"La Vie En Rose"

"La Vie En Rose"

"Life in Rosy Hues"

The twinkling Eiffel Tower!

So this blog is coming pretty behind schedule, but I never took the time to talk about Paris. I only really had a day and a half there but I got to see a lot and it was an all around wonderful weekend. Not only did I get a short break from Germany but I got the chance to spend the weekend with my boyfriend, Max, 2 things I was really looking forward to. So far I hadn't gotten to see anyone from back home besides skyping (although my parents are coming in less than 2 weeks, yay!) so this was my first time which made the weekend even better! the weather didn't quite hold up for us, but it was kind of cool to see Paris under snow. I'll try to keep this one short since I now have 2 blogs from London and Scotland that you'll have to read soon too (get excited!)

Day One:

Definitely an early start, like 3:30 in the morning, but I did get to experience my first long distance train ride and I must say I really enjoy trains. Not only do you get to see some awesome views but they're about 5 times more comfortable than the tiny airplane seats I normally have. After getting to Paris, meeting Max, and checking into the hostel (which was actually pretty nice. I have yet to have a bad experience with a hostel) we started going down our list of stuff to see. First up, heading to the islands to see the Arc de Triomphe! Honestly a whole lot bigger than I expected it to be. I was thoroughly impressed!

As usual the picture doesn't do it justice

Okay, so it's been three weeks and i'm not exactly sure if this happened before or after seeing the arch but anyway, here's one of the best stories of the trip. So Max and I are walking down the bridge (probably looking very American and like easy targets) and all of a sudden this women calls us back. She's holding a gold ring that she had "found on the ground" and asked if it was one of ours. We said no and she starts trying to give it to us and keeps making comments about it being gold (which Max called her out on it not being gold) and how its our lucky day and she wants us to keep it. Sweet lady, she seemed sincere, and sadly I half believed her. 2 months in Europe and most of the time I'm still a dumb american! It didn't hit me till she called us back once again after leaving and asked for some money for coffee in return that we had just had our first encounter with a gypsy, and she had fooled me... Never the less we laughed it off and kept on walking. I promise you no more than 150 yards later I look down and saw another fake gold ring sitting on the ground, just waiting for some tourist. This time we knew exactly what was coming. A middle aged man pops out of the crowd, bends down, picks up the ring and calls us over. Here's where it gets good. Max was still holding the last gold ring and without even waiting for the guy to start talking drops it in the guys hand with a look that said, "nice try, but you're not fooling us twice". Probably one of the funniest moments ever. The gypsy just started laughing, shook his head, and walked away and we did the same and continued our journey through Paris!

3. Notre Dame: the lines were backed up ridiculously long so we didn't go inside, but the outside itself was beautiful! Despite the numerous amount of cathedrals that all seem to look the same after awhile, Notre Dame had a charm of its own!

2.Seine river cruise: it was really cold walking and we wanted to get a feel for the seine so we ended up getting tickets for a short cruise (I think it was actually just a really big taxi boat) that had a heated sitting area which was quite a nice break from the weather. 

3. Lunch and  the Avenue des Champs-Elysees: First off I would just like to clear the air about the reputation of French people. Our waiter (and everyone else we talked) were so nice and helpful and completely opposite from the notions we as Americans (and most of the rest of the world apparently) hold for them. Despite this, the things you heard about Paris being dirty are kind of true and were more apparent on this avenue (and the tubes) than the rest of Paris.

3. Luxor Obelish at the Place de la Concorde: Not entirely sure what it was, a monument to something but  it looked really cool. And added bonus, some Paris streets have these grates in the ground that blow hot air through them and there was a massive one right across the street from the Obelish. I think we spent about 10 minutes just standing on it (I'll take the blame for it the wasted time) which felt so good! When we first got to it there were only like 2 other people standing on it but by the time we left the little 10X15 foot area must have had close to 30 people on it. 

4. Jardin des Plantes: A pretty cool place. Its probably breathtaking when the it doesn't just look a bunch of sticks in the grounds, but still impressive. I could definitely see the potential!

5.Worlds Best Hot Chocolate at Cafe Angelina: 2 words: LIQUID CHOCOLATE. Seriously though, I thought it was gonna turn solid again once it cooled down! Delicious and rich but too sweet for me and even Max (who probably has the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know) couldn't finish his cup. 

6. Sacre-Coeur Basilica: Our hostel was really close to this so after taking a break to warm up we headed over there. 10 minutes and about 20 flights of stairs later we were there. It was all light about an absolutely gorgeous sight to see.

7. Dinner at the Eiffel Tower: Lunch was pretty filling so we decided to just do a picnic in front of teh eiffel tower which was really fun for me despite the cold. Okay, the coolest thing about the eiffel tower: every night on the hour the tower "twinkles" with LED lights for 10 minutes. I thought it was pretty before but that just put it over the top! Once again, I was impressed!

Sorry i look slightly maniacal in this picture, not exactly sure what happened there!

DAY TWO: 

1. The Louvre: I really wish we would have had more time to spend here cause it was incredible! There were so many classics and so much history in that building:

The Mona Lisa

Venus de Milo AKA the "perfect" woman

Hammorabi's Code: The first written code of law

And the famous glass pyramid!

2. Hotel de Invalides: This was actually one of my favorites things that we did. Not only was it massive and beautiful (the famous bridge that everyone thinks of with the gold statues on is actually the entrance to it) but it housed napoleons body! Plus it had a cool little military museum!

I'm not sure if you can see it in this pictures but there were also tons of cannons all around the perimeter

3. Crepes: We were in France so it was a must!

4. Worlds Best Ice Cream: Absolutely delicious!!! Completely worth the trip even though it meant standing outside eating ice cream in below freezing weather!

5. Bastille: We tried to fit in one last thing before leaving so we went to the Bastille, or what was left of it. I really liked French history and so I was kind of excited about see the Bastille. The people stormed it as part of the french revolution as freed the prisoners in it. Even though there were only a handful of inmates it was a big deal. Unforuntately, what we had not learned was that after that the people had actually dissassembled the entire structure and used the bricks to make some of the bridges in Paris. So when we went to see it this is what we found:

A little disappointing, but still cool?

After that our time was up and it was back up to the train station for a quick lunch before our trains left. A short time, but very sweet!

After Paris:

1. A trip to the Stockel museum: A guided tour by Stockel himself of his history of anesthesia museum

2. A tour of the Bayer museum (as in Bayer Aspirin). The tour was actually a lot more fun and intereactive than I think any of us were expecting and it made for a good day!

3. SPRING BREAK!!! I'll have to put this in another post, probably two! but just know that it was WONDERFUL! :)