3 days in Paris

Bonjour! We had an awesome weekend, but it's great to be back at "home". Our flight to Paris left Barcelona at 8:35am, so we woke up at 5 to make sure we had the route figured out. After getting on the wrong train, getting off and getting on the right train, and waiting in the wrong line to get our boarding passes stamped (twice), we made it to our gate and boarded on time. Luckily neither of us had to check a bag. Once we arrived in Paris, things got confusing, as we only know about 4 words in French, none of which have anything to do with directions or "I'm lost". We found the metro station and talked with a couple of guys from Romania while we waited to buy our metro tickets. Once we arrived at the right metro stop near the hostel, we had some trouble actually finding Allison, but figured it out after about 15 min of wandering around. We checked into Blue Planet hostel, put our luggage in the luggage room and set off for the Arc de Triomphe. It was so cool and detailed, and we got some incredible pictures. It cost 6 euro for entry, and we walked ALLLLLL the 34578934 stairs to the top where we could see the whole city. Unfortunately it was a little gray and rainy off and on, but it didn't take away from the day. After the Arc, we walked all the way down the Champs-Élysées, which goes from the Arc de Triomphe down to the Louvre. Melanie got a butter and sugar crepe which was GOOOD. I stole some. We stopped into a few stores, but everything was naturally way out of my price range. Even the same stores that they have here in Barcelona were more expensive there. We got to the Louvre and got in for free. I saw so many things I recognized that were crazy to see up close in real life. The Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa were awesome. It was really hard to get close to the Mona Lisa because it had the biggest crowd in front of it and it's so small, but it's amazing to have seen it. By this point it was getting late and we were all getting sleepy and hungry, so we went to look for a restaurant to have dinner. We found a nice bistro that looked relatively inexpensive compared to others we had seen (not saying much...) I ordered roast chicken and it was perty good (it's hard to mess that up). That night I had a miserable night's sleep in the hostel because the mattress was worn in the middle so the wire frame was pressing into me all night, but I felt okay the next day anyway. We got up around 9 and met at 10 to head to the palace at Versailles. Stopped for a little breakfast at a bakery next door (I had a quiche lorraine and it was fabulous) on the way. After arriving at the palace and taking some pictures in front of it, we noticed the line to get in was ridiculous...it looked like at least a 2 hour wait. We went into the information office and Melanie asked if there was any way to avoid that line. Luckily we found out if we pay 1 more euro we get a guided tour in English with a small group, which was perfect for us...and we didn't have to wait in that line. We went off to find lunch while waiting for our tour to start, and found a great place right around the corner. I ordered French onion soup and o.m.g. it was the best in the world (obviously, what better place to get it than Paris). Yum. Then we went on our tour of the palace and got to see the king's quarters and the opera house. The opera house was my favorite--it was completely made out of wood, which the guide said was for better acoustics, but it had been painted to look like marble and it really looked cool. The king had a private screened box in the 2nd balcony so he could watch performances without being seen or bothered. After the tour portion we were allowed to walk around on our own. They were doing a special exhibition of different thrones from all over Europe - some of them were crazy. They had the little tent on stilts that people would carry royalty around in, and the chair that sits on top of an elephant for a king or queen to ride around on. Stuff I've only seen in movies. The hall of mirrors was the best part in my opinion. We got some great pictures here too but it was so crowded and we were getting tired, so we headed out and decided not to pay the extra 7 euro to see the gardens. That night, Becca and I didn't have a reservation confirmed at the Blue Planet because they were all full, so we searched around for a hotel. Allison found us a little one right around the corner that had 2 singles available, so we got our own rooms with bathroom and shower - such a luxury after the 1st night in the hostel. That night, we didn't want to pay for another sit-down dinner so we went across the street to a mini-mart and bought all kinds of cheeses and meat and bread and wine to have a little picnic at the Eiffel Tower. It was about as amazing as it sounds. We saw the sun set at the tower and watched it light up and sparkle every hour. Can't wait to show you all pictures of that. It was so incredible. We really enjoyed our little picnic and taking pictures and just hanging out. I got a much better night's sleep in the little hotel that night. Allison & Melanie wanted to wake up early to go to the Catacombs, but Becca and I decided to sleep in and skip out on that. Those ended up being closed, so they headed off to do a bike tour of Paris. Becca and I wanted to see Notre Dame, because Allison and Mel had already gone the day before we arrived. We woke up at 11, checked out, confirmed our reservation at Blue Planet for our last night, and headed out to get food and find the cathedral. I grabbed a cheap lunch as we walked--a hot dog in a baguette with melted cheese on top...how could that be bad? On our way across the river we saw an awesome little outdoor market with exotic birds, gerbils, spices, sachets, little tin signs and paintings and a lot of other great stuff. We hung out here for probably almost an hour just looking at the birds. I ended up buying a black and white photo of an old man walking a rabbit on a leash in front of the Eiffel Tower. I love it. Eventually we made it to Notre Dame, got a few photos, walked around it, and then went to find a place to eat and do more shopping. Becca ordered a croque monsieur and I got chocolate mousse because I had already eaten and I wanted to make sure I had mousse before I left. It was great but sooooooo rich and I couldn't finish it. Becca said it tasted like eating a Cadbury chocolate egg. So after eating, we spent a couple of hours walking along the river and looking at souvenir stuff. I bought some postcards for my scrapbook and we took more pictures. There are a ton. I think we must have taken 500 pictures in 1 weekend.
Well, all in all it was one amazing weekend. I miss you all so much and hope you are doing well in the U.S. I'll send out some pictures soon! I have to get to studying because we have our school midterm tomorrow (yikes) and clearly I didn't bring my Spanish notes to Paris with me.
XOXO,
Leah