Paris

DAY THIRTEEN:

We climbed onto a bus this morning, and took off! As awful as the hostel was, it was sad to say goodbye to Maastricht. I really enjoyed being there, and really enjoyed the atmosphere there. It's a very peaceful place, and the people were all so friendly. But our time in the Netherlands was over, and it was time to head to France!

Our first stop is Paris, and none of my professors are excited for it. They all love the small towns more, and as much as I enjoy the cities, I think I agree with them. For now, we're planning on taking it easy for the 48 hours we're here, and I know I'll come back to see everything I want to see another time (when it's not so hot. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 90's and I'm already crying over it. Remind me to never travel in the summer again).

After about a 6 hour bus ride, we pulled into Paris! It was cool to see all the buildings and to catch my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. We drove right by the Arc de Triomphe, and down to the hotel. After dropping our stuff off in our rooms, we walked over to the tower (about a mile) for our tour!

We had tickets to take the elevator all the way to the top, which was incredible. There are a few different levels you can go to, but ours took us all the way up to the very top, which is incredibly high. The view was insane. I honestly had no idea how large Paris was until I saw it from every angle like that. It was a little windy, but it was amazing and the breeze felt fantastic.

After that, we wandered back up to the arc to see it a bit closer and get some pictures, although we didn't pay to climb up it.

We found a cute little cafe for dinner and just grabbed sandwiches and pastries, and then kept wandering. We found our way to the tunnel where the car accident with Princess Diana took place, and then back to the Eiffel Tower. We hung out in the park for a couple hours, just chatting and enjoying the weather and the view. I wandered off to meet up with a friend who happens to be in Paris for the summer and then wandered back to my group. We chatted with some random other LDS people who we found, and then just enjoyed the lights. At 11, the tower began to sparkle and it was honestly magical. I feel like I could leave Paris now and be happy and feel content (especially after I go to the Louvre in the morning).

It was interesting. The more I travel the world, the more I appreciate Provo (which is just so so wrong). It's nice to know that when I get back to school, I have the small, happy little town waiting for me. Don't get me wrong, I love wandering and exploring and seeing. However, it's still nice to feel like I do have a comfortable little place to call my own, where I can be in my comfort zone and not fairly overwhelmed all the time. This experience is so great, but after almost 2 weeks down, I'm starting to be ready to be home again (or at least somewhere where I can get clean clothes and someone speaks English without judging me).

DAY FOURTEEN:
Two weeks down!!
This morning I woke up and went for a run pretty early. I ran out to the Eiffel Tower, and then across the Seine river, down a few blocks, and back. It was a gorgeous morning, an incredible run, and not too bad distance wise (about 3, I'm trying to work my way back up. slowly.)

Then I got to facetime my family!! I called Will, and he was in the kitchen with mom and dad, so I got all three of them! It was the perfect way to start the day.
After locking my key in my room, dealing with a French hotel employee who thought that was hilarious, and grabbing a quick breakfast, we ran off to the Louvre! It was a bit of a mess in terms of public transportation, but we managed to figure it out. We just barely missed the bus, so we figured we'd walk along the bus route to the next stop rather than stand and wait for 15 minutes at the one we were at. We ended up walking almost halfway there before finally catching a bus for the last mile.
The Louvre was incredible. Just walking up had me almost giddy because of how excited I was!

 Only one of my friends was excited like me, the other three were like "eh, we'll wait in the park". He and I booked it inside and headed straight for the Mona Lisa since it was still early in the day. We got a clear view and got to laugh at the incredulity of it. It's this tiny little painting of honestly no worth, kept behind bulletproof glass, that ends up with hordes of people fighting to see it. It was great, I laughed pretty hard, and then did exactly what my high school art history teacher taught me to do, and turned around to enjoy the painting hanging on the wall opposite of it that everyone ignores in their rush to see the Mona Lisa. It was beautiful and honestly deserves more recognition.

After that, I just started wandering through halls and galleries! I tend to not look up what is in museums, instead, I go and find while wandering (also taught by my professor). I found quite a few of the paintings that I've studied over the years, and then stumbled on gold when I found my all-time favorite sculpture: The Winged Nike of Samothrace. It was breathtaking, I couldn't believe I was standing in front of it. I have loved it for so long, and there it was!

I kept wandering, and found so many galleries filled with incredible paintings, with no museum patrons. The higher you go, and the further you get from the Mona Lisa, the fewer people there are. It was crazy to me how much art people ignore just because it isn't famous. While sad, it also meant that I had it to myself, so oh well. Right before we left, I popped back into the gallery to see the crowds at the Mona Lisa again, because they hadn't been huge when I went in the morning. This time, the entire room was packed to the brim of people fighting for a glance. It was ridiculous.

Then we wandered over to the small island that has Saint Chappelle and Notre Dame! We decided not to pay to go inside Saint Chappelle (I'll come back someday), and there was mass going on at Notre Dame, but the bells were ringing while we stood outside, so it was still a pretty incredible experience. We found a gyro place for lunch (cheap, quick, and huge)

 and made our way to the metro to get to Versailles, which is about an hour outside of Paris. We managed to get the tickets, find the train, and then get on it going in the wrong direction. We eventually figured this out (after a few stops), and popped off to get on the train going the correct direction, so it was all good. Mind you, this whole time, it's about 90 degrees outside. During all of this walking and exploring. We all wanted to die, and all our waterbottles were empty. When we got off the metro in Versailles, we ran into a McDonalds to fill them, but like everywhere else in Europe, they won't give you free water. So I filled mine from the tap in the bathroom, and we walked to Versailles!
I really had no desire to go inside (it was expensive), but one of the guys did, so we walked towards the ticket office, and ran into a kind couple who was leaving, and gave us their all access, full day passes. We sent the friend who wanted to see inside off with one of the girls, and the rest of us paid the much cheaper price to go hang out in the gardens (still kinda overpriced, not gonna lie). It probably would have been way more enjoyable if it hadn't been so hot, but it was so warm outside that we didn't really want anything to do with it. We found a bench in the trees with shade and fountain nearby and basically called it good there until the two finished inside.

When they were done, we headed back towards the train, this time stopping at McDonalds to get a cold drink (which is frustrating because they are way smaller here and way more expensive. There is no $1 large coke and that is probably on the top 10 list of what I miss about home).
The train back was crowded but uneventful, and dropped us off right at the Eiffel Tower, about a mile from our hotel. We wandered back in that direction, and found a cute pizza/pasta place on the street, and stopped to have dinner outside. It was so wonderfully good, I had really been wanting to do that before we left, even though it's not the most cost-effective to eat like that all the time.

We got back to the hotel and hung out for a while. I was trying to convince the group to go back to the tower with me to see it at night, but after walking over 11 miles today, no one wanted to walk 2 more. I figured I'd just head over alone until I was reminded that this is a big city and I am a small girl, and that was probably not a smart idea, so instead, I settled for a cold shower and getting the blog updated! Not too bad of a day!