Liz's London Adventures: Passport to Paris

Friday October 28

“The Eiffel Tower”

After our two hour ride on the Euro Star (the Euro Star is the train that goes all over Europe) we had finally arrived in Paris. We checked into the Hotel de Paris aka Hotel from Hell. This was literally the most disgusting hotel I have ever seen. Our room smelled awful, there was no shower curtain, and the sheets were stained. I could go on forever, but I won’t bore you with the details. Lisa, Caitlin, Johnny and I shared a room. We wanted to get out of there the moment we arrived. So we dropped our bags and headed to the Eiffel Tower. It is so amazing to look at in real life; all the pictures and images you see on television do not do it justice. Caitlin and I kept thinking about the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen twins’ movie “Passport to Paris.” We quoted it most of the weekend. It was around 4:30 5ish when we got in line to climb to the top. All of us wanted to say we climbed to the stop so we opted for the stairs instead of the 2 minute elevator ride (not to mention it was cheaper to take the stairs too). We waited in line for about a half an hour, and then began our trek up the stairs. 700 stairs to be exact; at about 200 we took a break and walked around and watched the sunset. It was definitely one of the best sunsets I have ever seen for sure. As the sun sets you see all of the buildings and streets start to light up it was so pretty!! The sun set and we continued up 500 more steps. Once you reach 700 you can’t take any more stairs; you must take an elevator up, it is about a 20 second ride. When we reached the very top, we were all speechless…it was an amazing view of the city. City of Lights is absolutely the right name for Paris because the lights were so pretty and they were all twinkling, especially from so high up. After about 20 minutes of ooing and ahhing at the view, we were starving and dreading our 700 step walk down. As we neared the bottom our legs began to feel like Jell-o. We walked to the closest restaurant and had a much needed long sit at dinner. Then we headed back to the hotel to relax and rest up for Saturday.

Saturday October 29

“The Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees”

I really thought the line at the Louvre was going to be really long, and that we would be waiting there for hours. We waited in line for a total of five minutes and did not have to pay since we are students studying in Europe which was a nice surprise. The museum is SO big; there are so many wings and hallways, and exhibits. You definitely need a full day if you wanted to go all over the museum. We basically just wanted to see the Mona Lisa, which isn’t even that great in person (sorry art lovers). It was really small, and the area around it was so crowded that it wasn’t even really enjoyable to look at. We walked around for about an hour, and then decided it was time to go.

The Champs Elysees was really cool, there were so many shops that Caitlin and I couldn’t afford but loved looking at such as the Louis Vuitton store. However Caitlin, Johnny, and I relived our childhood and hung out in the Disney store for a while…it’s the same in every country in case you were wondering. We also dragged Johnny into the biggest Sephora store Caitlin and I had ever seen he was a trooper. Finally we made it all the way to the end of the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Again pictures and television don’t do it justice. It was such a unique structure and the ceiling of it was like looking at an optical illusion. We headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Caitlin and I enjoyed dinner very much because they put gummy bears and glow sticks in our cocktails, it was so weird but awesome at the same time.

Sunday October 30

“Notre Dame”

Notre Dame was gorgeous inside and out. Disney did a fabulous job of depicting it in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because the moment after I asked “Where’s Quasimodo?!” the bells started to ring, it was so funny. The stained glass windows were the prettiest windows ever. It was easy to tell what the stories were depicting because the pictures were very detailed. We took the Euro Star back to London Sunday night and crashed, we were exhausted. Caitlin and I then watched Passport to Paris and said oh we've been there and there we are such little girls.

Overall my trip to Paris was so much fun. I can’t wait to back at Thanksgiving with my mom! Staying in London this weekend….My friends and I have a few day trips in England that we are planning for the rest of the semester. It is coming to an end very quickly, so bittersweet!!

More adventures coming soon!

Liz (: