Hello from Paris, France! We've had a particularly busy 24 hours- so I wasn't able to blog last night as we were just exhausted. BUT- I'm here now, so I may as well bring y'all up to speed.
My alarm went off at 4 AM yesterday. Our Eurostar train was scheduled to leave St. Pancras at 6:55 AM. Eurostar train rides are much like flights in that you have to be there early and even go through security and French border patrol before boarding. Because of this, Amy and I were on the tube by 5:30 and at St. Pancras by 6:15.
The Eurostar train is nothing fancy; it's just like any other train. We sat across from each other in a compartment for four next to two older American women. We had the window seats, but when we got there, they were in our spots. They weren't too happy when we told them to move, but oh well. Next time, maybe plan better?
I fell asleep the minute we pulled away from the train station in London, and didn't wake up until we pulled in in Paris. Those were 3 1/2 hours of much needed sleep. We got to Paris and immediately boarded the Metro to head to our hotel. The London Underground beats the pants off the Paris Metro. Paris Metro just seems older and more run down. Graffiti is all over the walls at most of the stations and whereas in London, where the trains run every 2 minutes or so, they run at least every 6 to 7 minutes here. I know that doesn't seem like a huge difference, but when you've just come from London, it is.
We arrived at the hotel to find out that our room wasn't ready yet, so we dropped our luggage and set out to explore. Amy has had an "epic walking tour" planned for a while now, so she immediately grabbed the list of sights to see and we set out.
First stop was the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Next was the Pantheon.
The Sorbonne.
Somewhere between these stops we stopped in at a tiny little bakery-type thing and each ordered a baguette. So French, right? Mine was ham and cheese with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. So good.
We started getting closer to the river to see some of the main landmarks.
Notre Dame.
The Louvre.
Paris is a lot warmer than London- so by this point, the sun was beating down on us and we were hot and tired. We decided to go back to the hotel and rest a bit before going to the Eiffel Tower at night. Amy napped while I used the internet. I'll be honest with you: yesterday was a bit rough for me. At the two week mark of our trip, I was feeling the homesickness BAD. I e-mailed my family and caught up with friends via Facebook and Twitter. Amy woke up around 6 and we headed to the grocery store near our hotel to get some food for a picnic. From there, we boarded the Metro and headed over to the Eiffel Tower.
My picture. Not one of those stock, artsy ones.
We laid the picnic blanket out in front of the tower and just chilled for a few hours. Tons of other people were doing the same in anticipation of the tower lighting up at 10 PM. Only thing was, we didn't know it wasn't set to light up until 10. As the clock neared each hour and half-hour, we got hopeful that that would be it, but it wasn't until the sun was completely down that it started sparkling. It was pretty cool.
Once we were done there, we walked back to the Metro and caught a pretty view of the tower on our way there.
We got back to the hotel about 11:30 and were up until about 1:30. Cut to now, and we've both just woken up.
Today, we're going to check out Versailles, and then we might head back to the Eiffel Tower tonight to get more pictures. Tomorrow, we head back to London in the afternoon and then Sunday, it's back to the United States. I'm not going to lie to you, this trip has been fantastic, but I miss home so bad that it's not even funny. I'm counting down the days (it may only be 2, but it still seems like a lot!). I miss you all terribly and cannot wait to be back in Texas. Leave me comments. Catch y'all tonight!
No comments:
Post a Comment