Paris! (Part 2 of more than I thought)

This is part two of what looks like will be a 3 part series on my trip to Rome. If you didn't read part 1 yet, click on the link below!

Link to Part 1

So to recap, I figured out the metro, and got to the metro stop near our hostel/hotel we would be staying at. I turned down the street to be greeted by Becky and her entourage standing outside the hostel. Becky’s entourage, let me introduce them. All of them are interior design majors at Syracuse University, studying abroad in London with Becky. They are: Maggie, Erin, Stacey, Becca, and Lindsay. And what an awesome group of girls to travel with.
So I quickly dropped my bags at the hotel and we were on our way to sightseeing.
I keep changing back between hostel and hotel when talking about where we were staying, so let me try and explain that now.

MIJE Fourcy:



We stayed in a hotel/hostel this weekend for Paris. It was called the Hotel Fourcy, yet was described as a hostel online and other sites. So lets try and figure out which it is, shall we? It was an older building in pretty much center city Paris, which was a great location. The rooms had private bathrooms, point for hotel. The toilettes though were not in the private bathroom, but in the hallway, point hostel. We did not pay for sheets, point hotel. We were given breakfast, point hostel (In Europe in general, breakfast is served at hostels and not in hotels). There were lots of young students there, point hostel. There were also lots of older people there, where normally hostels have only under 35 allowed, so point hotel. Late checkout, point hotel. I think that puts it in favor of Hotel, which is a good thing. It was priced more like a lower hotel than a hostel as well.

Notre Dame:



Our first tourist attraction, Notre Dame. I knew the cathedral was big, but I didn’t know what else to expect. It was a pretty impressive sight. The church is really impressive from the outside and even more impressive from the inside. Maybe I’m just spoiled though, but I didn’t get that same overwhelming feeling I got when going into St. Peter’s or St. Paul’s here. Maybe I’m just getting used to incredibly large churches. Nevertheless, it was an awesome church to see.

The Louvre:



If you want to talk about an overwhelming sensation, try walking into the Louvre. There’s a reason this was featured in that google superbowl ad (yep I saw it! Online of course). It’s obviously very well known for at least two things: its glass pyramid entranceway, and the Mona Lisa. Both are cool in their own regard, the first I found to be cooler than the latter, but I think the real spectacle is the sheer size of the building. We spent about 2 or 3 hours in the Louvre, and only got to see one wing of one floor of it completely through. That is probably about a tenth of the entire museum. Of course we saw the Mona Lisa, and I took my obligatory picture of it, but as most people are these days, I was underwhelmed by it. Maybe if they would let me get closer than 30 feet from it to really examine it, or took off that horrible glared glass case from around it I could appreciate it more, but I guess the experience is more about saying you saw it than anything. There were plenty of paintings that had more of an effect on me because I could get up close and see the detail and texture in the artists work.

Saint Chapelle:



Next on our list was Saint Chappelle, which is known to have some of the nicest and probably tallest stain glass windows. Bottom line is this had some awesome stain glass windows, but it was small and a bit underwhelming as well. They sell it really well in pictures, making out to be a gigantic hall filled with stain glass windows, when it’s really a relatively small place. Considering we got into the Louvre for free through some fast talking (European Union resident students get free entrance to all museums, we’re students but not EU residents, but we’re very convincing sometimes) I felt like the price of admission was a bit high for Saint Chapelle. Maybe it was because they are doing restorations on the windows, which means they have part of it covered up, which takes away from the experiences. The restorations are definitely helping though, the difference between the finished side and the unfinished side is like night and day. As much as I may complain, it really was a cool place to sit and look at the simple beauty of it all for a while.

Afterwards we got lunch, which was a sandwich in a French baguette with fries and a drink all for 5 euro. When I say French baguette, I mean an entire loaf basically. They don’t skimp on their sandwiches and bread, something I was happy to find in Paris.

(I feel like I’m forgetting a sight that we saw in-between here. To be honest, the weekend is a whirlwind of sightseeing, eating, walking, and having a good time. If I remember I’ll be sure to update. If anyone on the trip is reading this and remembers what I’m missing, please tell me? Okay thanks!)

Champs-Elysees & Arc de Triumph:



You might think we are nearing the end of our day but we were just getting started. Up the Champs-Elysees towards the Arc de Triumph. It was as much further walk than we originally anticipated. The arc looked so close! Yet it was so far away. We got there, and it was well worth the walk. This is one of those monuments you learn about every semester of French class you take, and it really is a cool monument, right in the center of it all, at the intersection of what seems to be all of the roads of Paris. We opted in to climb to the top, and the view from there was incredible. Right as we were about to go back down, the Eiffel tower lit up a golden orange. It was the first time we (or I at least) saw it lit up, and I couldn’t help but stand and stare for another 15 minutes at it and the streets surrounding us. Afterwards we walked around and found a local caffe to eat at. The French onion soup was awesome. I didn’t order it, but I stole some of Beckys and we both really enjoyed it.

River Tour:



We ended our night with a riverboat tour of Paris. The boat left at 9pm and took us on an hour ride up and down the Siene river. We got to see a lot of familiar sites from the river at night, and more that we didn’t know anything about. The highlight is definitely seeing the Eiffel tower from the river though. I can’t even tell you how many pictures I took of it from the river, always thinking that “now” I’ll have a better shot/it looks cooler from here, or maybe it’s just closer? It was a beautiful night, and was a perfect end to my first, yet very busy (jam-packed with fun?) day in Paris.

So it looks like this is going to be 3 parts. Wahoo! Tomorrow I’ll tackle our trip on Saturday and Sunday, along with some tangents I want to go off on for a while. See you then….

Also, Pictures are up from the trip. Not all (internet is crawling) but many. Check them out here: Paris Pictures

And if you haven't already... Say happy birthday to Becky in the Comments!!