Day 32 - The City of Lights

Before I left the States, I had a friend tell me that around the third week of studying abroad is said to be the hardest part because it is at this point that everything gets a little less magical and the reality of being thousands of miles away from home sets in. While I felt like reality had set in the moment I was first alone in my apartment, I still felt it set in a little more last week. As I begin to feel more comfortable and at home in Brussels, I feel a weird mixture of never wanting to leave and longing for home. However, there is nothing like a weekend trip to Paris to make you want to stay in Europe forever!

I was privileged to spend a little over 48 hours of my life in Paris this weekend. The only way I can really describe it is dream-like. Although the weather was not fantastic while we were there, it was everything I expected and hoped for and much more. The whole weekend I kept having to remind myself that I was really in Paris!

I left Brussels after work on Friday night and caught the train to Paris to meet up with Kate and about 8 of her Mizzou friends for the weekend. It seemed quite an accomplishment just to make it through the train/metro station and find the hostel and then find Kate. I feel like I should have taken an orienteering class before I came here, or that I should at least earn some kind of credit for all of the map reading and metro deciphering that I have been doing. At the very least, I've learned that if you can understand a public transportation map, you can make your way around most large cities in Europe.

After I met up with the group, we walked down the Champs-Elysees and saw the Arc de Triumphe. The Champs-Elysees was really cool - so many high-end stores on one street. After seeing the Arc de Triumphe, we headed towards the Eiffel Tower. We knew that at night it sparkles on the hour every hour for a few minutes. We were walking with it in sight as the top of the hour grew close. As soon the sparkling started, we set out running to come in full view of the tower and the run was entirely worth it. I audibly gasped when we saw it and the girl running with me squeeled - it was just breathtaking to see the full thing all lit up. (There is a really short video in my pictures - I hope it works). After taking a few (dozen) pictures we headed back to our hostel - which was actually pretty nice and very clean and had free breakfast!

Saturday morning started early, we were pounding the pavement (and cobblestones) by 8 am. We started out by seeing the Sainte-Chappelle, a chapel built in the 1200s, that is famous for its stained glass. Although it was overcast outside, we were still able to enjoy the beauty of the windows inside. From here we went to Notre Dame. After marveling at the beauty and grandeur of the inside for a while, we decided to climb the tower to the top. I've never climbed so many spiral stone stairs or been so in awe of the place that I was standing! This was our first bird's eye view of Paris, and it was so neat to see Montmarte, the Eiffel Tower, and countless other historical landmarks from the top of Notre Dame. We were also up there for the top of the hour and got to experience the chiming of the Notre Dame as we stood on it - that was really cool (there is a video of this in my pictures too).

From here we walked through the streets of Paris, stopped at a cafe' for a mid-morning coffee and snack and made our way to the Musee d'Orsay. This former train station turned museum is home to a lot of impressionist art, and I loved it! Van Gogh was really amazing - so unique, but really it was so neat to be up close and personal with so many paintings that I had previously only seen in pictures. After spending nearly 3 hours there, we set off for Montmarte and Sacre-Coeur. Mom had told me about Montmarte from her memories of a family trip which included caricatures that hung in my grandparents house for many years, so I was very excited to see all of the artists and another great view of the city.

We had lunch at a cafe right on the main artist's square in Montmarte and enjoyed wandering around the area for a bit. We wandered over to Sacre-Coeur, which was quite incredible. The inside was absolutely gorgeous and of course, you couldn't take pictures of it, but my camera needed a rest anyway. From here we got bird's eye view number 2 of the city - again amazing! It sounds stupid to say, but it was so Parisian! All of the buildings looked just like they were supposed to. We enjoyed some street performers by the Sacre-Coeur and then went back to the artist area. I had not totally planned on getting a caricature done, but when I saw one artist whose samples looked so similar to the caricatures of my mom's family, I just had to - and I bartered with him too! It was really fun to have it done, especially watching the reactions of my new friends and others who stopped to watch during the process.

From here the group split up a little and Nicole and I split off to find a cafe and just enjoy the rest of the afternoon. It took a while to find a cafe (which actually ended up being Starbucks this time...ooops), but along the way we got to see more of Paris and did some light shopping (you will notice a new purple coat in some of my later pictures - it was only 15 euro!). We then met up with a few others and went to dinner at a nice French restaurant. I had steak tartare with fries - I have to admit it was really good, even if I was a little scared at first. I also had a taste of some french onion soup (SO good!) and profiteroles (cream puffs) for dessert.

Sunday again started early with 8:30 mass at Notre Dame. It was really neat to experience this - even if it was Catholic mass in French. It was a really nice time of reflection and prayer for me, and it was so neat to just feel the history all around. We went from mass to the Eiffel Tower. Before my trip I kinda thought that maybe the Eiffel Tower was a little over-rated and cliche', I don't think that anymore. We climbed the stairs to the second level (the equivalent of 43 stories in a building). This was bird's eye view number 3 - it still didn't get old! Sadly, the top level is closed for renovations until next week, so we did not get to go to the very top, but it was amazing to see what we did.

From here we headed to the Louvre (free because it was the first Sunday of the month). It is so big!!! I really did get lost a couple times, even with a map. I spent about 2.5 hours inside and really just saw the highlights. It's not in my pictures, but don't worry, I saw Mona. It is really overwhelming how much art is in there!! By the time I left it was the middle of the afternoon, and I got to enjoy some time by myself wandering through the Latin district, getting a fresh nutella crepe, perusing the antiques at the street vendors by the Seine near the Notre Dame, and sitting at a cafe to watch the world go by as I waited to meet up with another girl, Lisa.

Lisa and I finished our time in Paris by wandering from the Notre Dame all the way to the Eiffel tower and stopping along the way at whatever struck our fancy. Some highlights were the Paris Pantheon, the Prime Minister's Chateau, and the Military Museum. We saw the Eiffel tower sparkle one last time and then ran (yes, literally) to catch our train home (we made it with plenty of time to spare!)

In very recent news, I felt like today was my birthday or something - I came home to two pieces of mail!! Thanks to my Aunt Melinda and sister, Jennifer, for making my day!!!

I apologize for the mass amounts of pictures this time, but considering that I took nearly 600 in the mere 48 hours that I was there, I tried hard to pick out the best ones! The last two pictures are actually videos if you click on them, they will load in a separate window. In case you want longer to look at a picture/read it's caption, I suggest hitting the pause button that the bottom and then just using the arrows to scroll through - I wish I could make it slow down a little.