Paris!

November 7-9, 2014

Bonjour! In early November I had the amazing opportunity to go to Paris with some of my friends! We arrived on Friday night and left on Sunday, and that left us only one solid day to explore the city of lights.

I met up with Janae at the Basel-Mullhouse EuroAirport and we flew to Paris in this small propeller plane!

 

After we arrived at the Charles DeGaulle Airport, found Morgan, and bought our RER Blue train tickets, we were on our way to Paris!

Once we arrived at the Guard Du Nord Train station we needed to find our way to our Hostel. It was dark outside, busy, and we all couldn't find the street signs (they are plaques on the sides of buildings). About an hour later we arrived at our hostel. We stayed at the Village Hostel and it was really good for us. This hostel had a complimentary breakfast, Wifi, and really good maps. Also we met a really nice lady named Liza and she helped us plan our crazy one day in Paris. Liza was also American, but she had been travelling around Europe already for a month! It was really cool to meet other travelers and hear their stories :) After dropping off our bags in the room, Morgan and I went out to look for dinner. We stuck to the street our hostel was on so that we wouldn't get lost. We stumbled upon a street vendor with baguette sandwiches for €3. We then hurried back to our hostel and went up to the roof top balcony next to our room and had our first Parisian baguette while looking at the Sacre Ceur. Late Friday night Jenny,  our 4th Paris Crew Member, arrived.

Saturday morning we got up early, packed our day bags and had a massive breakfast of croissants, baguettes, hot chocolate, orange juice, cereal, and coffee. We were ready.

 

It was a brisk and bright day in Paris, perfect for exploring. We walked all the way from our hostel to this building. We think it is the Opera.

 

Then we found the Concord and the Arc D'Triomphe.

 

 

 

At his point we could see our Ziele (goal): Madame Tullieres Garden and the Lourve.

We walked through the garden to the world famous art museum.

 

 

 

 

When we got to the Lourve we went right in and got our tickets without a long wait. This museum is MASSIVE and we only had a little bit of time so we headed to the wing with the Mona Lisa. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it.

 

 

 

Just a nice view from the Lourve of the Seine River

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artemis

 After exploring through rooms with masterpieces, hieroglyphics, furniture, and sculptures we headed out to the Notre Dame Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked along the Seine, we came across the Love Lock Bridge.

 

 

 

Then we arrived at Notre Dame!

 

 

 

 

It was about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and we hurried over to the Musee D'Orsay.

I loved this museum! Though it is far smaller than the Lourve, I could have spent all day admiring the works of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, and so many more.

 

The Birth of Venus

 

 

 

Rodin's practice Gates of Hell

 

This museum is really unique and interesting. Before it was a museum it was the Paris Train Station! It has giant clocks and reminds me of the movie Hugo.

 

 

 

After seeing the Van Gogh exhibit and wandering through the other rooms we discovered a sign saying that impressionist art (Monet, Renoir, Cezanne...) are on the 5th floor. I was so exciting that I literally flew up the stairs. There was one long hall with several rooms that were connected in a line and filled with beautiful paintings. I spent time on each and every picture in each and every room. I couldn't believe the art that I was seeing. Photography wasn't allowed, but the pictures probably wouldn't do the art justice anyway.

 

At the end of the hall was a gift shop and a lounge area with this giant clock that overlooked Paris.

 

 There were also animal statues outside

 

 

Then at this point Janae and I started on our way to the Eiffel Tower.



A man making crepes



Chocolate Macaroon Eiffel Tower!

Then we arrived :)

 

Unfortunately we didn't get to go up it because the line was extremely long and we were meeting Morgan and Jenny at 6 pm at the Arc de Triomphe.  It was dark when we got to the Arc, but the view from the top was magnificent!

 

 

After the Arc, the four members of the Paris crew hopped on a Metro to our hostel's neighborhood to have a nice birthday dinner for Morgan. We found a café/restaurant and ordered nice dishes and shared, while enjoying baguettes, and crepes for dessert. I had an amazing one day in Paris and really enjoyed seeing my friends again :)

 

 

On Sunday morning we slept in.

 

Once we got up we packed, had breakfast, and went to see the Sacre Ceur. It was so close to the Hostel we had to see it.



 

In my last few hours in Paris I went to the Garden of Luxembourg.

 

 On my way there I got lost (even though I had my map). A nice old French man with a baguette gave me directions, in French, and for some reason I was talking in German. I eventually found my way :) As I wandered I was able to enjoy the buildings and finding statues along the way.

The Garden of Luxembourg is probably my second favorite place that I visited (behind the Musee D'Orsay). Is was beautiful to walk through the trees, see kids practicing soccer, people eating crepes, and kids with sailboats. The whole garden was just wonderful!

 

Before I knew it my time in Paris was up.

 

 

I quickly saw the Pantheon on my way to the Metro.

I hurried back to the Hostel, grabbed my bags, and hopped on another Metro to Guard du Nord. Note to anyone travelling in Paris: always have coins on you. I only had bills and ticket machines don't particularly like that. Once I exchanged bills for coins, and had my ticket I got on the wrong train.

 

So once I figured that out and got on the correct train and made it to the airport, I had missed my plane. That wasn't so great. So I paid for another plane ticket and eventually arrived safely in Basel.

 

 

This trip to Paris was so much fun and I learned a lot about travelling (light, cheaply, leaving enough time to make mistakes when catching your plane, etc.) . I would have loved to have more time to explore at a more leisurely pace, but I enjoyed every moment.

 

Bis später!

~Alexandria~