My favorite things about Paris:
1. Being called Madame
2. Shopping
3. Outside dining at a Bistro
4. The Eiffel Tower when it sparkles at night
5. Did I mention shopping yet??
My least favorite things about Paris:
1. The language- it's impossible to even guess what a word might mean, and what's with not pronouncing the last letter of a word and practically all the letters inbetween... what a waste of letters!
2. Vendors at tourists attractions. I must have had a million people ask me to buy a light up Eiffel Tower replica while I was there. One would try to sell it to me and I would say no thanks and 2 seconds later someone else would. I was thinking, "didn't you just see your friend try to sell me one and I said no??"
3. Bad picture takers. We specifically would ask to have our picture taken with the attraction in the background and often just got close-ups of us. The people we asked spoke English but clearly have never seen a camera.
4. Taxis drivers who take the long way to make you pay more. I may not be a local but I'm also no fool!
5. Security guards who don't let you sit on the display to rest. It wasn't like we were in Louis Vuitton!!
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
The roller coaster ride that is Paris
Paris... what to say about it. It is such a roller coaster ride. Sometimes I think this town is overrated and other times I love it!
We had one free day in Paris. That is not enough time to see everything and it was very overwhelming so we decided to just do a few things and not plan too much. We started out at the Arc de Triomphe built by Napoleon to present his armz when they came back from war. This marks the beginning of the Champs Elysees. Napoleon built this road to be extra wide for military parades so now it is a pretty awesome shopping area. We did lots of shopping and experienced a very unfortunate incident (read Utz's blog for details). We continued down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre, a very famous art gallery that used to be the Royal Palace before Versailles was built. It is where the Mona Lisa is. We walked around the gardens and waited out a small rain storm under a tree. Next we went to see the Ritz Hotel. It is the first Ritz ever and was where Princess Diana spent her last night (she was killed less than a mile from the hotel). Our love for Diana continues.. The Ritz's love for us did not... they would not let us walk around the hotel. Clearly they looked at us and thought we were not worthy to stay in their hotel. From there, we continued to walk through the city, taking it all in. We made a stop at a famous pedestrian bridge over the river where many artists sit and paint. Our next stop was seeing Notre Dame. It was beautiful... just like all the other cathedrals in Europe. Supposedly, the crown of thorns is in Notre Dame and only is shown during lent- that is pretty cool! We did a lot of walking and were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel for to rest for a little bit before dinner and the Eiffel Tower.
We had a really awesome dinner. Definitely my favorite so far and maybe my favorite part of Paris. We took the metro to a quiter, less touristy, very Parisian area. It is small street lined with cute apartment balconies and flowers everywhere. We ate dinner outside, right on the street. It was delicious! We had salad, pizza, garlic bread, and wine. We just sat for awhile enjoying the view and felt like locals! After dinner, we went to see the Eiffel Tower at night. Like I said earlier, the Eiffel Tower is not the coolest thing during the day but it definitely makes up for that at night. We went to the tower and stood under it but the best view is across the street, up a bunch of stairs. We waited there for the tower to "sparkle", which happens for about 5 minutes every hour or so. This was such an awesome sight! It looks like there are hundreds of people standing all over the tower with their flashes going off... but even cooler. It's hard to capture on camera and is definitely worth the trip!
Here are some pictures from our day:
Dinner at a French Bistro
Cute Parisian street!
Outside the Ritz
Almost inside the Ritz
Arc de Triomphe (such a great photographer... thanks random man!)
The pedestrian bridge
The sparkling Eiffel Tower... this picture doesn't even come close to capturing it!
We had one free day in Paris. That is not enough time to see everything and it was very overwhelming so we decided to just do a few things and not plan too much. We started out at the Arc de Triomphe built by Napoleon to present his armz when they came back from war. This marks the beginning of the Champs Elysees. Napoleon built this road to be extra wide for military parades so now it is a pretty awesome shopping area. We did lots of shopping and experienced a very unfortunate incident (read Utz's blog for details). We continued down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre, a very famous art gallery that used to be the Royal Palace before Versailles was built. It is where the Mona Lisa is. We walked around the gardens and waited out a small rain storm under a tree. Next we went to see the Ritz Hotel. It is the first Ritz ever and was where Princess Diana spent her last night (she was killed less than a mile from the hotel). Our love for Diana continues.. The Ritz's love for us did not... they would not let us walk around the hotel. Clearly they looked at us and thought we were not worthy to stay in their hotel. From there, we continued to walk through the city, taking it all in. We made a stop at a famous pedestrian bridge over the river where many artists sit and paint. Our next stop was seeing Notre Dame. It was beautiful... just like all the other cathedrals in Europe. Supposedly, the crown of thorns is in Notre Dame and only is shown during lent- that is pretty cool! We did a lot of walking and were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel for to rest for a little bit before dinner and the Eiffel Tower.
