Back in Paris

You know, I thought I'd have less time to post during the actual study abroad part of my trip & more time to post during my free travel part. Guess it's the opposite. Interesting...
Anyway...

We had a very long and interesting train ride from Rome to Paris during which we hardly slept because of the number of stops and how hot it got in our compartment. Once we finally arrived, we took the Metro (stairs & all with our heavy suitcases) to our hostel in the Latin Quarter, checked in, then explored the area a little. I found the library with internet, so I worked on the last post and caught up with my internet life.

After that, we went to the Eiffel Tower - all the way to the top. As is my tradition, the first thing I did was use the bathrooms which are on the very top floor. If the wind is blowing, one can feel the tower sway a tiny bit if in the bathroom. (A weird tradition, I know, but for the record, it was not originally my idea to try this - though I can't remember whose it was.) Unfortunately, it was not remotely windy. Afterward, we looked at all the sites we could recognize from the top, snapped some pictures, and descended to the 2nd floor where we had a snack.

Eiffel Tower!

Photo opp. at the top.

One of the views from the top.

Paris is awesome!

We returned to the hostel a little before it started to get dark. I wandered around for a while, had a crêpe (banana & nutella, of course), & went to be shortly thereafter.

The next day was the Louvre!
I love the Louvre, especially the Sully Wing which houses the Medieval Louvre exhibit & parts of the Ancient Egypt & Ancient Greece exhibits. I accomplished about half of it, including the room in the Denon Wing which houses my favorite painting: La Jeune Martyre by Delaroche. The only problem is that it wasn't there! It was on exposition, so another Delaroche painting hung in it's place. :-(

Pyramid entrance.

Yayayayay!

A shot of the medieval Louvre.

Egypt exhibit!

[Memory blank - I forgot what this is called. Oops.]

Pretty sure these are images of Bast - Egyptian Cat Goddess.

A sculpture I really liked.

I ADORE this piece!

After the Louvre we walked to Notre Dame to try to tour it and climb the towers, but the line was a mile long just to enter the cathedral, so we just walked around it and took pictures then returned to our hostel.

Notre Dame de Paris on a gorgeous day!

I found out that if you stand in the middle of Point Zero in Paris (this site), it ensures your return, so I did! :)

(And here's where I start to get really bad about remembering to take pictures...)
The following day, Mom & I decided after another sleepless, way-too-hot night in party central of the Latin Quarter, that we needed to change to a different hotel in a different area of Paris. That took a good bit of the morning, but afterward we to see l'Arc de Triomph, the Champs Elysees (where we went into a few stores, including what must be the BIGGEST Sephora store EVER), les Invalides (where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried - we just saw the building from a distance), and one of Paris's famous bridges Pont Alexandre III with all the statues.

Later, we went on a River Tour on the Seine and got a completely different view of Paris. The tour ended at the Eiffel Tower at about 20 minutes until 10pm. Since the tower lights up & sparkles for the first time each night at 10pm, we decided to wait around to see it since Mom had never seen it before. It's really pretty.

Our boat for the tour.

Sunset on the Seine.

Approaching the Eiffel Tower at the end of the tour.

Pretty, sparkly, lit up Eiffel Tower!

The next morning we went to Notre Dame and actually got in, but since it was rainy, the towers were closed. :( We had a generally very calm day, but I wasn't feeling well at all. We ended up going back to our hotel so I could sleep, and Mom left to see the Impressionist art collection at Musée D'Orsay.

Mom left to go back to the US the next morning, but I still wasn't feeling well. I ended up staying at our hotel an extra night rather than going to stay with my friend Mohamed so I wouldn't get him and his girlfriend, Fleur, sick.

The next morning I finally made it to Mohamed's, and afterward I returnd to the Louvre to finish looking at all the open galeries. I can now officially say that I've seen every open room in the Louvre!!! (A major accomplishment in my opinion.) After the Louvre, I went back to Mohamed & Fleur's and hung out. We ended up making a trip to the grocery store for taco supplies. (It was fun but really weird to be making tacos in France.) I also had my first Quick Burger (France's version of Burger King) experience on the way back. Mohamed and I were both starving, so we ordered a giant order of these fried emmental (type of French cheese) cheese puff things. SO GOOD!

This was also one of our purcases - Blood Orange Diet Coke.

It's REVOLTING! Pepsi + orange pixie stick is the best description I can give you.

Today was, sadly, my last day in Paris and in France in general. I made the best of it by visiting the Catacombs. They were exceptionally creepy because, really, who even thinks to decorate with human bones and because there was moisture dripping from the ceilling in places, which just added to the effect of the coldness & the darkness.

Tunnel into the catacombs.

Memorial in the catacombs.

Doorway into where the bones were.

"Stop. This here is the empire of death." (Or something to that effect.)

A heart made out of skulls.

Really. Creepy.

Afterward, I wandered around for a while in the area, ate lunch, and windowshopped. I returned to Mohamed & Fleur's to await Mohamed to go to dinner & get drinks while we watched the World Cup. We ended up in the Marais (neighborhood in Paris) at this really great falafel place where I'd already gone with the LSU group. Afterward, we got drinks at a bar near Gare de Lyon then headed back to MoMo's so I could pack.

Turns out MoMo has a pizza place in the Marais. LOL.

Tomorrow my train leaves for London at a little after 8am. I'm excited to go because of all the fun stuff I have planned to do, but I'm really really sad to leave Paris.