Oui! Paris!

Two hostels, over 4100 stairs and numerous places to visit, I had a very eventful few days in Paris this week, but I won't bore you all with minute-by-minute details (unless you want them, then Skype me!). Just a few photos on here, loads more on Facebook.

There was so much I wanted to do, and certainly not enough time to do it all in, so before I left I did some planning. My inner-OCD came out and I managed to organise everything I wanted to see into different areas, and so I hit the ground running when I arrived! The weather was a bit up and down while I was there, sometimes mucking up my plans, but it all managed to get sorted out in the end and I was lucky enough not to miss out on any of the major things I wanted to see. I even managed to sneak in some extra sites and museums due to the rain, and have a relaxing afternoon lying in one of the beautiful gardens soaking up some sun. One thing about Paris that did strike me as quite odd is that there are so many gorgeous gardens all over, and you are not allowed to sit or walk on the grass in most of them! They have these metal seats that everyone scrambles for, and people drag them into the sun to get a good spot. When there is a patch of grass you are allowed to sit on, there are so many people crammed into one area it sometimes isn't even worth it. Luckily I got to the garden early in the afternoon and there was still plenty of grass-space left for me to snatch up!

With so many museums and churches spread throughout Paris, it was a bit of a contest to see which ones would be seen and what would miss out. Some of the obvious places could clearly not be missed- the Lourve, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triumph, Sacre Coeur (thanks for that one Dad) and the Eiffel Tower, and due to the advice from some friends I managed to discover some places I had never heard of- the Catacombes, Montemarte, Les Marais and Saint Michel. I certainly got a workout, and returned back to my hostel each night exhausted!

 

While I always knew it was a Hollywood stereotype that you can see the Eiffel Tower from every building in Paris, it is certainly true from ALMOST every tall building that I visited. Climb to the lookout of most of the museums and churches and yup, there it is! It was also pretty cool that on most nights home from wherever I had been visiting, the quickest metro line home took me past the night-time view of the Tower. Each night it is lit up on the hour for a flashing light show for a few minutes, makes the Tower look even more amazing when it sparkles.

One of the best parts of travelling is getting to meet new people and make new friends. After hitting up the local Chabad centre for a Shabbat dinner meal, I met up with some American girls who were studying in Paris for the semester and volunteered to be my personal activity organisers for the last few days that I was in town. It was fantastic to meet their friends and visit some of the places that they recommended, it was like being shown around by a local (except whose French has a bit of an American tinge- sorry guys!). I will definitely be making plans to meet up with them again while we are all still making our ways around Europe- you guys are stuck with me now! As Emma (one of the girls) keeps saying, we are all now a part of each-other's stories!

As with all travelling, there are some things that always come out on top. My favourites would definitely have to be seeing the view of Paris from the top of the Sacre Coeur (and hearing the bells ringing from about 20m away was pretty cool too), as well as wandering through the streets of Montemarte. The entire area is just so beautiful that you don't realise how much time you can spend just watching all the artists paint and draw. When the weather cleared up on my last day I also managed to take a relaxing walk along the River Seine, ending my time in Paris with climbing the steps of the Eiffel Tower. A great way to end a few days of speedy travel!