My Semester in Copenhagen: My long weekend in Paris

Last week there was some sort of religious holiday in Denmark but no one I asked seemed to know what it was all about... Regardless, it meant that I had a couple days off from class and my friend Kirsten and I took advantage of the extra time by going to Paris! It was one of those almost surreal trips where you have to keep reminding yourself where you are and what you're seeing because nothing seems real. Needless to say, I had an amazing time and I'm very proud of how much we were able to pack into our three days there.

We got into Paris late Wednesday night and basically only had the time and energy to eat and go to bed. We woke up Thursday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to see everything this city had to offer. We started our morning with a bike tour of the city, which was awesome! We saw so much and the weather was absolutely gorgeous so it was a really enjoyable way to start the day and get acquainted with the city. We saw the Gold Dome (Yes, it's real gold), the church where Napoleon Tomb is kept and it's connected Les Invalides, the first veteran hospital ever built.

Then we went over Alexandre's Bridge, the most photographed bridge in Paris and it's easy to see why--it's gorgeous! And apparently it was way ahead of its time structurally speaking because it doesn't have any supports in the middle.

Next we passed through Concorde square where they executed a bunch of people during the French Revolution including Marie Antoinette then we stopped for lunch in the Tuileries garden. It was quite picturesque, enjoying my ham and cheese crepe in the middle of a French park with the Louvre behind me and the Eiffel Tower in front of me. After lunch we continued on our tour and saw the Louvre, the Grand Palais and finally the Eiffel Tower! After our bike tour Kirsten and I decided to be the ultimate tourists and make our way to the top of the Eiffel Tower. After 710 steps to the second floor we had to take the elevator all the way to the top. The view was

incredible and we enjoyed playing "Where's Waldo?" with all the famous Parisian sights. After making it up and back down the Eiffel Tower we decided that it was time to treat ourselves to some sort of French pastry. Kirsten got an eclair and I got some sort of nutty tart from a man who spoke no English whatsoever but his enthusiasm made up for the huge language barrier. Next we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysees. At this point our feet were killing us and all we wanted was a bed but instead we forged on and met one of Kirsten's friends in the Jewish quarter of Paris, lovingly referred to as "the swamp." This was a really fun part of the city that we probably would have never ventured to on our own. It was full of bars and shops and was generally a very hip neighborhood. It kind of reminded me of uptown but French. After the best falafel I've ever had, we called it a night and went back to the hostel for a much needed good night's sleep.

On Saturday we woke up to a dreary, rainy day. Luckily we had planned to go to the Louvre that day so the weather didn't spoil our plans one bit. The Louvre was daunting. There were huge crowds around every major work of art but that didn't stop us from getting right up front and getting a good lo

ok at these things. The Mona Lisa was okay, I think pictures of the painting are better though... The Venus de Milo however was spectacular. It really lived up to it's hype and I was thoroughly impressed. The rest of the museum was fun to wander through. Since we got in for free (EU students!) we decided to spring for audio guides so I actually learned a lot about the different artists and their works. After a quick lunch we crossed the river and went to the Musee d'Orsay, the impressionist museum. For me, this was better than the Louvre. There was a really interesting painting in every room and I fell in love with several. I'm really glad we decided to do this museum and it may have been the highlight of my trip to Paris. After we were all museumed out we decided to check out a couple churches. The weather had improved dramatically so we sat outside and admired the Notre Dame for a while before we wandered around inside. After Notre Dame we went on a little adventure to find Sainte Chapelle because we had heard the stained glass was amazing. We could see the steeple but we could not seem to find the church and kept walking in circles. Finally we realized

that you had to go into the Palais of Justice, a gated square, in order to get into it. All the walking paid off though because this stained glass was incredible. It told the entire story of the Bible through the windows of this church--Gorgeous! After a long day of sight seeing we decided to treat ourselves to a classical French dinner. We started with escargot, followed by some sort of chicken with mushrooms and finally creme brulee for dessert! It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

And this brings me to our last day in Paris. We started at the Sacre Coeur. The church kind of reminded me of Aladdin and

I think that's why I immediately loved it. This church had more steps to climb so naturally we decided to climb them. After 350 steps we were on top of the church. I felt like Quasimodo climbing around up there. The path led us all over the roof of that church before we got into the dome, which gave us the most spectacular view of the city. After the Sacre Cour we tracked down the Moulin Rouge and then made our way to the Luxembourg gardens. We took a nice little nap in the sun in front of Luxembourg Palace, right next to a pond that little kids were sailing boats on. Then we wandered around the Latin Quarter a bit more and saw Sorbonne (University of Paris) and the Pantheon (where a bunch of famous people are buried). To cap off our day we went up the Montparnasse skyscraper in order to take in the city of Paris at night. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We could see the fireworks at Disneyland and about 5 minutes after we got to the top, the Eiffel Towel light show started. It was incredible. It was the perfect ending to the perfect weekend in Paris.

More Pictures:

Eiffel Tower (obviously)

After our bike tour and before Kirsten realized she was
totally fried (In case you can't tell, she's a redhead...)

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower. That tall skyscraper in Tour Montparnasse (The one we went up on our last night) and was built in the 1970's. After it was built the French decided it was ugly and didn't allow any other skyscrapers to be built within the Paris city limits.