We arrived at Gare de l'Est after a 2-3ish hour train ride? I honestly don't know how long it really was because I slept the whole time. It was such a pretty station!
Our hotel was right off of the Boucicaut metro stop. It was a great, clean place with free wi-fi! The only thing was that the elevator was really small...Idk how we fit all of our things and ourselves in one trip.
Our cute room complete with a sky-painted ceiling.
Look at the little shampoos!
We were on the 7th (top) floor...aka we never took the stairs.
Lianne came to meet us right away! She also responds to Heather now. Doesn't she look très français?
We tried to get to a pizza place, but could not find the right bus stop. We found a small Greek restaurant instead. No complaints here! The chicken was amazing.
On our way to the Eiffel Tower we saw this manly man with the biggest sequin design gracing the back of a shirt I have ever seen!
The next few pics look fake, but I promise they are real...
I'll say it again...SO much prettier at night!
MJ fans were out dancing.
Cuddling with our French friend Heather.
We caught it while it was sparkling! This happens for 5 minutes every hour.
The tickets to the top were sold out for the night by the time we got to the window, so we decided to kick it on the lawn.
We weren't the only ones who made a night out of it.
And we bought a cheap bottle of champagne for 6 euro from one of the sketchsters selling them...why not, right?
It started sparkling again! Here's the long distance perspective. I have video of this too, but I'm too lazy to upload it...
Luckily, someone kind of already did the work for me! Watch this if you're curious.
The tower is visible from so many places in the city, including our hotel!
We tried out the Chili Dog Cafe down the street for lunch the next day. The woman working there was so nice and helpful even though she hardly spoke English. We left her a nice tip as a thank you (FYI they don't tip in France).
We got a soda with our pizza so I picked this out of the fridge. Apparently, it's beer and limonade, oops!
Such good pizza, and cheap too!
Does anyone know what kind of fruit that is next to the strawberries? We've been trying to figure it out...we're gonna cave soon and buy some.
First thing on our agenda for the day was: conquer the Louvre. We made a quick stop at the Virgin megastore underneath first. Here's a list of eurosummer hits for all you fellow music lovers out there...get busy downloading!
Spiral staircases look better in the Louvre.
Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities
The crowd is for the Mona Lisa.
getting closer...
and zooming in...the protective glass makes it look a little weird. It's a lot smaller than I imagined it would be.
This was JD's favorite. Le Jeune Martyre by Paul Delaroche.
Jacques-Louis David. Leonidas at Thermopylae. 1814. Oil on canvas. 300-esque
Now THIS is a wedding.
Looking out from inside the Louvre.
Theater masks. This totally reminds me of the masks we made in 4th grade art.
This must've been one giant piece of pottery when it was whole.
Taking a little break.
Trying to blend in.
Walk like an Egyptian.
The Seated Scribe.
I just took this because I liked this guy's hair.
This painting was done by Antoine Watteau.
Study of Hands by Nicolas de Largillière...and a shaka.
Look at what I found her doing.
Smile! You've already spent 3 hours in the Louvre!
Giant
I wish I had an apartment that looked like this.
View of Naples with Vesuvias in the Back by Claude Joseph Vernet.
Fan of sphinxes.
Self-picture with a giant sphinx.
The Medieval Louvre.
One of the coolest parts of the museum.
Cour Marly
Tomb of Philippe Pott
Random precious lil' sculpture that was on the side of a hallway.
haha
The Capital of Apadana was part of a set of columns that held up the ceiling of a huge ancient building.
Mummification.
Me 'n Aphrodite, known as Venus de Milo
Borghese Gladiator
Cupid & Psyche, Antonio Canova
The Dying Slave, Michelangelo
It looks like the Louvre has exciting plans for the near future.
6 hours spent in the Louvre=exhausted. At some point it becamse more like a game to see how many of the highlighted-in-the official-map works we could find. We did a great job!!
There was a fair going on a right across the way. We just couldn't resist going for a ride on the ferris wheel.
The view was impressive. Of course we could see this guy from the top.
We even managed to get him in the background.
VABbing it off the side was kind of scary.
All alone.
The Louvre from a semi-bird's eye view.
This was one of the prizes for the no-loser game. Ridiculous.
Perfect size for Zaila!
As usual, we got hungry. Here's a European hot dog. They use a baguette instead of a bun and melt cheese over it. It was good, but I miss Costco hot dogs!
I knew I had to get some from the moment I saw this booth.
Cinnamon sugar heaven.
With a side of Nutella, please.
Loved the sky, and the bird perched on the statue's head.
Paris est belle.
It started sparkling again!
The Louvre at night.
Prettier than a postcard.
Just to prove this isn't fake and I was really there...
