Back to Paris...We left Monday morning and got back Thursday night. In between that time I think I saw enough of Paris to last me until I get to go back. I have never had such productive, busy days in my life. See for yourself.
Monday, March 15th
I took the Chunnel this morning to France. I still don't understand how a train can go under the English Channel, but it can. I felt like Harry Potter a little bit, only I'm not a wizard and I wasn't going to Hogwarts.
Once we got to the station in Paris we waited around a bit until we got on a coach to go to Charte. But before we left the station I used the bathroom! Why is that so exciting? Because I had to pay one euro to pee! I forgot they charge you to use the bathroom in France sometimes, so that was a good experience. An important one to have if you visit France.
We went to Charte even before we checked into our hotel because our teachers thought it was important to see this cathedral. We had learned about it in our classic civilization class, so it was really...wondrous to see it in real life! It's nice being able to talk about why the two steeples are differently architecturally and what time period each was built in. It's nice when what you learn in the classroom is actually applicable to real life.
My favorite part of this cathedral was the rose window. For some reason I think they are the most beautiful thing in the world. Maybe it's because they are. One of them at least. Our tour guide told us the entire story of one of the stained glass sections, I never knew how to read those but now I do! Even though we had to sit in the freezing cathedral for an hour it was time well spent! (Wow, that's a cheesy saying) But really, it was great and educational! We learned how to skin someone alive. Yeah...our tour guide was interesting.
Oh yeah, before we went to the cathedral we had some free time to wander the city. So we went on a carousel. I can't forget to mention that! The sun was shining, we were right next to the fountain like by Capitol Lake and I was with the funniest girls. Best 2 euros I've ever spent. What a great moment.
As sad as it was to leave Charte, we did. On to Paris! I love that we've gotten to stay in hotels for the past two trips as a group. So much nicer than hostels. Our room was very IKEA-ish and had a weird shower with half a glass door. What the French design? I liked it. We didn't spend much time in our room though. Right after dropping our stuff off we went out to find food.
I almost forgot about the language difference until we got our menus. I couldn't read anything. Why can't I speak French? And Spanish? I wish I were at least bilingual. But don't worry-that's on my to-do-before-I-die list: Learn Spanish. Why do I keep mentioning this list? Am I blogging about my bucket list? No, that's for another time. Right now I'm talking about Paris and food. Since I've had some bad experiences with branching out at restaurants I ended up getting onion soup...real French onion soup! Best I've ever had, it was the real thing. It was better than "thinly sliced beef" that a couple of people got. It ended up being raw meat marinated and sprinkled with basil. It didn't taste bad...there just wasn't much to it.
After eating, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. We walked out of the station and there it was in all its glory! It was love at first sight. I couldn't believe I was actually standing underneath it, I felt like I was dreaming. Cliche, but true!
I've found that I really enjoying holding up national monuments. And the Eiffel Tower is no exception.
There was a crepe stand across from the Eiffel Tower, I got one with nutella and coconut...If I could do one thing in Paris it would be to sit beneath the tower eating a crepe. Magical.
Something else that was magical...seeing the Arc de Triumphe. I don't know what else to say about it except it was really big. And really magnificent. I just never thought about what it'd be like to see in real life since I'd seen it so much on television and in pictures. Real life is wonderful. After admiring the arc for a while we decided to head back to the hotel since we didn't know when the metro closed. I can't express how nice it is to have a room with only two people in it where you don't have to wear an eye mask or earplugs to sleep. And even though I was really tired I could not fall asleep. My brain just wouldn't stop thinking. Good news: it finally did.
Wow, I didn't know you got to go to Paris, that is SO awesome! You are really getting the whole European experience on this study abroad!
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