Paris!

Pictures from Paris CLICK HERE

Pictures from Versailles CLICK HERE

So........

Now that I've been to Paris... I am certainly going back!

There is too much to do and too much to see in a day and a half. I did enjoy the time there though, it was a very beautiful city. Not as organized and straight laced as German cities, but full of history and beautiful architecture.

To get to Paris, the 5 of us took an overnight train that left at 9:08pm Friday night and arrived in Paris at 9:23am Saturday. My first experience with an overnight train was not a success. It was miserable. It was hot, stuffy, the seats were extremely uncomfortable and the train was quite loud which made it nearly impossible for me to get any sleep. In the future I now know to fork over a little extra money and reserve a couchette, so at least I can have my own little bed to sleep on.

So anyways, my lack of sleep carried over into my day in Paris and later on came back to haunt me. When we arrived we walked just a short 5-10min walk from Paris Est train station to our hotel, "Hotel Liege Strasbourg." We thought since it was our last weekend to travel together, we would up the quality a bit and stay in a hotel. I ended up finding a screaming deal on a this place and it turned out great. We had a room on the top floor which was awesome because we had a cool view from our balcony.

Once we got settled we decided to go on a free walking tour, to check out the sites. Our tour guide was a bit of a twat, so we decided to ditch the tour at the Louvre and go our separate ways to check out the city. I split from the group and made my way back from the Louvre palace to Notre Dame Cathedral. It was free to go in and I'm glad I went because the inside was pretty amazing. My pictures don't quite do it justice, because the stained glass was pretty incredible. After that I walked back along the Seine river and made my way back passed the Louvre to the Eiffel tower, where I was to meet up with the rest of the group. We met up, snapped a few pics, ate some grub, and headed back to our hotel for what was supposed to be a quick nap.

But..... what was supposed to be an hour nap, turned into a 5 hour pass out. They tried to wake me up, but I didn't budge. When I finally woke up on my own after midnight, I was really pissed at myself for missing a whole night in Paris. I guess my body needed it, but I was planning to climb the Eiffel Tower at night, and who knows what else :(

It was all better in the morning, my body was rested and I got up early with Kelsey to go see the Palace of Versailles (The Grandest Palace in all of Europe). It was a bit shaky getting there, but once we did, it was amazing!! Golden gates, beautiful luxurious architecture, incredible gardens that seemed to go on for miles, and we made it just in time for a fountain show; which was really cool. Although we did not go inside the palace, because we had to get back to catch a train at 12:30pm, the gardens and the outside made it well worth the trip.

Paris put a smile on my face :) It definitely gave me a lot of excuses to come back. Hopefully next time it's with a significant other!

Can't wait for my next adventure with my friend Wolfgang in Gottingen, Germany and Switzerland by myself.

Until next time,

Au revoir!