Last Thursday we left for Paris for
the weekend. After our arrival in Paris at Orly Airport we were taken on a bus
tour of the major sights before heading to our hotel. Seeing the Eiffel Tower
in the distance as we got closer and closer to town made me so happy to be
back. The 5 weeks I spent in Paris over the summer were some of the best weeks
of my life and I couldn’t wait to see some of my favorite places again. Our
tour guide, who was very energetic and entertaining, told us a ton of facts
about many sights that I had never heard of before. As we drove by Les Invalides, which holds the Military Museum of the Army of France as well as Napoleon’s
body, she told us about how Napoleon’s body was held by the English for twenty
years after his death and when it was finally returned it was missing a piece.
That piece of his body is now held, in a jar, in a private collection in New
Jersey. If you are curious as to what piece of his body was missing: Google it.
Thursday night after checking into
the hotel our program planned a dinner boat cruise for us. When I was in Paris before, I spent time drinking wine on the edge of the Seine watching with
envy as dinner cruises went by with people eating fancy dinners; needless to
say, I was beyond excited when I found out we would be going on one. The dinner
was a delicious salmon with yellow rice and peppers covered in a cream sauce.
YUM. The boat went up and down the Seine past the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the
second Statue of Liberty, and many other famous Parisian sights. The boat
dropped us off a short walk from the Eiffel Tower and we did a serious power
walk to make it underneath the Tower for when it began to sparkle. For those of you that don’t know: once it is
dark, the Eiffel Tower lights up and every hour, on the hour, thousands of
light bulbs sparkle for 5 minutes. Personally, I think it is one of the most
beautiful things to see in Paris. After watching the sparkles, we walked up to
Trocadera to see the Tower from afar and catch the metro back towards our
hotel. Once back in the Bastille area, where we were staying, we headed to a bar
I can't describe with any word other than “hipster.” So hipster, I don’t believe
the bouncer thought we were worthy, but he let us in anyways. Inside was a live
band and Jack & Coke, so I was happy.
Friday morning we went to Musée d’Orsay, which is by far my favorite museum in Paris. Not only does the museum
hold my favorite artists; Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Caillebotte but it is
also located in an old train station in the heart of Paris. My absolute favorite part of the museum is the Impressionist exhibit on the 5th floor, I could spend hours in that room and still not want to leave. Over the summer I had visited d' Orsay and loved it then, but now after taking my French Art History class and learning about SO many of the paintings that are held in d'Orsay I appreciated it even more. Pictures aren’t
allowed but I was able to sneak one photo in the Neo-Impressionism exhibit as
well as take a photo out of the clock tower.
After d’Orsay we headed back to
Trocadera, in the daylight this time, to snap some photos and grab some crepes
from a street cart near there. After our photo shoot and crepes we searched for
a café to sit and have some coffe, hot chocolate, or in some of our cases: vin
chaud (hot wine.) We had never tried hot wine before but it was actually very
good, it tasted like warm sangria and they served us cinnamon on the side to
mix in as we pleased.
Following our café break we hopped
in line for the Eiffel tower. Because it was too windy the top was closed
and I was so upset, but I guess now I have an excuse to go back to Paris. After
waiting in line for about 45 minutes we climbed the stairs (ouch) to the middle
level. It was extremely cold and windy so we didn’t stay for long, but
being able to see all of Paris from up there was well worth it. After grabbing
dinner is St. Germain de Pres we headed back to the hotel, took a short power
nap, and then headed towards Bercy Village for drinks at The Frog. The Frog at Bercy Village is one of a few “Frogs” located throughout Paris that my friend
Meghan spent a lot of time at when she studied in Paris. I had never been to
the one in Bercy Village but I had been to one; The Frog and Library, which was
closer to where I lived in Paris. The
servers all speak English as well as fluent french, so this is a great place to
go if you can’t speak french at all or if you are looking to practice your
french. They have their own brews, my personal favorite was Parislytic, and really
great pub food, like fried camembert, SO GOOD. I definitely recommend it if you
happen to find yourself in Paris.
Okay, so because this post is
already really long and only covers half of the trip I am splitting Paris into
two parts. Part 2 will be up in the next couple of days!
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