Passport to Paris and Versailles

If you haven´t figured it out already...yes, several of my blog titles and Facebook albums are named after Mary Kate and Ashley movies. They were our inspiration growing up that we could travel the world, so now that we are actually fulfilling our dreams it was only right to give them credit. Not to mention, we got pumped up for all of our trips by watching their movies. Super cool, I know! :)

Our weekend get away started late Friday night. We were supposed to catch our overnight bus in Mannheim (the next city over) at around 11pm. We waited for 45 minutes and still no bus, or anyone to ask if the bus was still coming or why there was a delay. Typical Germany...

Finally, after an hour our bus arrived! Yes, we were taking an overnight bus again. Two actually! One to Paris and one back because we wanted to save money, even if it meant no sleeping for the next few days. Thankfully, unlike the first bus ride...I knocked out right away. It was wonderful. I woke up once when we stopped for a bathroom break and that was it. The others in my group were not as lucky, so by the time we got to Paris at 6am, they were kinda grumpy. We were supposed to arrive at 7, and we assumed we would be late...but shockingly we were an hour early. We were so confused, but happy that we got an extra hour in the city.

October 15th: Our first impressions of Paris were not great. The train station smelled horribly and for the first time, we actually had to deal with the language barrier. In Germany, everyone knows English, and we know German so we don't normally have too many issues. In France, that is not the case. Most Parisains don't know English (or at least acted like it...stereotypical, but true). We tried using German, but that was even less helpful. After about an hour of trying to figure out how to get to our hostel, we just picked a train and went. We are def spoiled with the German transportation system and the Tube in England, because Paris was not nearly as clean, or "pünktlich" (on time) as we are used to. When we made it to our stop it was still dark out and not a sign anywhere to lead us in the right direction. After a little wandering, we stumbled upon the beauty of a hostel we booked, "The 3 Ducks". You all will read more about our hostel experience later, but all I can say for now was that we were not impressed. We dropped our stuff out and headed out looking for some food. It was now around 7:30, yet it was still dark and nothing was open. No little cafes, no grocery stores..nothing! We wandered around until we found the one place we knew would be open...McDonalds. Yes, we did it...yes, we were ashamed....yes, we looked like Americans, but we were starving! It ended up being probably the best Egg Mcmuffin I have ever had honestly. The Paris McDonalds was impressive.

We headed back to the hostel, cleaned up a bit and were off to the Louvre. One great thing about Paris is that they really value their students. All students studying in the EU got in fo freee :) Yes, saved 10 Euro. The Louvre was beautiful. So much history, it is kinda overwhelming. We wandered and admired the art, specifically the Mona Lisa for around 2 hours and then were off to Notre Dame. By the way, the Mona Lisa is tiny! Compared to all the art in the Louvre she really doesn't stand out. She is gorgerous in all, but I found quite a few other paintings and sculptures that I admired more than her...

 

We then wandered along the Seine River and stopped along one of the many bridges. I have no clue what the name of this bridge is...I simply refer to it as the Love Bridge, but it was the bridge with the most "Locks of Love". Gosh, I was fascinated by the locks. So many. Each with their own story, their own history. I really think this was my favorite part of the city. This bridge alone is where you can just feel all the romance in Paireee. Gorgerous! For those of you who don't know the story of the locks, it goes something like this. After a wedding, the bride and groom stand on opposite sides of the bridge, walk toward the middle, lock their lock on the bridge and throw the key over the edge to symbolize a never ending love. They are not meant for just couples, although alot of dumb tourists tend to believe that and lock their locks to the bridge anyway. Regardless if all of the locks are "authentic" they are something to see. I love a good artsy photo and this was just the prime location.

Next Notre Dame! So beautiful! The architecture outside is just unbelievable, and the inside just has such like a mysterious side....we couldn't help think of Quasimodo! Def was the best church we have seen thus far! A must see in Paris!

Next stop, Arc de Triomphe! Again...totally felt like I was in Passport to Paris. All that was missing was the cute boys in the mopeds! Such a beautiful part of the city. It was packed with tourists, but still so pretty to walk down and soak in the culture.

After a full day of exploring the city we headed back to the hostel to change for our romantic night ahead. We planned to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and then enjoy a nice dinner downtown, but due to the line for the Eiffel Tower, we never made it to dinner. Fine by us! We spent the evening above the city of Paris!

I have to admit, I was freaked out! I am not normally scared of heights, but I have never been so high and out in the open. It is not like the Sears Tower where you stand within the glass windows, rather you are out with Mother Nature and the elements. This particular night was very windy and I was def not excited about that. Thankfully, my fears were quickly subdued as soon as we made it to the top! It was just so beautiful and so romantic. Shucks...

The only down point to the evening besides my slight fear and the cold, were my bunions. Yep, as always causing a problem. They slowed me down tremendously over the first part of our journey, but after standing in my heels for hours in the cold...they made it known that they were unhappy. Instead of heading out for dinner, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed home. Not only were my feet not up for the journey, but surprisingly Paris really does not have a great night life past around 11pm when we got down from the Tower. Public transportation doesn't run past midnight, so we decided to take it easy and just enjoy a glass of wine back at the hostel.

Sunday, October 16th : Off to Versailles. Totally worth the 45 minute trip outside the city. The castle by far wins the "Best Interior" category of the trip. There is no toping the Hall of Mirrors (pictured below) and the King and Queens bed chambers. They are covered from floor to ceiling in gold and it really is a spectacular site.

It was great to walk through this hall and close your eyes for a few minutes and picture yourself standing there a few hundred years ago. The King and Queen held masquerade balls there and it felt like you were really in a fairytale. Such a cool atmosphere. It really didn't help with our already overwhelming Princess Problems we have developed on this trip though. How are we supposed to go back to real life?

After a few hours touring the castle (not the Gardens, they were not nearly all they were cracked up to be. Germany truly kicks ass in the garden department) we headed back into the city for some food. I enjoyed a nutella and banana crepe (the best by far) while relaxing in the middle of the city. This was my point to take it all in and really appreciate where I was. We always try to take on hour or so out of our traveling just to sit and enjoy everything around us. With our hectic schedules, we don't always take the time to appreciate the culture we are in; however, in Paris..it was a must. Not to mention it was a beautiful day. One of my favorite parts of the trip was right here. Everything kinda came together for me that this point.

Our last stop before dinner was the Catacombs. And god, was it cool. So creepy, but so cool. The Parisian Catacombs are one of the less talked about attraction in the city, but definitely one of the coolest. During the plague, when thousands lost their lives, the city ran out of places to place the bodies. This huge underground tunnel was bulit and in it, millions of bones were stored. It was so CREEPY, but if you know me at all..you know this was right up my alley. It had a spooky, creepy, haunted feeling to it..so naturally, I loved it. I have to admit though, I would never go down there alone. NO WAY!

The last stop on our tour of Paris was a cute and affordable romantic dinner on the river. Well, I mean...technically it was a street over from the river...student budget afterall, but it is well known in town for great food and an awesome environment. We got a three course meal and wine for only 11 Euros. Really not bad, and just what we needed to wrap up our weekend getaway in Paris.

Overall, I have to say Paris has been my favorite city thus far. It really does just have its own feel, that we have not experienced anywhere else. It is so romantic and I would love to come back with my husband sometime and get to experience it all again. Great weekend, even with our horrid overnight bus home. Can't wait to get back! :)