Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour OH MY GOD

This past weekend Marisa, Erica, Rachel and I headed to Paris for our last big trip of the semester! For all of us it was the first time having to go to the Prague airport for a trip. Which means I have finally found where all the happy Czechs are and I will now be rating airport experiences on a scale from Frankfurt to Prague. While Frankfurt was associated with stress, running, overwhelming confusion and security, Prague didn’t even make you take your shoes off and gave me back my passport with a smile and the man saying how he hopes to visit California one day.

While coming in on the metro in Paris we got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower lit up as we headed to our apartment that went beyond our expectations. It was so…French and the perfect location between the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumphe. Even though the hallway with the long red carpet and elevator shaft at the end was a bit “shiningesque” as Marisa so wonderfully put, it was still adorable. It was so nice we were coming back to this Parisian home every night to relax, watch movies, and be…well girls vacationing in Paris without having to deal with hostels! So naturally what is first on the list when you’re in a beautiful foreign city? Chipotle of course! We had no problem finishing our burritos and it was definitely the most expensive thing I bought on this trip.

We’ve agreed that our parents would be very proud of us because we were nonstop tourists waking up early, taking advantage of free tours and seeing as much as we could for the next 2.5 days.

Alex Jones was pretty much our own personal local for the whole day Friday. He was the tour guide for the first free tour we did where we saw a lot of the main sights like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, St. Michel, Seine River, and the Louvre. We then walked down the Champs des Lysee towards our apartment so we could check out the Christmas markets, which are NOTHING compared to Prague’s, and see the Arc de Triumphe. We then did the night tour with him of Montmarte, which ended up being my favorite neighborhood we got to explore. We saw the Moulin Rouge, Van Gogh’s apartment (while Alex described the artist’s depressing life to us), street art, Sacré Cœur, Picasso’s apartment, and then finished the tour with a glass of wine at Café des Deux Moulins – the café that was used in the filming of Amelie! Even though the tour was over Alex took the four of us to his favorite place for crêpes where I had the best nutella crêpe of my life. We ended the night with a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower’s lightshow minutes away from our apartment.

Happy outside the Louvre

One thing that kept growing was the list of movies we wanted to watch because of our time in Paris: Moulin Rouge, Midnight in Paris, Amelie, Ratatouille (inspired by the mouse we saw on the metro), Passport to Paris (again) and Elf (just because we’re always in the mood for Elf).

Bored inside the Louvre

Our second full day we decided to grab baguettes and act French in front of the Eiffel Tower before our day of museums. We first went to the Musee d’Orsay the impressionist museum so we got to see Monet, Van Gogh, and Edgar Degas (so many flashbacks to 3^rd grade), and then headed to the Louvre just so we can now say we’ve seen the Mona Lisa. Overall though, the Louvre is chaotic, overwhelming and nearly impossible to find the way out once you want to leave. Alex had told us how the Louvre is where you will find some of the most bored looking people he has ever seen: we definitely fell under that category. Luckily with our student visas our entrances to these museums were free so we don’t feel guilty about not looking at all the paintings that start blending together after awhile. Our plan was to go to the Christmas market for some food but it was way too crazy for us to deal with. Unlike Prague where it truly feels like you’re in a fairytale, Paris Christmas markets just felt tacky. With my love for Christmas I was disappointed with the markets but everything else about Paris I adored. We did a boat tour on the river that evening, had one last crepe, one last look at the Eiffel Tower by night, put on Moulin Rouge and called it a night!

Our last day we saw Notre Dame, got our final crepe in the Latin quarter after getting a stamped postcard at Shakespeare & company and headed to the airport. Paris with my girls was definitely a great last trip. I did not have very high expectations because I feel like a lot of people I talk to have negative experiences so I was pleasantly surprised with just how much I loved this city. Three midnights in Paris was definitely not enough time to see all that this city has to offer, even though my wallet would say otherwise.

When in Paris:

NOTRE DOG

• A chipotle burrito and entrance to the Louvre are the same price: choose the burrito
• The hardest decision you have to make is which type of crepe you want next: Sweet or savory?
• Make sure you watch where you’re walking when looking up at the Eiffel Tower. I now have a huge bruise and skinned leg from running into a block of concrete.
• Don’t take Metro 13 during rush hour or you will be yelled at by an old, stuck-up French woman for being polite
• Just because the men selling cheesy souvenirs on the streets keep yelling “Shakira” and “Lady Gaga” at you does NOT mean you look like Shakira or Lady Gaga
• If looking for some free entertainment watch Marisa try to take pictures with the dog that hangs out at Shakespeare & co.