Paris, Take 2

Soo I am back from Paris in one piece and getting back in to the swing of things (not for long, since I leave for vacation on Sunday!) The weekend was really fun, and I think I can say that I have seen almost every touristy thing there is to see in Paris, so next time I go, I can simply go and have fun without feeling obligated to see tons of things (and spend tons of money...Yuck). One frustrating thing, though, was the fact that even though I can speak and understand French fine, upon hearing my accent, all the French vendors, hotel people, etc always reverted to English! When I got back to Lyon and chatted with my roomie in French for like 20-30 minutes, I think I spoke more French then than the entire time I was in Paris! How frustrating.

Thursday- Arrived at Gare de Lyon (one of the train stations in Paris is named Gare de Lyon...confusing, no?) around 8:30 PM, found the hotel, which was 2 metro stops away from the N°1 Metro line, which is the main line through all the tourist attractions, which was really convenient! Then we walked around, checked out Hôtel de Ville (city hall) and Notre Dame at night...

Friday- Saw Notre Dame, Sainte Chappelle, Le Palais de Justice, I went to Musée d'Orsay while the boys were at the Louvre since I had already seen it (OH MY GOD Mom I can't wait until you come here and we can go to art museums together...I bought a couple of postcards for you from Musée d'Orsay cuz I couldn't just choose one!!!), then la Tour Montparnasse, which is the only skyscraper in Paris where we got to go to the roof and got an awesome view. Next, Tour Eiffel picnic and eventually went up to the top after the sun had set!

Saturday- Took the RER to Versailles and saw the Chateau! Now, this one has to be explained. First off, it was really expensive...13€ to get access only to one part of the palace. Second off, it was crowded, and we waited in line for about the same amount of time that we were in the castle. Third, there was an exhibition in the palace of Jeff Koontz, a sculptor who I'm sure I would have liked...if his SUPER modern, metallicy sculptures (like this one) weren't in the middle of hundred year old decorated rooms in a royal palace. Im sure the contrast was intentional, but I thought it was bizarre! It kind of took away from the experience. However, the castle was DEFINITELY beautiful, and I did enjoy it, despite my complaints :) We headed back to the city after that, and went to Montmartre, where I got to see.....le Moulin Rouge!!! and many many sex shops. Then, we spent a long while at Sacré Coeur at the top of the hill...it was AMAZING! I really enjoyed the atmosphere and street performers there!

After that, it was a nice dinner in a neighborhood that ended up being the Gay quarter, ha ha. I was definitely one of the only women in the restaurant. Still not too sure what we ate, but it was delicious!

That's basically it, I returned home via TGV around 1pm and it took an hour for me to get home after that, then I went to Robert's apartment where we helped Thierry and his friends with English homework, ha! Thierry cooked dinner, so I got to eat yummy French cuisine 2 nights in a row, and I headed home.

SO here's the pictures!! There are lots lots more but I would say that these get the point across.

Me and Michael at Notre Dame

Sainte Chappelle...full of stained glass windows, or "Vertraux" en français

Musée d'Orsay

Not only did I get to see the famous Degas ballerina paintings, but there was also a Pastel exhibition that had his ballerina pastels!!!

At the top of la Tour Montparnasse

I showed the Michaels what one eats when one dines in France!

Michael and I à la Tour Eiffel! This would be a winner for most adorable picture ever...if we were dating, ha.


Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
Moulin Rouge!!!!
Sacré Coeur

The view from Sacré Coeur

This guy was the BEST street performer ever. Notice the soccer ball he's holding against his leg...and the small surface he was sitting there juggling the ball on for hours on end!!
He also climbed.
So I took a picture with him! The ball is spinning, by the way. Awesome.