Paris, Je t'aime

Paris, Je t’aime

So I went to Paris on Sunday. French people got it right, Paris is the most beautiful city on earth.

It started that morning with me heading to the train station, my ticket clutched in my hand. I was so excited I though I was going to ‘faire pipi’ in my pants. I arrived at the Gare with perfect timing…only to find out my train was 20min late. I was taking the train ‘toute suel’ and then meeting up a few stops down the line with Frannie (an exchange student living in Elbeuf), Nathalie (Frannie’s host mom), and Meg (Frannie’s host sister, from South Africa). I was supposed to get into the 3rd car from the front. I watched and counted carefully as the train pulled in and found a lovely spot for us all. Unfortunately when the train started it was headed the other direction (stupid 2 direction trains, they get me every time). I was then freaking out trying to get to the other end, to the other 3rd car from the other engine. Now, I have not spent that much time on trains like this…2 stories, 1st and 2nd class, reallllly fast, slippy floors, my bad balance. All of these factors added together saw me landing ‘plop’ onto some poor un-warned woman’s lap. I got up quickly, said my goodbyes and went back to my search. Only problem is that it is really hard to find the 3rd car from the front when you are inside. So the next train station I got out and ran frantically to the engine, and counted 3 cars down the line. Can you spot the tourist?
Enfin I found the correct car, and the right people. And the excitement only mounted.

Paris!

The weather was rather….wet and cold and windy (as you will see in the photos). But who really cares, when you are in Paris?

We took the Paris Metro, which is oh so much more exciting than the Rouen metro. Me and Frannie were ready to burst, and as soon as the metro doors opened we bolted up the stairs and down the street, and just as we rounded the corner we both froze….because there in front of us, slicing through the sky was the majestic, breath taking, ‘Holy cow I am in France’-ing, Eiffel Tower.

We spent about 20 minutes taking pictures of it, and staring in awe before we decided to actually get closer.

There are 668 steps going up the Eiffel Tower. I climbed alllll the way up….and allll the way down. (not without a significant amount of pain and sweat.)

The view from the top is heart-stopping. There is no real way to describe it. You are on top of the world, looking down on the most beautiful city. You can see the roads twisting through the city, the church steeples poking out from the city, the huge gold dome of the cathedral, the Seine slicing the city in half. It is incredible.

After climbing back down the tower we headed of to take a boat ride through the Seine. This was also rather incredible. We passes the Notre Dame Cathedral, Le Louvre, French Government buildings, everything was beautiful. There are an insane amount of bridges in Paris. It seemed like every 30seconds we were going under another.

After and hour and a bit on the water (the sky had finally cleared up), we had to head home. But not before we saw the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower, a moment I will never forget.