Bright and shining Friday morning we got off the bus and we were
greeted by what felt like insanely cold temperatures, 35 degrees. After successful navigation of the Metro and
finding our place, we took a brief rest and began our first day in Paris. We decided to walk, as we could already see the
Eiffel Tower from our place! Wandering
the streets of Paris I could not help but smile at the sights around me. We came across Dôme des Invalides, which we
had no idea what it was, but it was beautiful.
Next we made our way to the ever-so-famous Eiffel
Tower! Bear with me as I took a bazillion
pictures from every angle possible… I
couldn’t help it!!! I was just in
complete awe!
We roamed around a bit
more and it was time to grab some hot chocolate to warm us up. Words cannot even describe how delicious it
was. I have never had anything like it
before. It was so creamy and rich I could
have kept on drinking it.
While sipping
our cup full of wonderfulness, we made our way to Arc de Triomphe and did a bit
of shopping down Champs-Élysées.
The sunset was now approaching, so we made our way back to
the Eiffel Tower and waited in line to go up it. I really don’t even know how to begin to
describe this. For those of you who don’t
know the Eiffel Tower has been a complete fascination of mine since I can
remember. Every paper and project I had
to do in school was on the Eiffel Tower.
I have dreamed about this moment for forever and I could not believe
that it was actually coming true!!! It
was SO BEAUTIFUL, especially watching the sunset from it. Each floor had restaurants and shops on it as
well. It was just such a surreal and memorable
moment in my life that I will never, ever forget.
Saturday morning Ryan and I woke up early once again to go
to Disneyland just outside of Paris.
What a completely magical day! I
would highly recommend going to any of the Disney parks around Christmas
time. I have been the Disney in Florida,
but being here with all of the Christmas joy and spirit made it all the more of
a magical experience. Yes it was
extremely cold again, but good thing they had delicious hot chocolate everywhere
here! We went to the two parks:
Disneyland Park and Walk Disney Studios Park.
EuroDisney is celebrating their 20th year Anniversary this
year, so there was a lot of excitement going on around us.
Disneyland Park 
Sleeping Beauty's Castle 
Pooh!
Christmas parade where I saw Santa and they had fake snow coming from the buildings. So magical! 
Toy Story 
Mickey and the gang
Belle!
Walt Disney Studios Park
Sunday morning we made our way to the largest market in Europe,
which of course happens to be in Paris.
So many scarves! And this market
went on for miles and miles! We definitely
didn’t get through the entire thing, especially considering we were freezing
again. I was with two people from Texas
and one from Iowa. The two from Texas
have never felt weather this cold, so they were in a real shock, but Alicia and
I kept telling each other that this was nothing, but our bodies just weren’t
having it. All of our muscles were so
stiff and sore from walking so much in the cold. After the market we went back to our flat for
a cup of tea and a little rest. Then it
was off to the Notre Dame. There were
street tents alongside the river selling gorgeous artwork and vintage French
pieces. I loved looking at
everything.
Street performer
By the Notre Dame is the famous
bridge where people write on a lock and attach it to the bridge and it is
supposed to give them good luck in love.
We then headed towards the Louvre, but stopped to do a bit of necessary shopping
along the way. The Louvre is one huge
art museum that is all I have to say. We
were on a mission to find the ‘Mona Lisa’ of course and it took us quite a
while, but we saw some amazing pieces on the way. Finally we got to it and I have been warned
about this before, but I still couldn’t believe how small it was. And of course it was behind layers and layers
of glass.
Chillin with the Mona :)
Chillin with the Mona :)
In the center of the Louvre is
a big glass pyramid. Perfect timing
again as it was just getting dark when we came out of the Louvre, so we go to
see parts of Paris all lite up again.
We
dreaded the walk back to our flat as it was time to back up and catch our late
night bus back to London. As we were
leaving the city I just happened to turn my head and look out the window to see
the tip of the Eiffel Tower lit up. It
was icing on the cake for me. So far I
have been ready and glad to come home to London, but this time I am not quite
so sure… I really loved Paris so much!!!
This was a trip I will surely never forget.
A few interesting tidbits to share with you:
Listening to people say that Paris is not what they
expected, it’s dirty, people are rude, etc., but Paris did meet all of my expectations
hands down! And I had high expectations,
so I don’t know what those weirdos were talking about!!! There were crepes and pastry shops on every
corner, baguettes, artists and artwork, flowers, beautiful buildings, mopeds,
and of course beautiful French men! But
the French seem to have a bad reputation, especially in Europe. No country really likes them and refers to
them as dirty and smelly. They are also found
in the butt of most jokes. They are also
known to be rude and not the best of people.
I found this to not be true at all, as everyone we talked to was so
friendly, welcoming, and helpful towards us.
I also know a total of three French words, so communication was difficult
especially when Ryan and I were in Disney because we were the two that knew
nothing. I couldn’t help but laugh when
we were trying to communicate and we automatically resorted to a Spanish twist
without even realizing it. So basically
we were attempting to speak three different languages in one. Their letters are also pronounced in the
weirdest ways, I couldn’t even figure out how to say road names and Metro
stops, so after failing multiple times I came up with my own names of foods that
the words looked like. So in words of
me: we had a very lovely weekend stay in beautiful Paris on the corner of Boulevard
de Vinegar and Boulevard de Pastry. (:
Hope all of your weekends were wonderful and magical just
like mine was!
Love, Brittany
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