Trip to France, a Recap.

My sister Katie and friend Tarah at the Louvre.

So I just got back from a week-long trip to France with my older sister, which you might have seen in my last post. Although the original plan was to see Paris and Toulouse, we ended up the whole week in Paris for cost reasons (not that anyone is complaining), because we didn't realize that France had a holiday when we had been planning to take the train down south. Since we didn't already have tickets, the price was about triple what we had anticipated (approx. $500 round trip), so for a little less than that cost we found a hotel for three more nights in Paris (which was way nicer than the hostel we had been in at the beginning of the week), and spent that time hanging out and doing all the things we thought we wouldn't be able to!

We covered a ton of ground. Day one, we got there around midday and took the train from Aéroport Charles de Gaulles to our hostel, which was by Gare du Nord (North Train Station). Like good travelers, we tried to get out and see some stuff that first day, and we even met up with a friend, Tarah, for lunch. But after walking around, we realized sleep was imminent, and went back to crash. 

Katie and I behind Notre Dame.

The next day, we were up before eight, and walking towards Galleries LaFayette by twenty-after. That morning, we walked by Place de la République, La Bastille, Sorbonne, the Panthéon (and so much more) and went inside Notre Dame. We stopped for lunch with Tarah by the Panthéon, and then headed over to the Eiffel Tower through Luxembourg Gardens, and finally the Arc de Triomphe, before we quit for dinner. 

Being at the Eiffel Tower was kind of nuts. Aside from the usual ocean of tourists waiting to go up, it was storming out and we only had one rain jacket. We ducked into a cafe for a minute to see when it would pass, and when it did we finally bought our tickets and went up. My sister and I joke that we have the best timing, because literally the minute after we came down, it started storming again, harder. So despite the unfavorable weather, we still had a positive Eiffel Tower experience!

Sacre Coeur.

The next day, and the last full day we were expecting to stay in Paris, we saw Sacre Coeur in the morning, and then went to the Louvre all day with Tarah. The Louvre, my friends, is truly overwhelming. I would go back to Paris for two weeks to do nothing but go through the Louvre. I'm no art buff by any means, but there's so much to look at, and I suppose I enjoy looking. In another life, I was a cultured art critic in New York.

At Musée d'Orsay for the Night of Museums.

The next day, Wednesday, was when we found out about the train, and we were lucky enough to find an hotel last-minute online. While we were bummed at first, it turned out to be great, because we spent the remainder of the week shopping, eating lots of good food, finding souvenirs, taking pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower at night, and on Saturday night we went to Musée d'Orsay for the European Night of Museums (La Nuit Européenne des Musées), which was free!

Overall it was a fantastic trip, we learned a ton and I was able to practice my French (which needs all the help it can get). Tomorrow morning at seven I start my summer job, so it's back to the real world for me (at least for the summer), although I do have my bagnin' internship to look forward to (which you can plan on hearing more about here as the summer progresses ;p)! Speaking of internships, if you're looking for info, advice or anything related, definitely check out Gabbi's blog. She wrote a lot last summer about interning in LA, and I believe she's back at it this year! 

Eiffel Tower at night.

Thanks for reading!