EIFFEL TOWER?
SACRE COUER?
NOTRE DAME?
LOUVRE?
YES. I was in Paris. With these beautiful people: 3.A
I will try not to get into too much detail, because I honestly think Paris is such a wonderful place that I could go on about if forever and ever.
We were there from the 17th of September to the 22nd of September, which was a Tuesday night through to a Sunday night. We didn't just go because we all suddenly felt like it at the same time, it was a school trip and was SUPPOSED to be learning orientated and full of activities and research, but most of the time we just ended up sightseeing.
Our hotel was so typically Parisian. A tall, thin building wedged in-between two other tall thin buildings, resulting in us having to walk up five sets of steps to get up to our room. There was a bakery across the road where we bought our breakfasts (the gypsies on the corner eyed up our croissants with hungry eyes every morning; poverty: one of the not so good things about Paris). and a metro station a minutes walk away, giving us pretty much full access to everywhere in Paris. Our teacher recommended that we didn't use the metro so much, because it was easy to just walk everywhere in Paris, but after the first day nobody was walking anywhere if the metro was a possibility. We followed our French teacher around on a walking tour of the city from 9AM to 6PM pretty much non-stop, and didn't get lunch until three by which point everyone was STARVING.
On that first day, we saw most of the big stuff but didn't go inside, just walked past. Which, in my opinion, was a bit dumb. It meant we had to go back in our own time to actually SEE things properly. Centre Pompidou, Notre Dame, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Jardin des Tuileries, the list goes on. All of this in one day. It was a bit much to proccess, I assure you.
Day 2 began with a boat tour along the Seine. It was a little chilly, but what the hey! Surprisingly, the boat tour really helped me to orientate myself around Paris. I like to think I inherited my mum's talent of "following my nose" and ending up in the right place. By the end of the trip I was almost able to walk or take the metro without consulting my gigantic touristy map, but just to be safe I kept using it, because there's nothing worse than being lost in a foreign city.
I have been to Paris before, two years ago and saw most of Paris then, but there were still some things I missed, and I managed to fill in the blanks this time, starting with La Grande Arche de la Defense. This was a modern area, which we went out and did some research on.
We were there from the 17th of September to the 22nd of September, which was a Tuesday night through to a Sunday night. We didn't just go because we all suddenly felt like it at the same time, it was a school trip and was SUPPOSED to be learning orientated and full of activities and research, but most of the time we just ended up sightseeing.
Our hotel was so typically Parisian. A tall, thin building wedged in-between two other tall thin buildings, resulting in us having to walk up five sets of steps to get up to our room. There was a bakery across the road where we bought our breakfasts (the gypsies on the corner eyed up our croissants with hungry eyes every morning; poverty: one of the not so good things about Paris). and a metro station a minutes walk away, giving us pretty much full access to everywhere in Paris. Our teacher recommended that we didn't use the metro so much, because it was easy to just walk everywhere in Paris, but after the first day nobody was walking anywhere if the metro was a possibility. We followed our French teacher around on a walking tour of the city from 9AM to 6PM pretty much non-stop, and didn't get lunch until three by which point everyone was STARVING.
On that first day, we saw most of the big stuff but didn't go inside, just walked past. Which, in my opinion, was a bit dumb. It meant we had to go back in our own time to actually SEE things properly. Centre Pompidou, Notre Dame, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Jardin des Tuileries, the list goes on. All of this in one day. It was a bit much to proccess, I assure you.
Day 2 began with a boat tour along the Seine. It was a little chilly, but what the hey! Surprisingly, the boat tour really helped me to orientate myself around Paris. I like to think I inherited my mum's talent of "following my nose" and ending up in the right place. By the end of the trip I was almost able to walk or take the metro without consulting my gigantic touristy map, but just to be safe I kept using it, because there's nothing worse than being lost in a foreign city.
I have been to Paris before, two years ago and saw most of Paris then, but there were still some things I missed, and I managed to fill in the blanks this time, starting with La Grande Arche de la Defense. This was a modern area, which we went out and did some research on.
I am not a good photographer, photo courtesy of google <3
My little group of four were very lucky and managed to find a very nice lady willing to be interviewed, so within the first ten minutes of being there we were done for the day and spent the rest of the time looking around in the gigantic shopping centre next door.
I am proud to say I bought nothing besides food the entire trip, plus a gift for my host sisters birthday. Being thrifty.
Next thing I ticked off was Napoleans Tomb with these two losers:
Joking, love you guys. It was near to closing time so we had to rush through a bit, but as far as all of Napoleon's monuments to himself and his achievements go, this was pretty monumental.
I also had one day that I will forever remember as the best day ever. I walked/metroed around Paris by myself for most of the day seeing art, art and more art. I ate good food, wasn't stressed out by anyone else's demands. Wandering dreamily through the elegant galleries of the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay and Musee de l'Orangerie I was disappointed by the Mona Lisa again (as I expected), but stood in front of Monet's water lilies for what seemed like hours, lost in the world of impressionism. I also had a little peek into the Centre Pompidou, the biggest modern art museum in Paris. It was intriguing. Plus, to end the day, I went all the way up to Monmartre to a Dali exhibition and took photos of myself in a photobooth, just like Amelie.
I also had one day that I will forever remember as the best day ever. I walked/metroed around Paris by myself for most of the day seeing art, art and more art. I ate good food, wasn't stressed out by anyone else's demands. Wandering dreamily through the elegant galleries of the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay and Musee de l'Orangerie I was disappointed by the Mona Lisa again (as I expected), but stood in front of Monet's water lilies for what seemed like hours, lost in the world of impressionism. I also had a little peek into the Centre Pompidou, the biggest modern art museum in Paris. It was intriguing. Plus, to end the day, I went all the way up to Monmartre to a Dali exhibition and took photos of myself in a photobooth, just like Amelie.
I love Paris, and I will live there one day, no matter what.
Bisous xx
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