Paris, France

Day 1 - Kira and I took the shuttle to the airport that said it would take 2 hours to get there. Left at 3:15 a.m. to arrive in the airport at 5:15 for our 7 a.m. flight. It actually only took 30 minutes to get there, when Kira realized she forgot her passport. We had to call the shuttle to take us back to our apartment, and then back to the airport arriving at 5:30 with plenty of time to still make our flight. Arrived in Paris and got to our hostel at about 11 - the hostel was pretty nice, and a really good location. We decided to start wondering through the city, had coffee in a cute cafe, and then went to take a free tour at 1. We went ALL over the city on this tour - starting at Fountaine St. Michel, through the Latin Quarter, crossed the Seine River over Pont Neuf, Notre Dame, Louvre, Jardin du Tuileries, Assemblee National, Ile de la Cite, Les Invalides, Place de la Concorde, walked down Champs-Elysees (largest avenue in the world), to the Arc de Triomphe, Musee d'Orsay, Palais Royal, Grand and Petit Palais, Eiffel Tower, and Napoleon's Tomb and more in the course of about 3 and half hours! Then it started raining, so we decided to go to the Andy Warhol exhibit which was really cool. By the time we finished there, the weather had cleared up so we went back to the Arc de Triomphe to go up to the top - amazing view of the city with the Eiffel Tower in clear sight. We got some street food for dinner, and then met up with Archie (a friend of Mia's friend who has been living in Paris for over a year). He met us at his favorite bar, The 5th Bar, with the rest of his friends where we played beer pong (first time I've played in Europe!) and hung out for a while. Then we headed to another bar, The Wall Bar, and got free shots and more drinks. Finally Kira and I were exhausted and ready to go home, when Archie's friends asked us to go to one more bar with them because it was closer to our hostel. So we went. There ther ordered 2 rounds of shots which we did not want, and then proceeded to order a massive fishbowl of Sex on the Beach. They told us they were going outside for a cigarette, when 15 minutes passed, and we quickly realized they weren't coming back. The waittress then comes to the table and says we have to pay the bill... 115 euros!!!! Which is equivalent to about.. $150 or more! I tell Kira to go outside while I try to think of a plan to take care of it, when the waittress returns with the manager and says I have to pay the bill. I told her I had 10 euros and no credit card, so it was impossible, when she translated for her french-speaking manager, "If you don't pay the bill, we have to call the police and you'll go to jail." Immediately I started crying hysterically. They escorted me outside to try to find Kira.. couldn't find her.. now crying harder asked if I could go to the bathroom.. escorted there.. and finally Kira comes in. We argue for a little while and realize we weren't leaving til we paid, so THANK GOD Kira had a credit card. Believe me, if you think the story sounds bad, it's actually worse then it seems. So we finally took a cab home at 4:30 a.m. and had been up for 26 hours at this point. Eventful day 1 in Paris!

Day 2 - Woke up at 9 for breakfast, and since it was raining, we decided it was a good day for museums. First we started at the Louvre - spent about 2 hours in there mainly to go see 3 things: Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), the Winged Victory Samothrace, and the MONA LISA!!! Of course on the way out, we saw the inverted pyramid, but Fun Fact: If you looked at every piece of art in the Louvre for 35 seconds, without ANY breaks, you would there for 64 days! Anyways, then we headed to Musee d'Orsay (a lot smaller) and just walked around looking at Monet and VanGough's most famous works. By the time we left the museums, the weather cleared up, so we met up with Archie and one of his other friends, Johnny, to take a tour of Montmartre, an area that sits in a hill. We saw Moulin Rouge, Place du Tertre where nearly 300 artists have permission to exhibit their work (biggest permanent art collection in Paris), and finally Sacré Coeur, a beautiful white basilica that gives a panoramic view of the city. Then we sat outside, having a beer, talking about what happened the night before - Archie said that the boys got in a fight outside and the bouncer wouldn't let them back in, but reassured us that it would be taken care of. He took us to do some more sightseeing - Parliment, Hotel de Ville, and watched the sunset at the Louvre. We separated ways so Kira and I could go to the Eiffel Tower at night. We got there and I was stunned it was so incredible. We took pictures for a while, and walked to the ticket booth to find out the 3rd floor was closed because the latest time you could go up was at 10. (We just decided to go back the next day). We went back to the hostel, got ready, and met back up with Archie at a bar. When we got there, and saw his friends weren't there, we realized that we probably weren't going to get the money back. So, we just enjoyed the rest of the night and called it early, and went home about 2 a.m.

Day 3 - Woke up, showered, and went to see the Eiffel Tower during the day, took pictures, and headed to the Seine River for a boatride - it was aboslutely gorgeous! After the boat tour, we went back to the Notre Dame to go inside - and the stained glass windows were amazing. Right our front was a Bread Festival so we got sandwiches with awesome homemade baguettes. Then we met up with Archie and the guys from the first night in the Jardin du Luxembourg, and drank gin and tonics in the beautiful park... and actually got the 115 euros back!!!! (So now the story is funny.. before, not so much.) Afterwards we sat at an outdoor cafe, and got crepes with nutella - YUM! Lastly we went back to the Eiffel Tower to save the best for last - going up to the top :) We waited in line and reached the top at about 7:30 when it was still light out. 45 minutes later, it was a torrential downpour, but it was surprisingly REALLY cool. It cleared up again in less than 20 minutes, just in enough time to perfectly watch the sunset. It was truly indescribable. All I could think about was how Paris was my last trip, and I only have less than 2 weeks left in Europe, when I realized I don't know if life will ever get any better than it is right now. At 10 p.m. when we were halfway down the tower (Took the escalator up and walked down) the entire Eiffel Tower was flashing all of its lights (20,000 lightbults) sooo awesome! We went back to the hostel, got our stuff, and took the last train to the airport. Got there at like 1 a.m. and slept on the freezing cold floor for 4 hours until 5 a.m. check-in for our 7 a.m. flight! Got home, slept for an hour, and had to go to class at 1. Now here I sit in my bathing suit, tanning at Retiro Park in the 80 degree weather :) Oh how I love Madrid!


...10 days left :(


And p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY DALCANTON - I LOVE YOU <3