A Weekend in Paris!

Let me begin by saying that for whatever reason, I've never really harbored much of an interest in France. No, I wasn't on that "patriotic" anti-French bullshit bandwagon, I truthfully have no idea why. I know a fair amount of relevant history, I find the language intoxicating and I've always been impressed by the amount of incredibly famous art that resides within its borders. I suppose I had never really foreseen the chance to visit, and therefore hadn't let any of these things really soak completely through.

And now... I couldn't be more enamored. I am completely smitten with the city of Paris, and can only hope to return and see more of the country (and in much better company).

My short weekend there went like this:
Arrival/Thursday Night: Laruen, Julie, Mikaela and I got into Beauvis airport around 11:00pm and took a bus into the city. Thanks to Laura & Chelsea's crash course in crucial French phrases, I was able to get us a taxi to our hotel, where we ended up around what must've been close to 1:30am.

The hotel was incredible and ended up being much cheaper than a hostel would have been. For three nights in a quadruple room, we each paid a total of €59.60. (Hostels were about €30/night.) There was marble bathroom, an incredible balcony and a view that begged for a half naked Ewan MacGreggor.

View from the balcony towards the Gare de l'Est train/metro station.

Friday: Despite our intentions to wake up early and see as much as possible, no one really woke up until 11:00am. We got out of the hotel and navigated our way to The Musée du Louvre by way of the metro system. (Which is totally exhilarating, it's like a big scavenger hunt. Italy needs to dig up some of it's ancient junk and jump on the public transportation train.)

The entry point/main courtyard of the Louvre, taken from the inside.

We got to the Louvre around 1:00pm. I wasn't about to try to explain the significance of any of this art to my insufferable roommates (yes, the view is fantastic from this high horse), so I told them I would meet them back under the glass pyramid at 4:00pm.

I was concerned about not being able to see everything, and while I absolutely didn't, I ran around to all of the highlights and had a fantastic time just wondering through the massive galleries. Among some of the phenomenal and incredibly famous art, my favorites were:

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Aphrodite of Milos (better known as the Venus de Milo)

The Mona Lisa

Around 3:45pm I started heading back to the pyramid, thinking the other girls had surely finished early as well, and might be anxious to move on to another attraction. They came back down the escalator right at 4:00pm, they had left and gone shopping on the back part of the Champs-Élysées, where we returned and I found a couple of shirts, a purse and a great white jacket. Hey, you have to shop in Paris, it's Paris.

That night we meant to go out for a fancy dinner, but we're sort of used to the outrageously late Italian dinner times and just ended up at a little cafe across the street from our hotel, as most other options were closed or the girls didn't see anything they liked on the menu.

I was really hoping to find some French Onion Soup, but was fine with pizza for the night (because I'm not getting enough of it in Florence). The girls were getting kind of catty, Julie really didn't like the pasta dish she ordered and wouldn't stop complaining about it, I think everyone was just exhausted. When the waiter brought out the pizzas for Mikaela and me, he told me mine was in the shape of a heart because, "The Chef, he love you," as the chef grinned and waved from the kitchen.

The girls wanted to go out, but I decided to call it a night as I was planning to get up early and head to Disneyland Paris for the day!