Prancing through Paris

March 21, 2013

I’m still in a daze from last weekend in Paris. I had such a lovely time– it’s hard to believe that a city like that can exist. Wandering through the Tuileries and window shopping on the Champs-Elysees, I truly felt like I was in a movie. It didn’t help that I watched as many films set in Paris as I could get a hold of before I left! When I packed my suitcase on Thursday night, I was on a sixties movie kick, so I must say, my clothing choices were rather inspired by Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. Hopefully I managed to convey a bit of Audrey and not merely a foreigner trying to look as stereotypically French as possible! At least I didn’t wear a beret ;-)

My friend and I took the eurostar from London first thing Friday morning. It was quite an ordeal, actually! I had gotten so used to flitting about between countries without problems while in Amsterdam last semester that I forgot how long going through security can take. We just had time to grab a coffee to keep us going and hopped on the train. Two and a half hours later and we were in Paris! After settling in to our hostel (we stayed at St. Christopher’s Inn– I’d definitely recommend it!), we went out to explore the city. Since the sun was shining, we decided to head straight to the Eiffel tower. I always contemplate going up it, but never manage to work up the courage. Some day! From there, we walked up to the Arc de Triomphe, along the Champs-Elysees, and through the Tuileries. I absolutely adore the Tuileries, the gardens feel so quintessentially french with children sailing toy boats in fountains and elderly couples sipping coffee among the trees. Had it been a bit warmer, I would have gladly people watched there all day. But, as always, the weather had other plans for me! To warm up a bit, we headed onwards to the Louvre. I had always been told that it was a massive museum, but had never realized how large it actually is. I’m a pretty hardcore museum goer, but even I had to quit early! We hit the main attractions on our abbreviated tour– the Mona Lisa was lovely, but so hard to actually see through the layers of glass and barricades. My favorite had to be the room full of Botticelli’s though. We had great plans for the evening, but we ended up back at the hostel and fell asleep the moment our heads touched the pillow!