Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost: A Weekend in Paris!

A few weeks ago, between modules (terms, if you will) my friends and I went to Paris! We took the chunnel from London to France which wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, but it was good. We got there super late (1:30 am) and took a cab to our hotel. As we rode through the dark, busy streets of Paris, we had our first adventure. The cab turned a corner and suddenly, rising out of the dark was Notre Dame! It was thrilling watching it loom above us as we sped by. It was our first "Ahhh! We're in Paris!" moment. Not two minutes later we witnessed a vespa get hit by a car. We were sure than the man and woman thrown to the ground were dead, but they got up and started cursing at the driver in French. So, I guess they were ok. It was quite the contrast between the elation of Notre Dame and the shock of the accident. After an exciting cab ride, we finally made it to our weekend home.

We stayed in an apartment in the 14th Montparnasse area of Paris. Beautiful, isn't it?

I loved the fancy decorations and big windows.

Doesn't my hat just seem to belong there?

Each morning, we stopped at this lovely little bakery around the corner from our place. The fresh bread was SO GOOD! Seriously, it was one of the best things I've had in Europe.

The first morning we went to the Louvre! (pay no attention to the fact that my camera's panoramic function cut the lady in the foreground in half, ha ha).

It was so crowded! I guess that's what we get for going on a Saturday.

I got to see my favorite statue! This is the breathtaking Winged Nike of Samothrace.

There was quite the crowd around Mona Lisa.

Our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower out the window of the Louvre. This is when we knew we were in Paris!

The museum is huge. We only go through a fraction of it in 4 hours. I would have spent more time there, but I was ok with leaving since I got to see the pieces I was most excited about. As we left, we stopped at Laduree for some macaroons. They were heavenly! Seriously, we need to find a way to get these stateside.

Next we went to the Eiffel Tower!

My camera died on the way to the top (yaaaay), and I have yet to get some of my friends pictures, but this was taken from halfway up.

It was so magical riding up the elevator, watching the ground get smaller beneath me. It was exhilarating thinking "I'm actually in Paris, going to the top of the eiffel tower." I loved knowing that so many people throughout the years had the same experience I was having now.

That night we went on boat tour of the city after the sun had set. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Paris light up as we floated down the Seine.

The next morning we went to church. I could have gotten a headset, so I kind of wanted to hear it all in Paris. I didn't understand much of anything, but enjoyed singing (well, trying to sing) the hymns in French.

That afternoon, after getting lost a bit, we made it to Versailles.

The flowers in the gardens were so beautiful!

Sydney and I in a classic jumping picture.

I couldn't help it.

Fountains in one of the secluded gardens. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out the story behind the guy in the middle. All the signs were in French.

Poseidon's chariot rising out of the pond.

My unintentional, but rather nice, impressionist shot of the gardens.

The Shakespeare and Company bookstore, right across from Notre Dame, was my favorite place in Paris. It was bursting at the seams with books. The upstairs is a library where you can sit and read a while. They even have a piano for you to play on. I wish I could have taken photos to show you. It was just so peaceful sitting there and taking a moment to think.

While browsing the shelves, I found a book titled "That Summer in Paris." As I leafed through it I found half a dozen notes left within the pages and decided to leave my own memory of my summer in Paris.

That night we decided to go to a nice, sit down restaurant. Doesn't the guy across the way look like Maurice from Beauty and the Beast?

After being quite indecisive with the menu, I finally settled on getting apple-cheese fondue. It was so good! Mm...I can still taste it.

After stuffing ourselves, we stopped by l'Arc de Triomphe on the way home.

The street looked so magical shimmering with the new fallen rain.

In France, it's not Brave, its Rebel!

And of course, we had to stop for gelato. The waiter was so great, I just had to get a picture of him. We amused him and he amused us. I'll admit that French gelato doesn't come with Italian gelato, but it was still worth having.

On our last day in Paris, we went to Notre Dame! I had just barely finished my Gothic Architecture class and thoroughly enjoyed analyzing the building. Sydney was nice enough to be my student and let me tell her about the buildings features.