euro trip: stop 2 - paris!

tuesday, may 29th

we woke up really early and headed to the train station at st. pancreas. after an unpleasent cab ride and some weird "coffee," we boarded the eurostar to paris. i slept most of the way and woke up as we were reaching the station in paris. once we got off the train around 12pm, we waited in a really long line for a cab and finally made it to our hotel. we walked to cafe jenny and then set off on our tour de paris. we started at notre dame and didn't stop until we reached the eiffel tower about 7 miles later. we saw so much along the way and stopped right before the eiffel tower to have a drink and dessert at this little sidewalk cafe called le relais de la tour.

{notre dame}

{lock bridge)

{the louvre}

after finishing up at the cafe, we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed the the eiffel tower. i was in awe - it is HUGE and amazing. it even sparkles! i saw a group of peopel taking a picture & could tell they were americans so i asked if they wanted me to take a group shot. one of the girls ended up being a senior in the SPTE program at USC. i couldn't believe it! it was so nice to meet someone from "home," and also see some americans. she is doing her last internship with the olympics in london this summer - so neat. for the next 3 or 4 hours, we drank wine and hung out in the lawn at the eiffel tower. it was magical.

{the eiffel tower!!!}

{amazing}

{hilarious germans}

{love}

wednesday, may 30th

wednesday was our 2nd and last day in paris. after breakfast, we took at cab to the louvre. we never tried to ride the metro in paris - the language barrier made it difficult to read the maps and ask for directions, so we stuck with the cabs. the louvre was giant & beautiful. the mona lisa was.... small. but none the less, really cool to see it. we saw the opera house (phantom of the opera) and then hung out on the steps of the museum for awhile. we decided to head back to the hotel and i proceeded to take a 3 hour nap before meeting leigh and derrick for dinner. we got lost for about the 500th time on the way there, but had a great evening with them. their hotel was adorable and dinner at le wilson was yummy. we grabbed a few bottles of wine and hung out on the other side of the eiffel tower with leigh and derrick until about midnight. it was so fun!

{the louvre}

{the louvre}

{there she is}

{love, love, love}

some thoughts on paris:

• they hate americans. if you're planning to go, learn some french. always have directions and addresses of places you want to go in case the cab drivers don't speak english.
• there are a lot of people trying to steal your stuff. this was frustrating and made me feel unsafe most of the time i was there.
• wine is cheap. this rocks.
• the airport is huge and confusing. it think i would have still been confused even if i could speak french.
• the eiffel tower was by far my favorite part. it was beautiful - i am still dreaming of it.
• people really do eat baguettes all the time. i can't tell you the number of times i saw someone pull one out of their bag and just start eating it. it's hilarious.
• we decided that men carry bags (purses) in europe because most people are using public transportation. we throw whatever we need in our cars, most europeans in big cities don't have them.