11/7/14 – 11/10/14
(excerpts taken straight from my journal I kept during my 2014 study abroad experience)
11-15-17
The first night we got to Paris, we just went out to dinner because after traveling an hour and a half from the airport, it was too late to do anything else.
The next day, we visited Love Lock Bridge, The Louvre, the Mona Lisa, and went to a Cabaret.
Love Lock Bridge “Pont de L’Archeveche” is where lovers place a lock and throw away the key to symbolize unbreakable love. I bought a lock, but I saved it instead of putting it on the bridge, so now I have an excuse to go back with someone in the future.
The Louvre was very cool to see, and of course I took the typical “touching the point” tourist picture. We got into The Louvre for free because we had student visas, and of course we went in to see the Mona Lisa. It’s a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, painted by Leonardo da Vinci. It was painted between 1503-1506 and was given to King Francis I of France.
After The Louvre, we found a chipotle. (I have never been so excited to see a burrito). Even though it cost around $12, it was so worth it.
Then we headed over to a crepery. I got a crepe filled with dark chocolate.
After the crepes, we headed across the street to a bar, where they gave us free shots for some reason, and put marshmallows in our drinks.
After drinks, we headed off to “La Comedia” to see the cabaret “Mugler Follies”. It was a show filled with dancers, acrobats, singers, actors, models, and performers. There wasn’t exactly a story line, but it was still very cool.
The next morning we headed off to see the Notre Dame. Right when we got there, the bells were going off. I have never seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame so I couldn’t compare it to much, but it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. We walked around the back and saw what it looked like in the movie, the gothic style.
For lunch, we found a really good sushi place called Sushi Shop, and then found a Starbucks.
After Starbucks, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. I have always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower in person, and it was even more amazing than I thought it would be. I still can’t believe that I actually saw it in person. We walked underneath it and waited in line to get a ticket to go up. We bought a ticket to go to the second floor, took some pictures and then bought a ticket to go up to the very top. The top was completely caged in, but we still got plenty of pictures and saw miles and miles of Paris. We could even see the end line of the Tour De France.
The top of the Eiffel Tower used to be an office for engineer Gustave Eiffel. It was built in 1889 and designed by Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier. It’s located in Champ de Mars and is the tallest structure in Paris. It used to be the entrance arch to the 1889 world’s fair, and is 1,063 ft. tall.
We made our way back down to the second floor and we watched the sun set. After, we climbed back down to the bottom and watched the tower as it started to light up. All of a sudden, it began to sparkle for about 10 minutes.
After we spent a few hours there and took a million pictures, we headed over to the “Arc de Triomphe” (de I’Étoile). It stands at 164 ft. at Place Charles de Gaulle. It was built in 1806 by Jean Chalgrin and Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury. They built it in order to honor those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Beneath it lays a tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI.
We headed to a local pub called the “Washington Poste” to get burgers. I tried two different French beers called “Astroblonde” and “1664” which were both very good.
The next morning we flew back to Italy. Reminder = never fly Easyjet. They only let you have ONE carry on, or you have to pay extra.