6 April 2011

I have returned from the beautiful city of Paris as of yesterday. I had a very eventful trip. Saturday, when we left, the plane was late all in all (arriving to get us, and arriving in France). We had a little bit of difficulty navigating the Metro system when we got there, but by the end, we had it down pretty good. Rachel and I took a night bus tour of the city, seeing all of the beautiful sights of Paris lit up, including the Eiffel Tower in all of its sparkling glory. After the tour, I got us lost but we found a wonderful little crepe shop where we grabbed some dinner on our way back to the hotel. Sunday, we woke up a lot later than intended, so we didn't get a chance to visit Versailles, but, as it was the first Sunday of the month, the Louvre was free to enter and so we got to go in and see the Mona Lisa, among the other marvelous artwork (including the palace itself).
We couldn't resist some gift shopping in the carousel of the Louvre, where among other cute shops, you can find an Apple store, 2 Starbucks, a Mc Cafe, McDonald's, Swarovsky, Virgin Mobile Music and Video Library... The list of stuff just goes on and on. Monday was our last full day so we went to Notre Dame and took a peek inside the cathedral (sorry we did not see any hunchbacks) and enjoyed the craziness of the pigeons while we waited on our friend Nick to catch up with us. We then proceeded on a walk to La Sorbone (?) so that we could see Kelly, a fellow Hollins student who has been studying in Paris this semester, but before we met up with her to eat at an American themed restaurant, we located a vintage jewelry shop where we proceeded to drool over all of the classic beauty. Nick and I were sent on a mission to meet Mina, another CCCS student, at Notre Dame so that we could continue our tour of the city while Rachel and Kelly stayed behind. Of course, Nick and I got us lost, but we found the Luxembourg Gardens and so Rachel and Kelly caught up with us there. From there, we proceeded to the Eiffel Tower, where Rachel and I rode the elevators to the top and I bought some French Champagne to celebrate. It was definitely an experience. That night, Rachel and I found a quaint little French restaurant that had a 3 course meal for 10 euros. The one waiter (or co-owner, not sure) liked us so much, especially since I let him have the tulip Nick plucked for me from beside the tower. He put in in a cup of water on our table and gave us free rose wine. I tasted real French onion soup, boeuf  bourguinon (beef stew for those of us who can't pronounce that) and an apple tart. It was so delicious and we were having so much fun that I accidentally left a bag with a few little gifts behind. When we went back in the morning, and I tried my best to explain to the manager what happened in simple English, and thankfully the bag had been placed safely by the bar.

We then hurried off to the Eiffel Tower to get a few more photos with the tower, but we weren't free from harassment by the gypsies and other con-artists that flock around the tourist attractions. I fell bad for giving one any money, but I was having trouble pushing her away so gave her 3 euro and ran. Another con-artist tried 3 different languages with us but we continued to ignore him and his friend. When we got to the bus station to catch the bus to the airport they immediately went on break, which was supposed to be 10 minutes but was really pushing 20. In the mean time, the bus came and was getting ready to leave so one of the other workers caught the bus before it left so that the very angry line of customers didn't storm the cashiers. As it was, we were told to shift the lines we were in and then they still didn't open right away. It was frustrating, but we finally were on the bus, which Mina and I slept on the entire ride to the airport. The airplane was half an hour late, but we managed to get back into Alicante on time. I am very glad to be back, especially knowing that I only have one class to worry about right now, so I can take my time a lot easier now. I do have to start planning for fall term back in the states, but for now, I think this weekend I will be at the beach catching up on some articles for class. Bring on the 80 degree weather!

I have included a video of the tour sparkling for you, as well as a view of what I had to deal with to see the Monna Lisa.