After another hectic week, three of us (Kate, Aubrey and Me) headed to Paris for a girl's weekend! Our train from Milan left Thursday night so around 7 we made our way there and had dinner/drinks before our 11:30 train. The train was definitely not as nice as what me and Lauren had on the way to Prague. There were 6 of us in a compartment and I was stuck on the bottom…a bit claustrophobic, it took a while to convince myself that the two people above me were not going to fall/smush me while I was sleeping. We woke up in Paris around 9 and went in search of our hostel. It took a bit to find but once there, we dropped our stuff and then grabbed a quick brunch before going to the Louvre!
On our way we were overwhelmed with the shopping and popped into a couple stores :-) But, getting back on track, we made it to the museum around noon. It was pretty packed and VERY overwhelming with the amount of things to see but we got the main ones in, including the Mona Lisa! We spent a while in there before we relaxed in the sun outside the museum, in front of the Arch de Triumph. After we walked to the Notre-Dame Cathedral to check out Quasimodo’s house!!! It is beautiful, very gothic and I constantly sang the song “The bells of Notre-Dame” song from the Disney movie until we went inside and there was a service going on. After the cathedral we had an early dinner and then did a night boat cruise along the Seine River that runs through Paris. Since it is the “City of Lights,” all of the major monuments are lit up so it was really neat to see at night, although it was FREEZING at the open part on the top of the boat. I also got to see the Eiffel Tower light show!!! Absolutely amazing! Since Friday was a lot of walking, we headed home to check in and get settled in our hostel instead of going out.
Saturday morning we woke up early and went to Versailles! We toured the palace, it was ridiculous how big that place is!! It was the unofficial capital city of France in the 17th Century and was built by Louis XIV and upkept by his successors. Every bit of each room in the HUGE estate was covered in decoration…it was extremely decadent and unnecessary but really cool to see. We spent the morning taking a tour though the palace and exploring the gardens in the back (I am sure they are gorgeous in the summertime but there were no flowers and the fountains were turned off since it is the off-season.) We made our way back to around the Eiffel tower for lunch. We explored around that area for a little while (Paris is way bigger than I thought, the main sites are pretty far apart) since we kept stumbling into new areas we hadn’t explored yet. At 5pm we had bought tickets to the TOP ahead of time online – which I strongly suggest because we didn’t have to wait in any lines. We skipped the line, right into the elevator and to the top…pretty high up!! Although it wasn’t sunny, the views were crazy! We also saw a couple get engaged up there :-) The pictures I took from the second floor – midway up the tower- were better because you could tell what things were but I am so glad I went to the top.
On our way we were overwhelmed with the shopping and popped into a couple stores :-) But, getting back on track, we made it to the museum around noon. It was pretty packed and VERY overwhelming with the amount of things to see but we got the main ones in, including the Mona Lisa! We spent a while in there before we relaxed in the sun outside the museum, in front of the Arch de Triumph. After we walked to the Notre-Dame Cathedral to check out Quasimodo’s house!!! It is beautiful, very gothic and I constantly sang the song “The bells of Notre-Dame” song from the Disney movie until we went inside and there was a service going on. After the cathedral we had an early dinner and then did a night boat cruise along the Seine River that runs through Paris. Since it is the “City of Lights,” all of the major monuments are lit up so it was really neat to see at night, although it was FREEZING at the open part on the top of the boat. I also got to see the Eiffel Tower light show!!! Absolutely amazing! Since Friday was a lot of walking, we headed home to check in and get settled in our hostel instead of going out.
Saturday morning we woke up early and went to Versailles! We toured the palace, it was ridiculous how big that place is!! It was the unofficial capital city of France in the 17th Century and was built by Louis XIV and upkept by his successors. Every bit of each room in the HUGE estate was covered in decoration…it was extremely decadent and unnecessary but really cool to see. We spent the morning taking a tour though the palace and exploring the gardens in the back (I am sure they are gorgeous in the summertime but there were no flowers and the fountains were turned off since it is the off-season.) We made our way back to around the Eiffel tower for lunch. We explored around that area for a little while (Paris is way bigger than I thought, the main sites are pretty far apart) since we kept stumbling into new areas we hadn’t explored yet. At 5pm we had bought tickets to the TOP ahead of time online – which I strongly suggest because we didn’t have to wait in any lines. We skipped the line, right into the elevator and to the top…pretty high up!! Although it wasn’t sunny, the views were crazy! We also saw a couple get engaged up there :-) The pictures I took from the second floor – midway up the tower- were better because you could tell what things were but I am so glad I went to the top.
After that, we walked back to hotel to shower and get ready for the night. Once ready, we went straight to the Moulin Rouge to check it out! The cheapest show was 80 Euro so it was a bit out of our price range but we still wanted to see it. Now, I am not sure if Paris has a ‘Red-light District,’ but if they do, the Moulin Rouge is smack dab in the middle of it. I was expecting it to have a bit more class about it…but it didn’t. We stayed and took a few pictures before making back towards the Eiffel Tower to go to a club we were told to go to, "it is where all the celebrities go." When I got there, I could see why. It was an expensive cover charge and the beers (their cheapest option) were 8 Euros! Needless to say, there were not many of those that night. But it was still a great place, we stayed through a really great rap/reggae band and then around 2 the DJ came out and it became a really fun dance club. We were there pretty late and took a cab back. The next morning our train left around noon so we slept until it was time to head to the station.
Conclusion: I absolutely LOVED Paris! It was such an amazing city and I HAVE to go back!!!
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