Katy + A 50-lb Suitcase: Paris

Our first night in Paris was nice, except for our random roommate that came into the room really drunk and stumbled into bed where he proceeded to put in a wad of chew before he fell asleep and then farted in his sleep....Gotta love hostels!

ANYWAYS, Here's a pretty picture to get that out of your mind haha

Sacre Coeur the first night we were there.

Saturday we dedicated to the Louvre and the Pomidou. We decided it would be a lot of museum-ing so we took it slow. Instead of taking the Metro straight to the Louvre we decided to walk there which was kind of far but we broke it up by stopping in churches and at other interesting things we walked past. It was the best way to get an idea of the character of the city and see more than the inside of a dark tunnel wizz by. We got to the Louvre at the end of the Tuilerie gardens which are a lot bigger than you think when your destination is at the total end of the park. It was amazing to me how many people were working out (running) up and down the length of the park. How cool would it be to tell your roommate you just got home from a run at the Tuilerie gardens?!

This was the second time I have been to the Louvre. I still cannot believe how lucky I am to had the opportunity to do that. Even though it was my second time, there were many things I did not see including Nepoleon's quarters in the palace which were amazing and there were things that I have a better appreciation for. I also got to take picture of Mona Lisa! That's allowed now! The photo didn't turn out very well, but it's hard to get a good shot through the super heavy duty glass they probably have over the painting. Speaking of photos, we did have an uh oh in the museum. Katie slipped on the stairs and broke her camera! She was really upset about it but we didn't let it put too big of a damper on our trip. We spent a total of two and half hours in the museum and then headed to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is one of the main reasons I wanted to come back to Paris. The first time we were there the cathedral we closed because there was a service going on. This trip I was determined to go inside so when I saw the huge line outside the church I didn't care. Turns out the line didn't even take that long. The church was definitely worth ever minute of waiting I did since Junior Year. The stained glass and wood and stone details were amazing. Ashely and I went into the church without Katie because she had decided to go check out a camera shop to see all hers needed was a quick fix so Ashley and I would meet Katie there when she got back. Luckily Katie had a bright green jacket because there were a ton of people in the plaza in front of the church. We ended up finding Katie less than 30 seconds after we left the church. Ashely asked Katie if she wanted to go in and she said she didn't need to if we wanted to move on, but I interjected and told her she had to. I knew what it was like to be that close to such an amazing place and not go inside! So we went with her. Now technically the ratio of times I've been to Notre Dame and the number of times I've been inside is 100%!

Our next stop was the Pompidou modern art museum. Again, last time I was in Paris I went to see the buildings which looks like it was turned inside out, but I never went in. The art was pretty bizarre, but it was nice to see something besides paintings and marble sculptures. The museum aslo provides a stunning view of the city. Unfortuantely it was cloudy and rainy (not unlike my first trip to Paris), but we could still see out to the Eiffel Tower.

By this time were were exhaused from all the walking and went back to the hostel to plan the next day and go to bed.

The next morning Katie and Ashley went to Versailles which was going to be a 5 hour excursion and since I had already been I decided I would walk around the city and take it easy while visiting some sites I hadn't seen before. We decided to meet at the Arc de Triomphe at 1:30. I visited Sacre Coeur (which I also had not been inside) and mosied down Montmartre to the Montmartre Cemetary. Sacre Coeur was beautiful, not as ornamented as some other churches, but the structure was amazing, especially the main dome. The cemetary was awesome. I've never really liked cemetaries, but this one was amazing. The above ground tombs were a little creepy, but the detail on some of them was really neat and not a single one was the same. The most haunting part of the cemetary was the crowing crows that were perched in the tall trees against a grey sky. Kinda spooky while I walked around the cemetary alone, but towards the end the sun came out and make all the white tombs glisten and look less scary. I could've spent all day there, but I was a little worried about getting pooped on by a crow.

Next I took the metro to the Champs Elysees to do a little window shopping and end up at the Arc to meet Katie and Ashley. I went in a few stores including the Swarovski store which had the most amazing staircase in it and Sephora where I tried a bunch of the new colors of the OPI crackle nail polish (I probably should've taken it off before I left the store because it looked pretty goofy the rest of the trip). I got to the Arc right on time and found a corner to sit out of the rain (again, just like last time!) and wait for the girls. When they got there I wanted to know how there trip to Versailles was...they both gave me pitiful looks. Turns out Kaite had her bag pickpocketed and they stole her wallet which had a lot of cash and all her ID and Cards. Luckily her passport wasn't in there though. Like her camera, though, she didn't let it ruin the rest of her trip and Ashley offered to lend her money and keep a tab until she got back to Orvieto.

After telling their story we went to the Eiffel tower! The line was pretty long but we toughed it out in the wind and the rain (I swear, it was like I went back in time, talk about deja vu with the weather). I didn't get any pictures as good as the one last time (see photos below) but it was great to experience it with two people who had never been. We got a nice pizza dinner at a restaurant near the tower and then headed back to the hostel to do some souvenier shopping, get a crepe (I gave in and got a nutella and banana one, but it was Sunday and I was on my way to mass and I was in Paris), and get cleaned up for 10pm mass at Sacre Coeur! It was a beautiful service and interesting to hear it in French. I love that no matter where you go, Catholic masses are pretty much the same so even though I couldn't understand it I was able to follow along to an extent. After mass we went back to the hostel and packed everything back in my bag that still needed to meet RyanAir size and weight requirements which was pretty difficult.

In the morning I dawned my 5 tank tops, 1 sweater, and jacket which wouldn't fit in my bag. We got up at 7:30 to catch the bus back to the airport which was pretty easy, no issues which was nice since it was so early. Our flight to Barcelona left at 10:25 and we were landing in Spain at noon!