That awkward moment when . . .

 . . . you realize you probably should've taken French instead of Spanish in High School. We just returned from a week long trip to Paris, Brittany, and Normandy France, and, even with the slight language barrier, it was an amazing trip. The trip started off great; we had to be downstairs, ready to leave by 8:10, and my alarm decides to not go off. So I jolt awake at 7:59, and run around like a madwoman gathering last minute things and trying to look somewhat presentable. After a zillion hour bus ride, (I think it was only about 6 hours, but we were told it would be 4) we finally made it to Paris. And then everything was worth it.

We started off strong, by walking/taking the Metro (awful experience, more details later) to Napoleon's Tomb, and then this gorgeous fountain (with small children actually swimming in it!) and then to the Eiffel Tower. It didn't quite hit me until I saw the famous monument that we were in Paris. Paris. Like, Paris, Paris. It was unreal. The Eiffel Tower took my breath away, it was so gorgeous. I couldn't take enough pictures of it, and we started off far away, all snapping pics like crazy, even though our director Dr. Hughes reassured us that we would eventually be getting closer. We were acting like it would disappear if we didn't take half a million pics every two feet. After a long day of walking, we stopped by the hotel (which had wi-fi! Yay wi-fi!) and then left for dinner. We had reservations at this charming little restaurant just up the street from our hotel (which was in Paris) and we had a limited menu to order from. I ordered escargot for my appetizer. While in France right? It didn't taste too bad actually, nice and garlicky, but a little too chewy for my taste. After about the third one, I remembered that I was eating snails, and got a little freaked out.

Our second day started super early again, with us all gathering in the lobby for an 8:30 mass at Notre Dame. Which, if you didn't know, is in Paris. The mass was boring (sorry God) and all in French, but the church was beautiful, so I entertained myself by looking at the details in the stained glass and watching the people around me. Afterwards we visited the Archeological Crypte, Ste Chapelle, Musée de Cluny and Musée d'Orsay. The Crypte was a little dull, but the chapel was beautiful, with huge stained glass windows. The only downside about the museums was that I felt a little rushed. I understand that we were on a tight schedule and the museums were very large, but it would have been nice to be able to wander a little bit. Two of my favorite pieces of artwork were in both Musée de Cluny and Musée d'Orsay. In Musée de Cluny there was an entire room filled with large tapestries of unicorns and lions and queens. It's much more beautiful then it sounds, almost child-like. It was pretty cool. In Musée d'Orsay there was a collection of Monet paintings, and my favorite was a painting of a woman with a parasol standing in a field. Its simplicity made it beautiful.

After our museum tours we had some free time, and a bunch of us went to this adorable little Greek restaurant for dinner. It was delicious. Then we met up with the rest of the group for a boat tour on the Seine. We saw the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame all lit up and beautiful. It was absolutely amazing.

On Monday we got to sleep in a little bit, and met with our group at 9:45. We took the metro (again) and headed for the Louvre. In Paris. Alright, let me explain why I hate the metro. First of all, it's dirty. Our director gave us tickets, but they were so complicated! Half the time they didn't work in the ticket booth, so someone would have to awkwardly crawl under the booth or sneak in with someone else, and you had to have them when you got off the train too. That was stressful, trying to remember where I put my nine thousandth metro ticket and which one was valid and which ones were used. And that was just the process of getting on and off the train! Once we got on to the metro it wasn't bad, except when it got crowded. I swear, one man chose MY pole to hold on to, even though there were plenty of other poles. He touched me. I was silently freaking out for the entire five minute journey. It was traumatizing. Anyway, Louvre.

There was a common phrase repeated throughout our group for the whole day we went to the Louvre; if you went to the Louvre and spent three seconds looking at every piece of artwork, it would take you three months, night and day. The Louvre was huge! We were rushed through to look at select pieces, including Venus de Milo and, my girl, Mona. We had been warned that the Mona Lisa picture was actually pretty small, and it was enclosed in thick bulletproof glass and surrounded by tourists. It wasn't very hard for us to sneak up to the front of the line, but it was a very small, plain-looking picture. We took our pictures and then were shoved out of the way by really mean tourists. (You all know the kind I mean . . . ) This was a common occurrence throughout our visit to France. There were many of these certain types of tourists huddling in groups, taking obnoxious pictures with certain poses, blocking everyone else from seeing the sights . . .

After the Louvre we went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed 284 steps to the very top. There we saw a birds-eye view of Paris, and it took my breath away. You could see for miles, and I became mesmerized by the beauty of Paris. I was jerked out of my daydream by an extremely rude woman who said "Move!" and then literally pushed me away. I was so shocked that someone had actually just pushed me out of the way that I didn't have time to react, I just slowly moved to the side. After I told all my friends and we all agreed that she was a cranky old woman and I did nothing wrong and I was just perfect, we walked down the
Champs-Elysées to see all of the fashionable yet ridiculously expensive Parisian stores. We had a few disagreements along the way, but that was only because we were tired and cranky and starving. We sat out in a little park and drank wine and champagne and just talked. It was really relaxing and definitely needed.

Afterwards I was dragged against my will to yet another church with yet another beautiful view of Paris. I know you think I'm being sarcastic (and you'd be half right) but I was so hungry and when I get hungry I get really cranky. Later, whenever I would mention being hungry, people would rush to give me food. I didn't think I was THAT bad . . .

The day after was a free day, and we decided to take advantage of Paris and check out the Catacombs and Versailles. The Catacombs were really cool, but really scary at the same time. I was glad I saw them, but the low ceilings and dimly lit environment, plus the walls and walls of bones and skulls were definitely freaking me out a little bit. Versailles was incredible, and we separated into smaller groups and went on our own little tour. This was where I narrowly escaped being crushed to death as a huge swarm of "certain tourists" came rushing towards me, eager to see up close and personal the Queen's bed. I barely made it out alive. I don't want to talk about that tragic experience.

 

That day concluded our last day in Paris, and we left for Brittany the next morning. I don't want to overwhelm everyone with this super long blog post, so I'll save our last three days in France for another post. Plus, I'm just really tired of writing.

Ciao for now!