The first night, I sucked it up and went to another pub crawl. Again, I didn't drink anything, but I was able to hang out with all of my friends and see a bit of the seedier part of Paris before being amazed by the beauty of the main area of the city the next day. At one point, we stole my friend's camera in one of the bars and got some pretty hilarious shots to remember that night.
The next morning, we took our final 3 hour walking tour of the city. We were able to see the beauty of the bridges, canals, buildings, and atmosphere of the city. We ended just past the Louvre at a park filled with fountains and sun (finally...since the majority of our trip was cloudy). From there, Aimee, Josh, and I decided to wait in line to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Seeing the towering structure above you in person is incredible, and it truly completes the Paris skyline. We only ended up getting to the second floor of the tower due to how crowded it was, but we were still able to take in some breathtaking views of the city of love, and hey...we can still say we climbed the Eiffel Tower! From there, we took a stroll to the Louvre, where we were able to see the Mona Lisa live and in person (it's a little anticlimactic, to be honest, but I can still say I did it) and observe some of the magnificent works that are located in the intimidatingly large museum. From there, we continued being super classy and had dinner at McDonald's. Yup. We had McDonald's for dinner in France. I mean, what else do you do when you've spent way more money than you should have?
The next day, we took a train out to Versailles. Our subway actually broke down on the way, and we ended up being quite late for our tour, and so we had to cram it into about an hour and a half instead of 4 hours. We got there and got an up close and personal view of the stunning and elaborate gardens and fountains with a tour guide to tell us stories along the way. Eventually, though, we wandered from the tour to see inside the actual palace itself. Nothing compares to the rich, excessive decor of this place. There was gold everywhere, paintings and sculptures lining each and every room, and even a hall of mirrors where, back in the 1400s, people would see their reflections for the first time. The entire place left my friends and I in awe. We even had time to catch a fountain show, where all of the fountains in the gardens were turned on as classical music played.
We then hopped on a train back into Paris and spent some time souvenir shopping and visiting Notre Dame. We happened to go inside Notre Dame during a French mass, and it was a really spiritual experience. Mind you, I'm not very religious, but walking through this beautiful, famous church (no, I did not see the hunchback) and hearing voices singing while seeing candles lit everywhere definitely hit that soft, emotional spot I have hidden deep down inside. I smiled to myself the entire time as I walked through the church and felt an odd calm.
After this, we hustled back to the hostel, got on the bus, and spent 15 hours overnight driving back to Florence! I am now back at home and preparing to go back to class at 6pm. WOOHOO. Marc and three of our friends were supposed to be here yesterday afternoon, but the random snowstorm thwarted our plans. The poor things have been going nonstop for three days trying to get here, and they will be arriving...right in the middle of my class. I'm going to meet them as soon as I'm out, and I can't wait. My next blog post will be filling you in on our week together in Firenze. :) Ciao!
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