Paris, France

September 23, 2011

Oh Paris. You are beautiful. We have finally landed in Paris and my friends and I  decided were going to take their Subway into the city. Matt is really good at getting through Metro Stations and helping Judith and I navigate to where we need to go. We finally get on the train and the first thing I notice are black people. Lots of them. French black folk! I was loving it! It was the morning rush hour and people are packed onto the train, some reading a newspaper, others listening to music or drinking coffee. After about 20 minutes we got off the train and we weren’t quite sure where we were, but one thing for sure, we were closer to the Eiffel Tower. I could see the very top tip of it. I was filled with excitement.

Then literally after about 5 minutes, we were standing right in front of it. There it was. The Eiffel Tower!!!

After hanging out there and mesmerizing the beautiful monument, we came across a memorial for Princess Diana. It was amazing. People left roses, written letters and drawings, even little stuffed animals.

We also had a reservation for a boat ride along the river. So we boarded our boat and took in the amazing scenic views of Paris. We took photos of all the gorgeous buildings and we also came across Notre Dame. Now that church…. it was interesting and it was very Gothic like in architecture. The boat ride was extremely exciting. Still, I couldn’t believe that we were actually in Paris!

By noon we made our way to Arc de Triomphe. Once we got here I was so confused because the Arc sits in the center of the road–on a sort of round-a-bout so you can’t just walk over to it as I so badly wanted too. You have to go under ground and come out on the other side to get right underneath it. We didn’t go to the top because we were short on time.

By evening we went to the Louvre and it was pretty cool. A triangle museum! I thought it was a cleaver design. The long lines were disheartening. So–we made better use of our time and continued to walk around. This city did not disappoint.

By nightfall, we headed back to Notre Dame pictures and along the way we say the Effiel Tower again and every 30 minutes it did an awesome light show. Paris–you are beautiful! Oh, let me not forget- I also got to make my own crepe! We went inside a shop and the chef offered us an opportunity to come behind the shelf and make our own crepes! It was so cool!