Paris

I went to Paris last weekend!

My Mom’s friend from high school, Michelle, lives in France.

Michelle’s husband is Rachid; they were my great and selfless hosts for the weekend.

[Shout out: THANK YOU MICHELLE AND RACHID! Thank you for making my trip to personal/special/memorable—I couldn’t have done it without you =)]

 

[Side note: Michelle played trombone in high school. And, she and my Mom have the same birthday. So cool!]

My day on Friday, February 24, started at 7:00am, when I woke up to finish packing and leave around 8:00a. (Also: my day on Thursday had ended only two hours prior, as I arrived home from going out on Thursday night around 4:00a, packed, and then fell asleep around 5:00a. Haha.) I walked to the bus stop, took the bus to the interchange, took the metro to the airport, and caught my flight at 11:00a. I slept through lunch on the plane… which was fine, because I assumed that I could grab a bite to eat once I arrived at the terminal in France.

WRONG! (What terminal?!) I could not eat lunch at the airport because there was only a make-shift terminal at the little airport, Beauvais, where I arrived. To get off the plane, we used air-stairs to the tarmac, and then walked through the make-shift terminal to a ticket booth, where all the passengers purchased a bus ticket, and we were shuttled to an interchange station in Paris.

[Side note: The best part of the flight was seeing a girl named Brittany, with her friends, who were travelling from Seville to Paris for the weekend. Brittany and I first met when we had the same flight from Dulles to Madrid, back in January. Dulles and Madrid were both connecting airports for her, as she was travelling from Philadelphia to Seville. So ironic!]

[Disclaimer: Brittany is not actually from Philadelphia. I actually have no idea where she’s from, because honestly, I don’t remember. I don’t even know her last name. But, for the purposes of this blog post, I guessed that she’s from Philadelphia, because I do remember that she was from some recognizable city on the east coast. Lol.]

Anyway, Michelle and I had perfect timing for arriving and greeting each other at the interchange; she arrived by train and I by bus. We had no trouble finding each other. As per Michelle’s recommendation, I packed light (just one change of clothes and a toothbrush in my backpack), so right away we were off—on our way to starting a personal tour of Paris =) How exciting!

Our first stop was at a corner café so that I could get lunch. I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich on a French baguette, along with a chocolate/fruit tart for dessert. So delicious! From there, we took a walk down Gran Via to the Arc de Triumph.  

After fighting other tourists and battling traffic coming from all directions to take some photos, we headed for the nearest metro station, which put us… at the base of the Eiffel Tower!

We hung out at the Eiffel Tower for several hours. I waited in line for the cheap ticket, and climbed the stairs in less time than it would have taken to buy a ticket to take the elevator to the top. I was in the Eiffel Tower long enough to watch the sun set over the Paris skyline…

So beautiful!

Around 7:00pm, we left to head home. I insisted that we stop at a souvenir shop along the way, after which Michelle insisted that we stay until the top of the hour to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle…

No wonder Paris is the City of Love <3 Who wouldn’t LOVE such a monument?! ;)

Dinner on Friday was very French—wheat flour crepes with goat cheese, a side salad with vinaigrette dressing and a sweet surprising splash of honey, strawberries and powdered sugar for dessert, along with caramel crème yogurt dipping cream, and orange juice to drink. It was heavenly!

Saturday morning started off with some OJ (my favorite) and some pastries, including a French croissant, for breakfast. Then we took the metro into Paris, where we saw the National Opera building.

After that we went to the Louvre. Michelle and I have the same mentality about visiting museums, so we were great travel partners.

This is a replica of the Dining Room in Michelle’s house.
Jk—I meant to say: Michelle’s palace.

Jk—I meant to say: Napoleon’s Palace.

Then I saw the real Mona Lisa! I saw the recently restored Mona Lisa at the Museo del Prado just last week, but I didn’t get to take a picture of that one :( Oh well, it’s still cool to say that I saw BOTH of the Mona Lisa paintings, within a week of each other!

For lunch, we had quiche lorraine and salad at the restaurant.

Our next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. What a beautiful and ornate building.

Saturday night was SHOPPING! I love shopping. We also stopped for ice cream. I got tiramisu flavor. I also love ice cream.

We spent a lot of time looking at jewelry, and scarves, and purses… and, basically, if I had the time, I would probably spend my entire life’s savings shopping in Paris, and then I wouldn’t have any money left to take other trips around Europe. Glad I didn’t have time to spend that much money! Haha.

Dinner on Saturday was chicken with corn, carrots, and potatoes. I also ate a sourdough baguette with a plethora of cheeses. I tried camembert, bleu, Swiss, and chèvre (goat). Yum :)

On Sunday, I started the morning watching Marie Antionette, the movie, after our fresh-fruit-with-yogurt-and-granola breakfast. It was great to watch the movie before visiting the Palace of Versailles, in order to have a solid mental image of what it looked like, as well as a better understanding of what went into its use and decoration.

But before we went to Versailles, we walked through the Market in Saint Germain en Laye to buy dinner (which was served at lunch time). We ate steamed salmon with potatoes and guacamole, followed by Rum Cake with fruit. (That cake was THOROUGHLY doused in rum. It was good, but it was strong!)

The Palace of Versailles was STUNNING, even on an overcast-Sunday afternoon.  

God’s glory shines, even on overcast-Sunday afternoons ;)

Before heading home, we stopped at a Creperie, where I ate a fabulous Nutella-banana-ice cream crepe.

Rachid dropped us off at Château de Saint Germain en Laye, where we walked around the castle grounds, and I got to see where Louis XIV was born.

[Note: compare this picture I took of the Castle with the image on the Wikipedia page. Impresionante!]

Sunday evening was spent relaxing, watching a movie, and eating another smattering of cheese and fruits for dinner. So delightful!

This car lives parked right outside of Michelle’s house; I couldn’t help but take a picture ;)

Michelle accompanied me to the airport on Monday, at which point I boarded with EasyJet (the first ticketless airline!), made some important life decisions on the airplane (inspired by a strong cup of coffee), and arrived back in Madrid around noon.

By 1:30p I was home again, and at 2:30p, I was back in class, as if nothing had ever happened. The only difference was: I was now the proud holder of 366 photos, several souvenirs, and countless fond memories about my magical weekend in France. <3

Can’t wait to go back. <3

Stay tuned for my next post for more information about my important life decisions.

Love, ~Taylor