her university and it was really fun talking to her. We also talked to the tour guides more and heard more about their experiences in Paris. The Seine is really amazing to see at night ... on each side of the river it is just packed with people out and about and drinking wine and just enjoying life. That is one thing that constantly amazes me about European cities and people ... everything is about being social and enjoying the company of everyone else and having a good time. While on the boat, we also got to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up and the lights on it twinkle and sparke for 10 minutes on the hour, every hour after it is dark. It was really cool to see it from the river.

After the boatride, Chels and I decided to go out for a little while longer. We took the metro out to a place where we heard the nightlife was good. We must have gone out a little too late (around 1am), b-c there weren´t a ton of ppl out anymore. We were about to get back on the metro when some French boys started talking to us. They were pretty hilarious, spoke English, and said they were in a band (yeah right). We walked around with them for a while, trading mroe French and English swear words and laughing with them. We went to a pub with them that was in the Latin Quarter that played a lot of rock music (some American). All this time the boys are telling us about their band, Stereolive, and how they have opened up for Iggy Pop, etc. Chels and I were testing our own French language skills out with them and they said that we spoke French really well. We stayed out at the bar with them until around 4am and then decided to go to another famous pub called the Highlander. After walking all the way there, it was closed! We were sad to leave our new French friends, but decided it was time to go home. We grabbed a cab home and crawled into bed. Later when we would get back to Valencia, Chels and I looked up the band Stereolive and found our friends! Guess they were the real thing... ;)