June 4th
We arrives in Paris at the Gare-du-Nord station around 7 PM and quickly figured out the metro. We bought a 3 day, zone 1-3 pass which made it much easier to get around compared to walking everywhere in London. Once we got to the hostel we went on a hunt for the grocery store that we had passed but it closed 30 minutes before we got there. So we went looking for a new one and found a friendly orange cat which we named Fizeau after the street he lived on. We finally found a tiny market and bought dinner, planned our day in Paris, and got some sleep.
June 5th
The hostel breakfast was the carb lovers dream. We were allotted two pieces of bread for toast or a sandwich, a croissant, and a mini loaf of bread. Afterwards we hopped on the metro and went to the Eiffel Tower. It was bigger than I expected. We didn't go up because it was expensive though I now somewhat regret that. There were guys selling little tower trinkets everywhere who were totally obnoxious. Afterwards we walked to the Arc de Triumphe which was also bigger than I expected. It was surrounded by a massive round-a-bout so you got to walk under the street to actually get to it. It was under renovation so I didn't get a good picture of the whole thing, just the underside.
We hopped back on the metro and went to the Opera Garnier. The inside was spectacular and glamorous. I can't even imagine the skill, time, and money required to make that ubilding and all the designs. Originally we weren't going to be able to go into the actual theater but we got lucky and they opened up a couple of boxes. Everyone crowded into them (we all got really friendly) and got to see all the seating and the beautiful ceiling.
We got on the metro again and headed off to Notre Dame. We found a cute little crepe stand and all got one. The guy made fun of me (in a nice and funny way) for staying strawberry (fraise) as fra-say instead of fras. We walked around the cathedral which was gorgeous and free!
We went and had an early dinner at a restaurant just south of the cathedral. Karlee ordered escargo and Emily tried some too. I did not and I definitely don't regret that. I'm pretty sure I would have barfed everywhere. Then we walked to the Louvre and found the Lock Bridge on the way which was insane. The museum was massive and had a gorgeous exterior. You get into the museum through the glass pyramid which was very cool. We only had about an hour in the museum so we found the Mona Lisa first and took some pictures with Da Vinci's most famous painting. We wandered around a little bit and got to see some amazing sculptures and ancient Greek art.
Karlee left to meet a family she knew so Emily and I went back to the Louvre, took some touristy pictures, and went souvenir shopping. We went back to Notre Dame around 8:45 because we'd book a special Ghost and Mysteries walking tour. our guide's name was Robin and he told us lots of different legends at different locations such as Notre Dame, various shop fronts, on a bridge, and in an alley. While on the bridge it hit 10 PM and we got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle! (It sparkles up every hour on the hour for 5 minutes from 10 PM to 1 AM). Once we finished the tour we hopped on the metro to try to see the Tower sparkle up close. We were about 5 minutes too late but it was still amazingly cool. There was a dance party going on too. We went down and danced for about 30 minutes which was fun but we didn't have enough energy to do more than that. Then we split a ham and cheese crepe (which was even more amazing than the strawberry one) and hopped back on the metro to return to the hostel.
June 6th
Today we got up at 7 again which sucked. We packed, ate breakfast, stored our bags, and headed off on the metro to the Palace of Versailles. We bought our tickets but then had to stand in line for over an hour to actually get in which was ridiculous. We went through one wing before heading out to the gardens and walking to the Trianon Palaces/Marie Antoinette's home. Everything was gorgeous as expected.
We left the Palace and went across the street to what formerly was the Grand Stables. Now it is a riding school. There was a girl riding a beautiful Akhal-Teke. He was metallic white/cream and his slight build amazed me.
We went back to the train station, returned to the hostel, and then took the metro to Gare-du-Lyon. We had to wait at the train station for awhile but then we got to start out first overnight train trip. It's pretty cool. The bottom two bunks convert to seats so that we can sit and then put them back to sleep while we travel to Rome!