I love Paris in the Springtime

 

I was in Paris this weekend with all the other kids in the Maryland program. Where do I even begin? I was so skeptical about traveling with 25 other people, but it was such a great trip.

I always imagined that Paris would be nice, but probably overrated. You always hear about it being crowded, expensive and overly touristy, and the Parisians have a reputation for not being too friendly.

While it was definitely touristy around the big attractions like Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, the rest of the city was so calm, open, and beautiful. Price-wise it seemed pretty much on par with Nice. Maybe even a little bit cheaper. And the people were so nice, too. Customer service rocked, unlike in Nice. Around here you have to repeatedly beg just for a carafe of tap water in a restaurant. Actually flagging someone down to place an order takes hundreds of years.

 My only complaint is that we just weren’t there long enough. We managed to squeeze in quite a bit for just 36 short hours, though. Everyone immediately broke off into smaller groups and went off to do their own thing. My friends and I went straight for lunch, then hopped on a bus to Notre Dame Cathedral, which was incredible. It was totally different from any cathedral I’ve ever visited. I was just at St. Peter’s in Rome last week, and comparing the two is really interesting. Both were gargantuan, but St. Peters was so ornate and elaborate. Every surface was painted, carved, colored, or decorated in some way. But all the elaborate details of Notre Dame were in the architecture, especially the arches and doorways. The walls themselves were pretty bare, but the incredible stained glass windows reflected colorful light on the smooth grey stone.   

Inside Cathedral

From there we went to the Eiffel Tower. Since the program reimbursed us for any museums or attractions we decided to do during the trip, we went all out and bought the ticket to go all the way to the very top.

Is it just me, or is anyone else surprised to learn that the Eiffel Tower is actually brown? I don’t know why I always thought it was a grey-ish green color. Cartoons, maybe?  I was totally amazed by how giant it was, especially at the base. It was so giant, there were separate entrances (North, South, East, West), one at the bottom of each leg. The view from the top was amazing-it was a really clear day and we could see pretty far out.

Looking up from level 1 of Eiffel Tower

We went back to the hotel for dinner and to freshen up, then headed back out for a boat tour. This was probably the highlight of the trip. It was amazing to see all of the sites by night. The tour was a little over an hour and we cruised up and down the Seine on the top of the boat. There were hundreds of people all hanging out along the river dancing, drinking wine, singing, or just hanging out. It seems like such a fun city!

Eiffel Tower from the boat

Notre Dame from the boat

After the tour we went to the Latin Quarter, which was the student-y section of Paris. This is where we had two desserts. Yes…double dessert. I know we should be ashamed (especially since we’d already had a Nutella crepe earlier in the day), but geez, we’re Americans, and double desserts is just what we do. So I put on my bald eagle cut off t-shirt and dug in.

This was me in Paris, except I was yelling "Bring me more crepes!"

Kidding. We did have double desserts, but I was wearing a dress and a cardigan. We had Nutella and coconut crepes and then walked to another place for gelato.

More on Day 2 tomorrow!