We finally made it, it's like 30 minutes from Paris, and we were
thrilled. The palace is indescribably gorgeous. EVERY thing in it and on it had
the most intricate details I've ever seen. Stunning. It took 49 years to build.
It's huge and gorgeous. Ah. The furniture was all most destroyed after the
French Revolution because the people were so sick of royalty, but there was
some left to see. Every room was exquisite. Wish I could live there.
We had to go with a tour guide who'd spend like half an hour in each
room. We were bored of listening to him talk. Then we got to the hall of
mirrors. And he tried to rush us through. Are you kidding? That's what we came
to see. So Kena and I snuck away from our group and spent a lot of time in
there.
It was gorgeous!! I know, I sound like I'm on repeat, but honestly. So
incredible. The entire hall is lined with huge beautiful mirrors and
chandeliers. I loved it. Don't go to Paris without going to Versailles.
Then we went and toured the Versailles gardens. Henson asked our group to
stay together, but half our group didn't even want to go tour the gardens, they
just wanted to sit on the steps. Kena and I weren't doing that so we just left
them.
YOU GUYS. The Versailles gardens are THE BEST. Nothing is more peaceful
or more beautiful. They are gigantic, but every single part is perfect and well
kept. We could have spent all day wandering them. It's perfect. I wish I could
describe the feeling there. It's just calming. Probably Kena and I's favorite
part!!!! And we got so many cute pictures(:
We went to lunch after down the street where I got these delicious wraps.
French food is kind of hit and miss. Sometimes it's amazing and other times its
awful. There's no in between.
Then we rode the bus back down to Paris and got off at the Arc de
Triomphe at the top of the Champs Élysées. We went to take pictures at the
Swavorski store where they have an entire staircase made out of the Swavorski
crystals!!! Stunning(:
Then we went to the Arc de Triomphe (: Had to visit that(: We saw the
tomb of the unknown solider which was so cool(: they had flowers and flames
around it. Again, so much detail on it, good to finally get up close to it
(:
We went to the top to get a good view of the city, free for us since
we're under 18 again(: Sweeeett. 294 stairs to walk up. I was dying. This city
is basically a city of stairs. It was a straight up spiral staircase. We were
struggling. Definitely out of shape. Haha. We made it though and it was worth
it!! Such a good view. I wanted to stay up there forever. Gorgeous. I'm glad we
chose to do that.
Today was the first day we were really all on our own trying to get
around. We had to sit down and plan out our routes for the metro. It was crazy.
I mean I get lost all the time in little Syracuse. But we did so good. Naturals
really. We were meant for life in Paris. We're so proud.
Then we walked down the Champs Élysées to see all the fancy shops, plus
Kena had some more shopping to do.
Then we had to rush off to the Lover's bridge!!(:(: This has been on my
bucket list for the longest time. It had to be done. We got off the metro
near Notre Dame and bought some padlocks with keys and a marker. We went to the
bridge and wrote on our locks. This is the tradition behind it:
Legend says if you want your love to last forever you take a lock
dedicated to your lover to the lovers bridge in Paris, the city of love. You
lock the lock on the bridge and throw your keys into the Seine river below so
no one can ever unlock it.
It was beautiful. There were so many locks on it!!(: So glad I got to be
a part of it(: Took a lock for Brayden and I and also a lock for Kena, Bay,
Brady and I's friendship(: Freaking cute(:
That might have been my favorite part too(:
Did a little more souvenir shopping then headed to meet the group for
dinner. We had a delicious flat crepe like pizza at Flams. All you can eat
salad and pizza. Plus cinnamon apple and white chocolate dessert pizzas!(: It
was incredible.
The plan after dinner was to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower since we
missed it yesterday. Well guess what. When we got there, we learned that the
workers had gone on strike over some social movement. Are you freaking kidding
me. We were super disappointed. :( That was one of the most important things to
me and it didn't happen. Really upset about it still. But I guess that just
gives me a reason to come back!
So instead we got free time. That was kinda the
beginning of a downward spiral of events. First we took more pics by the Eiffel
Tower. Next we took the Metro up to see Moulin Rouge! It was way cool. Henson
instructed us not to wander the streets near Moulin Rouge because they're lined
with sex shops and gross things. Especially untrustworthy people. Like Vegas on
steroids. So we were supposed to get off the metro, take the picture, and then
get back on. It's not a safe area and we didn't want to be around any of that.
So first. We had no money to buy metro tickets. So we had to find an ATM.
Couldn't see one but didn't want to walk around that area looking. We finally
asked a security lady and she didn't speak English but I managed to understand
what she was saying and we got there! Sketchiest ATM of my life but we lived.
We bought a ticket and got on the Metro. Waited for like half an hour because
they said it was down.
While we were waiting, we started talking to this lady from New York. As
soon as she heard we were from Utah, she was like, "Do you guys have like
9 wives and 600 children? You those Mormon kids? Shouldn't you be on a mission
or something? Going to a Mormon college?" Just all these hilarious
questions we had to de myth for her. Then she swore and her son freaked out and
told her not to scar us, we'd probably never heard of those words in Utah.
Hahahaha. Oh they were funny.
After like 45 minutes, they just closed the train. So we were stuck at
Moulin Rouge without a metro to get on. The only thing left to do was walk to
the next station. Meaning we had to walk down the sex streets Henson told us
not to go down. We were scared but basically just ran through. We got beer
bottles thrown at us and people were creeps but it was ok. At that metro
station, we found out that the whole line was down so we were just out of luck.
We had to walk to Sacre Coeur at Montmarne. Frustrating.
We stopped at a grocery store to get some candy and directions and then
headed out. We got distracted by more souvenirs on the way. But eventually we
made it to beautiful Sacre Coeur at like 10. It was closed. Of course. But it
was beautiful to look at on the outside! And a gorgeous view of Paris. But it
was party time for everyone drinking and being creepy so we headed back.
At least the Metro was working this time! We were even gonna make
curfew!! Til we got to our stop 30 minutes later and got all turned around. I
couldn't remember where our hotel was from there. We had to ask the guy for
directions. He map quested it for us which was nice, especially since he didn't
speak English and was trying to work. Thank goodness for him though. But by the
time we figured it out, it was 12:15. We were 15 minutes past curfew and
Henson freaks when we're late, because we always are. So we were all nervous.
And then we got to our hotel and realized we were locked out without our
paperwork with the passcode. Whoops....
Time to go knock on the windows until someone flashed us the code with
their fingers. Thankfully.
So in summary: Our dreams of going to the Eiffel Tower got crushed, we
got beer bottles thrown at us, had to walk through the sketchiest part of town
that we weren't supposed to, we got lost, had to walk across town because the
metro broke down, and were late for curfew.
Kind of hilarious how bad that night went... Haha.
Honestly my favorite day so far though.
We had the best time ever. Paris was the time of my life. I'll miss it. I
do already.
I bought a beautiful journal and charm bracelet and of course some Eiffel
towers since you can't go to Paris and not get some. And gifts for friends and
such.
J'adore Paris. C'est une tres belle ville.
I've loved seeing the French everywhere too(: Good practice for
me(:
Bye Paris. Til we meet
again. Because we will. (:
No comments:
Post a Comment