Paris, France

[January 28-29]

Following our weekend in Amsterdam, we went on a girl's trip to Paris! After looking into the prices for both transportation and lodging we decided to only go for two days and one night because the hostels are very expensive. 

At 4:45am on Friday morning Tricia, Laura, Kara and I were out the door of our hotel in Brussels with a good night's sleep and a four hour bus ride ahead of us.  We caught the 6am bus from Brussels and arrived in Paris before ten o'clock! The timing actually worked out perfectly because the four of us were able to sleep on the bus and by the time we arrived in the city we were ready to see the sights! After buying a metro pass for two full days we rode the metro to our hostel and checked in.  While I would have to say  it was not as nice as our hostel in Amsterdam, we had no big complaints.  We went exploring around the area after locking up our belongings and settled on eating at a local pastry shop that had a sign for a sandwich, drink, and dessert for 6.5 euros.  However this was not any little pastry shop.  We all ordered these amazing looking chicken sandwiches on fresh baguettes and then when we asked what dessert we could get (assuming a cookie or something small) she pointed to this display of homemade gourmet desserts and all of our mouthes dropped! We were overwhelmed with our options, and needless to say they were as delicious as they appeared to be.

Delicious pastry shop we had lunch at

After starting our day off right with a scrumptious lunch we headed to the center of the city to catch the free tour.  Our tour guide was just as entertaining, if not better, than our tour guide in Amsterdam and was an overall phenomenal tour. He took us by all of the main sights in Paris and told us great stories about the history of the city. The only down side to the tour was that it was freezing! None of us expected it to be that cold, so by the end of the the tour I had my scarf wrapped around my head and my toes felt like ice cubes. Nonetheless we stayed on the full tour that lasted almost five hours and I am very happy we did. We ended the tour at Napoleon's tomb and then finally headed back to the hostel to get some dinner and warm up! Friday night we all had our first French crepes and they were mouth-watering. Definitely a must get if anyone goes to Paris =)

St. Michael's Fountain where we began our tour

"Lock" Bridge where lovers put their initials on a lock and toss the key in the river

The group of girls outside of the Louvre on the tour

CREPES!

Our bus back to Brussels was leaving at 6pm on Saturday so we woke up that morning at 8am in order to be able to see everything we wanted to before leaving.  Our hostel had a free breakfast of cereal and baguettes so after grabbing a quick bite we ended for the Eiffel Tower. Since it was so cold the day before we all layered up, but we were pleasantly surprised when we walked out of the door and it was sunny! It made the Eiffel Tower even more spectacular with the sun shining behind it.  We walked up 670 stairs in order to make it to the second tier of the Tower, and it was more than worth it. Such an amazing view of the city that really put things in perspective.  All four of us were able to sign the tower and we took many pictures in order to remember that moment forever.  

Eiffel Tower

On the second tier -- after 670 steps!

From the Eiffel Tower we took the metro to the Louvre and were able to get in for free since we are students studying in the EU. It is huge and has more artwork than anyone could possibly see in one day! While most of the paintings and statues were very detailed and impressive, none of us are big art people so we only stayed in the Louvre for an hour or so.  We walked to the Mona Lisa, it was by far the most popular exhibit, but it wasn't all that everyone makes it out to be. The painting itself is very small and there were so many people around it that it was hard to really analyze the 'mystery' behind it. Still happy we were able to see it though!

Following the Louvre we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the Notre Dame church.  It was quite a sight from the outside and even more breathtaking on the inside. We were able to walk around the inside and it had some of the largest and most intricate stained glass windows I have ever seen.

Outside of the Notre Dame

After our history and sight-seeing filled day the four of us girls decided we needed to end our day in Paris at the shopping district. Oh yes. When got off the metro we saw all of the name brand stores in a row and it was spectacular! With Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Burberry, Longchamp, and many others we only did window shopping, but it was fun to be in that environment and get a feel for what "shopping in Paris" is all about.

Our whirlwind of a Paris trip was very successful and we boarded the bus to come back home on time and arrived back in Brussels with lots of fun times to look back on! Contrary to popular belief, the French were all very nice and we did not have any bad interaction with the locals. Because of the cold weather that slightly put a damper on Friday I would love to go back again for just another short trip in the Spring when it is warmer in order to enjoy the sights even more!

The Paris ladies at our hostel =)