Friday July 22
We got up early and took a bus to the train station then took a train and the TGV (aka super fast train) to Paris. We went directly to our hotel in Paris and checked in and left our suitcases there.
We headed to Les Tuileries gardens. On our way we got sandwiches by the Louvre and found benches to eat our food in the gardens. After eating we walked through the gardens. We noticed when we got to the end of the gardens that it looked like they were setting something up, we realized that the Tour de France would be ending in Paris on Sunday. Exciting even though we wouldn’t be going.
After walking through the gardens we decided to walk to the Notre Dame.
We walked over a bridge with tons of locks of love and walked along the Seine and found a much needed water fountain. I was pretty much dying of dehydration or really had to pee our entire time in Paris especially since water and bathrooms are hard to come by.
We sat at the Notre Dame for a bit then looked at all the souvenir shops that are near the Notre dame.
Afterwards we headed back to our hotel to finish checking in.
From our hotel we walked to Monmartre and visited Le Sacré Coeur. We walked around the shops a bit then ate dinner at an amazingly delicious Creperie. We shared a sweet crepe for dessert. The name of the restaurant was Créperie Brocéliande.
Afterwards we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and hung out at the tower for the remainder of the evening. It was crazy crowded but fun to hang out on the lawns. From there we went home to our hotel and went to bed.
Saturday July 23
Jessica and I were in a separate room from Becky and we slept in until 8:30. In fact, one of our alarms ended up waking us up—we were sound asleep and it was glorious to sleep in. Poor Becky had been waiting for us for awhile though.
Becky and Jess went on a run to the opera/l'église de Le Madeleine while I stayed and hung out with Lincoln.
We got ready and went to Les Halles a big mall in downtown Paris, and did some shopping.
We ate lunch at the Pompidou fountain. We had all remembered eating lunch there when were on Study abroad so it was great to reminisce.
Afterwards we went to the Luxembourg gardens and met up with Becky Trimble. We waited in line for the bathroom forever. We sat on some chairs and chatted for awhile and watched the little boats on the water. People can rent boats for an hour to float in the fountain.
(The photos below were taken by Becky—beautiful!)
After the gardens, we went to the Latin quarter and went to Gibert Jaune- a famous book store in Paris and ate dinner at a Morrocan restaurant. I had never had Morrocan food and it was delicious. Since we were near the Notre Dame we snapped a few more pictures with it. The picture with all of us is blurry since the focus on Notre Dame but I put it in anyway since it has all of us :)
After dinner we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. This is when we got down to the metro then realized that going the other direction would be better. We went up the escalator and realized we couldn't get to the other side so we had to run back down the up escalator. Needless to say it was a very comical experience.
When we got to the Eiffel Tower it was really busy. We waited in line to get into the area under the Eiffel Tower. Then we waited in line to go up the stairs. While we were in line the gendarmes (they look like military and carry big guns) started running and people started running the opposite direction and hopping the barricade. Becky said "Jess we gotta go!" With all the recent terrorist attacks and mass shootings, we were definitely panicked and thought we’d need to run for our lives. It calmed down but we were a little freaked out. We’re still not sure what happened. Once we got to the second floor, we waited in line to get tickets for the top. When we got the tickets, we saw that the line to go to the top was super long. At this point is was already almost 11:00 so we decided to just hang out on the second floor. Jessica was able to get our money back for our tickets. Becky fed Lincoln then we headed back down. We got sweet crepes at the base of the Eiffel Tower. I got sugar and lemon and Jessica and Becky got nutella. The guys doing the crepes were pretty funny. They wanted to give me my crepe first since I was pregnant. We checked in late to our new hotel where we could all be in one room.
Sunday July 24
We went to church at the institute. Lincoln pooped and we didn't have an extra diaper :) so that was fun for him and Becky.
After church we headed back to our hotel, packed and checked out but left our luggage there.
We met Becky Trimble and Hope at Notre Dame and walked to the Latin Quarter and got some very disappointing Gyros. We sat and ate them on some relatively dirty steps next to the Notre Dame.
We then walked to Les Jardins des Plantes and relaxed on a bench in the shade.
Afterwards we headed over to the Pompidou and watched some street performers while Becky and Jessica found some good Mille feuille pastries and eclaire-our last pastries of Paris!
We headed back to the hotel, got our luggage then made our way to the airport. We picked up Becky's friend's car and drove home stopping at a gas station on the way to get some bread and cheese for dinner. We got home around 11:30 at night.
It was quite a memorable experience to be in Paris with my two sisters. They both speak French so well that I just tagged along trying not to look too big of a fool. I always love going to Paris and hopefully it’s not the last time I go back! But I’m sure it will be awhile before I make it back there. Next time may be with my kids.
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