The Musée D'Orsay. We didn't get to look in here, but it is first on my list of things to do during my next Paris visit.
We met up with Lianne and some of her friends for a Parisian house party. Everyone was so friendly!
Lianne is our classmate at UH, fluent in French, and the most awesome person ever. When you combine the these factors, you get super cute results like this map she drew us to find the metro back home. Awwww.
Food break. Chicken panini from a small place near our hotel.
Opéra National de Paris
The neighborhood.
I guess sitting on the steps is the thing to do.
We joined the party.
We had a date with Sian-Pierre. He is Bri's college friend and one cool dude. He's currently living in Paris, doing his thing on swaggerparis.com which i highly recommend! You should also look into his stateside gig.
Syd, you would've loved mydrink/cup of whipped cream.
You never know when you're going to run into someone who is fashion forward.
These two might not be native Parisians, but they sure look like it!
Walking to the Galeries Lafeyette.
ahhh
The place was gorgeous and quite overwhelming.
Maybe I should've bought this one for Z? It was so cute!
Lianne took us to Montmartre next. She used to live here back in the day.
If only I had space in my suitcase...
Basilique du Sacre-Coeur
Walking up the many steps.
I think this lady was just model posing for fun? She was going all out.
There was a Brazilian band playing below.
We decided to take a little break on the hill.
Jess and I made ourselves comfortable on the grass, as usual.
We also had a free show to our left.
ummm yeaa...discuss...
So we booked it and kept trying to work our way to the top.
almost there...
These guys had some crazy juggling skills.
We also spotted some crazy hair.
It was overcast, but still an impressive scene.
This guy's audience size was not too shabby.
The Brazilian group followed us to the top!
Capoeira
merging...not sure if this was planned or not?
This guy ASKED to take a picture with Lianne...it must be the new MJ jacket ;).
I've been seeing these stores everywhere. I'm still not sure what they sell?
Waiting in the metro station.
We went to a restaurant called Le Tourville for drinks. Jellyfish lights!
I ordered a ginger-pineapple collins (far left and really good).
These are Lianne's friends who she's staying with this summer.
Same pose, different city.
The drinks were pricey, but it was worth it for the ambience!
We moved to a more reasonably priced restaurant for some dinner.
Jess got the salmon. She's so predictable!
Page got pasta.
I got mushroom chicken...also not suprising at all. We wanted some escargot and frog legs, but they didn't have any :(
Ok, we debated between going out after dinner or retiring early to try to make it to Versailles in the morning.
Still discussing...
There was heavy rain in the forecast for Sunday...and the trains come less frequently on Sundays...and we had to catch our plane at 4pm.
So...we went out :) I'll just have to visit Versailles next time I'm in Paris!
It was a bar called "l'Urgence" which I think Lianne said means emergency room (geez I really remember zero French).
The drink names were hilarious. I ordered an "implant."
The decor matched the name.
aaaand the best part...they were playing HIP HOP!! I'm talking old skool stuff too...outta control (remix), warren g, nasty girl...mmhmmm
Oh yea, and their claim to fame is that they serve their drinks in baby bottles...
Baby bottles all around!
It made my hands look huge.
The drinks were excellent.
double fisting
Babies are jealous of our juice.
Jess and Page made me take this to prove that they both beat me.
Last but not least, and reason #99 to like this place is: this was the poster up in the unisex bathroom.
Even though we didn't make it to Versailles, we still had a few minor things to accomplish during our last day.
First up: brunch.
Sian told us we had to try the milkshakes, so we took his advice.
I got a vanille...complete with real vanilla beans! yummm
chicken and warm goat cheese salad
Grand Palais
Mission Champs-Élysées
Voilà. The most beautiful Avenue in the world.
We searched for this place because Lianne recommended it, but settled for this bakery because we were running out of time.
We found Macarons!!
They are way different from macaroons. Definitely worth a try!
Mercedes Benz dealership in the middle of the avenue.
Working our way down to the Arc de Triomphe at the end. The sky was so much prettier the weekend before so I'm glad I got pics in front of it then!
I went back and forth between buying a Tour t-shirt and not buying one. I ended up resisting the urge.
Charles de Gaulle is so confusing with its 2 terminals so we gave ourselves a little extra time to get there. Made it!
Air France served some high quality in-flight snacks. We were excited.
Landing in Strasbourg.
This little boy in front of me was so cute! I had to sneak a picture...don't judge me.
Jess and I were semi-obsessed.
Everyone was on our flight! One last train trip into the main station 'til we got back "home."
2 trips to Paris in a little over a week might seem like overkill, but I loved every minute of it! Thanks to everyone who showed us around and suggested things to do. Au revoir, et bon chance! (discovering french textbook memories, anyone?)
xx
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