From Stacy to Paris

Well I’m back again, this time from Paris. I went this last weekend to Paris with my study abroad group for a nice long weekend starting on Thursday evening through Sunday evening. Ash and I were lucky enough to have the trip on the same weekend and were able to spend a lot of time together. Before arriving to Paris I had heard the people there (the French) weren’t very sympathetic and especially to Americans. Again, I heard wrong, most of the people I spoke with were more than nice and I would love to go back someday. My group arrived about 8 p.m. on Thursday the 14th. Although we arrived a little late, we had enough time to settle in and take a nice trip over to the Eiffel Tower, an amazing site. When we got within sight of the amazing structure, we were all awe struck at the complexity and enormity of its dimensions. The tower was completely lit with neon lights and was clearly visible from a long distance. Our hotel fortunately was less than one mile from the tower and we’re able to walk directly underneath it. Although I loved seeing the tower for the first time, I would have to say another instance of being at the tower was a little more surreal. That was being able to sit underneath the tower kissing Ashleigh. Something I never imagined being able to do at the age of 21. Ash and I made two trips to the tower, one simply enjoying the view from underneath and another from the second floor of the tower overlooking the 11 million population city. Friday morning our group toured the city on bus for two hours looking at some of the many historical sites throughout the city. After we finished we were able to enter and tour Notre Dame! What an amazing structure. The church was immaculate and had amazing architecture. While waiting for Ash to arrive later in the afternoon, my friends and I walked around the city and looking at some of the many street venders along the river. The venders sold everything from little mirror souvenirs to beautiful paintings. I’ll soon tell you what I decided to spend all of my money on soon. After returning from what seemed to be miles of walking throughout the city we were able to rest a little while before meeting with Ash and her friends for a trip through one of the most humbling museums I’ve ever visited. The Louvre Museum, also the museum discussed in the “DaVinci Code” had some of the oldest paintings and sculptures I’ve ever seen. The most humbling amongst them being “The Mona Lisa” painted by DaVinci himself. Amongst some of the others were sculptures of Michael Angelo’s work! After seeing some of the most famous artwork I’m likely to ever to see in my life we went out for dinner at a nice traditional French restaurant not far from the Museum and Notre Dame. There I had an amazing dinner of salmon, mussels soaked in white wine, and rice. The dinner surprisingly was very affordable. Saturday consisted of another trip around the city with my group via bus and ended at the Louvre which we again took a more detailed and toured trip through the historical museum. After the Louvre my friends and I made another pass through the street venders where I found one of my best finds yet, “The Wall” by Pink Floyd being sold for 15 euros on vinyl. Don’t worry, that wasn’t the only thing I found I ended up returning to the same guy but I’ll tell you about that in a little while. After shopping for awhile we met up with Ashleigh again and her friends for a long walk throughout some of the busiest and most popular streets in Paris, some of the most expensive as well. On our journey we walked through some of the most beautiful gardens (formerly royal gardens), stopped by a Louis Vuiton store, and stood in front of “The Arch” and amazing arch built tall and wide with battle scenes sculpted into each side of the structure made to honor Napoleon Bonaparte’s many victories. Later that evening Ash and I enjoyed a romantic walk to the Eiffel Tower and a nice dinner consisting of pasta and steak dinner accented by a glass of white wine. After dinner and the Eiffel tower we wanted to rest up before another big day in the morning. In the morning I joined Ash’s group for a tour beginning at the Moulon Rouge and stretching through one of the nicest and most historically known suburbs of Paris. Throughout the little suburb we were given a detailed history of each zone by a Frenchmen who seemed to be very informative. We were able to see flats that famous painters stayed in during their time in Paris one of such being Picasso! The trip through the small art filled suburb was an amazing experience and after we finished up we went over to a Salvador Dali museum, one of my favorite artists who just so happens to be Spanish as well. The Dali exhibit was extremely interesting; I won’t spend much time talking about it since I know not many know who he is but if you’re interested just ask me. After the exhibit Ash and I left with her friend on the metro back to do a little more shopping along the river. I wanted to look for more records and happened to find the same man from the day before. This time I was looking I happened to see a very rare Led Zepelin album, Let it Be by the Beetles, and Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. I spent enough; we can say that, however I’ll be lucky to ever run across those albums again. After getting my fix for classic rock we continued to walk a little while longer until I needed to head out and catch my bus to the airport around 5:30 p.m.