Bienvenue à Paris!

Friday

I woke up at 6:00 and showered at Andrea and Sarai's house. Then at 6:30, they fixed me breakfast - toast, galletas, hot chocolate, marmelade. YUM. Around 6:50, I left for the metro, caught it to the train, then caught the train to the airport. My flight left at 10:00 - I sat next to this fabulous girl named Jeda, and we talked the whole time. We're basically best friends now.

I got to Paris, Charles de Gaulle (like Blair Waldorf) and finally found Sarah Kate after about 30 minutes of wandering the terminal. She changed money, and we both freshened up in the bathroom, then we caught the metro to a stop near the Eiffel Tower. We walked past it, in search of our hostel. We stopped for lunch at a little pizza stop, then eventually made it to the Aloha Hostel around 5:00. We checked in (room 33 - our own room) then took a nap until about 8:00.

 

At that time, we went to a little supermarket, got sandwiches and yogurt and drinks, and headed to the Tower to have a picnic.

It was really neat - it sparkles every now and then at night! 

Around 10:00, we decided to go up, and spent a good hour admiring Paris from the most famous building in the world.

 

We walked home around 11:30, and stopped for Hagen Dazs and McDonalds on the way :) We finally got back into the hostel and fell asleep around 12:30.

 

Saturday
We woke up around 8:30 and went down and got breakfast. On our way back up to the ground level from the kitchen, JLee, Lana, and Mel were coming in the dorm. Naturally, we went into hysterics! It was such a sweet reunion! We all went upstairs to our room. I showered, and we all freshened up.

 

Around 10:30, we headed out for the day. We stopped in a flower shop and bought long-stemmed roses for the day, for .50 euro apiece!

First, we headed to the Jardin de Luxembourg and played with petits (little babies) and walked around, taking pictures. We accidentally tried to hit up the Senat meeting - woops. 

There was a gorgeous pond with lots of boats, like in the movie Stuart Little, and all the kids were running around with sticks hoping to have the chance to push one out towards the middle again. 

Afterwards, we headed to the Cathédral of Saint-Sulpice. It was beautiful. 

We left there, headed to Rue de Four, and then JLee, Mel and I ate lunch at a Crèpe shop while Lana and SK got pizza.

 

After that, we walked around the city for a while, encounter little shops and random guys dressed up as birds as we went. 

Ultimately, we were headed to Notre Dame, admiring the Seine as we went. They were both magnificent. 

Next, we went to the Louvre, watched dogs and babies and young guys play, and then we rode a Carousel! 

We finally made our way to the Champs Elysees, and the stately Arc de Triomphe. Lance Armstrong won the Tour here seven times, and it just felt cool being in the same place, for sure.

We finally headed back to the hostel around 8:00, Mel, JLee and I - SK and Lana ate McDonalds and took the metro back. We walked past the tower and then got supper at a supermarket - bread, fruit and desserts :)

When we got back to the hostel, we just hung out and ate. Since then, we've been on the computer, planning our last day in Paris and the travel tomorrow night (overnight) to Barcelona! I'll try to write again in Btown!

Je t'aime!
Leigh