In addition to responding to the prompts provided by the Office of Global Education at W&J, I will also be including a post or two about each trip that I take throughout Europe or within Spain.
Oui, oui! Our first trip was to the magnificent city of romance itself: Paris, France. Katie and I went with a student tour company called Bus2alps, and it was a fabulous weekend, even in the rain! We got into Paris late Thursday evening and had our first experience with the insane metro system within the city. The first metro system that I've ever used in my life has been since I've come to Sevilla with only one line running from one side of the city to the other... therefore, I think it goes without saying that France's 15+ metro line system was very intimidating for a small town girl like myself. However, with my impeccable sense of direction, we safely found our way to meet our group.
On Friday, we got up early and went on a walking tour of the city. We got to see so many of the sights in just three hours which was awesome! We learned a lot about the history of France, thanks to our Scottish tour guide. We walked along the river and saw Napoleon Bonaparte's crest stamped on many of the French river bridges. I got an up close view of the only building left in Paris with WWII scars. We walked across Lovers Bridge and learned that if two lovers place a lock on the bridge and toss the keys into the river, it signifies that their love will go on forever and they'll live happily ever after (little do they probably know that they have to cut all of the locks off every six months because it weighs the bridge down that much!) We passed by Notre Dame and walked through the Louvre. Our tour ended in a nice central location within Paris. We stopped right in front of the Naval building, the place de Concorde, and with the perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. Our guide told us the story of Hitler's famous words "Is Paris Burning?!" whenever he had given orders to burn the city down in WWII, and I learned that it was a German general, Dietrich von Choltitz, that is actually given credit for saving the city because he gave orders to set off all the explosives to make it look like the city was on fire, rather than actually burning it to the ground. I loved everything about our tour because we learned so much, and it was way more fun than reading it from a textbook.
After our tour we went to Angelina's and drank the best hot chocolate that you could ever imagine. It was heavenly. Later that afternoon, we went to Fragonard, a perfume factory close to Paris. We toured the factory and learned a lot about the lengthy process that goes into making such a small bottle of perfume. Afterwards we had the opportunity to sample and buy the perfume if we so wished!
That evening, we walked around the city some more and went for dinner before going to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle! It only lasts for a short five minutes, but it's one of the most spectacular sights you'll ever see!
The next day, we boarded the train out of the city en route to the Royal Palace of Versailles! Again, France is such a magical place and walking up to the golden gates of the palace is completely breathtaking. We toured all throughout the palace, taking so many pictures. My favorite room was definitely the Hall of Mirrors with all of the beautiful chandeliers. Once we left the palace, we went out into the gardens and were in awe of how perfectly symmetrical they were. It was such an amazing sight in February, I can't imagine how beautiful everything must be once in full bloom during the spring. Unfortunately our time exploring outside was cut short by an unexpected hail/wind storm so we decided it was time to go. Versailles is definitely somewhere that I would love to go back to, without a doubt!
Once we arrived back in the heart of the city, we browsed along the Champs-Èlysees with some of the most top notch fashion companies and stores in the world. My heart actually melted whenever I saw the five-story Louis Vuitton building. We also went into the Swarovski store and were able to take pictures on the infamous sparkling steps! This was one street that I could have easily spent days just gazing into all of the stores. One of my personal favorite places on this street was Lauderée, an incredible French restaurant, and home to the most delicious macaroons you'll ever taste in your life. I tried a number of different flavors: Brazilian chocolate, Almond, Raspberry, Salted Caramel, and Orange Cream to name a few, but my favorite flavor was the unique Rose Petal Tea...it was phenomenal! After enjoying (I won't tell you the actual number of) macaroons, we continued up the street to view the Arc de Triomphe, another one of Paris's amazing sights.
Later that night, the entire group of 17 girls all went on a pub crawl to the Red Light district and home to Moulin Rouge! We visited several bars along the strip and had an amazing night out with new friends, great drinks, in one awesome city!
Although we were not ready to leave, Sunday meant that it was time to go back to Seville. However, we still had a large part of the day to explore since our flight wasn't taking off until later. That afternoon, Katie and I went back to see the Eiffel Tower in the daylight. We decided to go up in the tower and being the crazy people that we are…we took the steps up…all 600+ of them to get to the second level. When I tell you the view was amazing, it was AMAZING. I could have spent all day on top of the tower just taking in the beauty of the city. There was one more option to go all the way to the top, but since we were low on time and energy after the first 600 steps, we didn't make it all the way up. However, to prolong our time in the tower, we stopped on the first level to eat lunch at a small café. I enjoyed the most exquisite glass of red Bordeaux wine and the most scrumptious lunch since we've been in Europe. I did not want to leave!
When I finally said my goodbyes to this magnificent structure, we took a few last pictures, walked up the Champs-Èlysees one last time, and headed back to grab our bags before going to the airport.
I'll spare you the details (mainly because it will make me angry reliving the second part of that day), but let me advise you to read the message boards carefully in the train stations because you wouldn't want to board the wrong train and miss your flight...buying flight tickets outright can be very expensive!!!
All in all, besides the little mishap at the end of the trip, our weekend in Paris was unbelievable. I saw so many incredible landmarks and learned so much history in just three short days. Definitely a city that you MUST go to at least once in your life. Anyway, stay tuned for my next blog, as we're off to jolly ol' London this weekend!
Au revoir!
No comments:
Post a Comment