We had a really awesome dinner. Definitely my favorite so far and maybe my favorite part of Paris. We took the metro to a quiter, less touristy, very Parisian area. It is small street lined with cute apartment balconies and flowers everywhere. We ate dinner outside, right on the street. It was delicious! We had salad, pizza, garlic bread, and wine. We just sat for awhile enjoying the view and felt like locals! After dinner, we went to see the Eiffel Tower at night. Like I said earlier, the Eiffel Tower is not the coolest thing during the day but it definitely makes up for that at night. We went to the tower and stood under it but the best view is across the street, up a bunch of stairs. We waited there for the tower to "sparkle", which happens for about 5 minutes every hour or so. This was such an awesome sight! It looks like there are hundreds of people standing all over the tower with their flashes going off... but even cooler. It's hard to capture on camera and is definitely worth the trip!
Here are some pictures from our day:
Dinner at a French Bistro
Cute Parisian street!
Outside the Ritz
Almost inside the Ritz
Arc de Triomphe (such a great photographer... thanks random man!)
The pedestrian bridge
The sparkling Eiffel Tower... this picture doesn't even come close to capturing it!
Confessions of a Shopaholic
I'm pretty sure the book/movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" was written about me (minus the crazy debt and everything that doesn't have to do with loving to shop). Good thing I came to Paris... there is lots of shopping to be done! Our first stop on our full day is Paris was the Champs Elysees. It is basically a long road filled with shops from Louis Vuitton to H&M aka HEAVEN! It was fun to walk down the street and go into all the cheaper (but cute) stores and wish to go in Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana, etc. Surprisingly, I did not go crazy and only bought a few things... I still have more places to go so I must save up for them!
Friday, 15 May 2009
Bonjour!
We arrived in Paris around 2pm this afternoon on the Eurostar (much faster than bus/boat). The ride was about 2 and a half hours. We went straight to the tour bus to have our tour of Paris. To be honest, Paris is slightly overrated... atleast so far. It was raining when we arrived and the traffic was TERRIBLE! It took us over an hour to go a few miles. Our tour guide was only okay. In London, we had a terrific tour guide who told us so much. This guy just pointed out things and gave us a brief description. Anyway, I sound like a Debbie Downer but I'm still in Paris which is awesome! We have all day tomorrow to go wherever we want so I'm sure that will be great!!
After we got to the hotel, we had about 30 minutes to rest and get ready for dinner. We went as a group to a Bistro for dinner (which was paid for already making it much more delicious). Being the simple (or picky as some would say), I was nervous about the meal but luckily they had a vegitarian meal of rice, garlic mashed potatoes, and vegetables... it was pretty good! We had creme brulee for dessert. It was fun to hang out with everyone without having to walk around a city and take pictures. We sat with Andrew and Blane (and a couple of others) but mostly talked with those two. Turns out, Blane (she's a girl) lives in the house across the street from the YL House... small world! We talked the whole meal and really like them:) Our trip guide is really great too. Everyone likes him a lot. We are off to see the Eiffel Tower right now!
After we got to the hotel, we had about 30 minutes to rest and get ready for dinner. We went as a group to a Bistro for dinner (which was paid for already making it much more delicious). Being the simple (or picky as some would say), I was nervous about the meal but luckily they had a vegitarian meal of rice, garlic mashed potatoes, and vegetables... it was pretty good! We had creme brulee for dessert. It was fun to hang out with everyone without having to walk around a city and take pictures. We sat with Andrew and Blane (and a couple of others) but mostly talked with those two. Turns out, Blane (she's a girl) lives in the house across the street from the YL House... small world! We talked the whole meal and really like them:) Our trip guide is really great too. Everyone likes him a lot. We are off to see the Eiffel Tower right now!
Thursday, 14 May 2009
wooooooh!
I came straight to the computer this morning to check the score to the Canes game and for those of you who have been living under a rock... they won!! I was very nervous while I was waiting for the page to load. It sounds like it was a very exciting game! Can't wait to go to a game when I get home (hint hint, Dad).
taking pictures
Most of our pictures have been taken by us setting up some sort of contraption with our bags and using the self timer... I think it's hilarious!
Meeting our group and Day 2
Our new hotel in London
We met up with our group at our new hotel after our Princess Diana Day. Read Em Utz's blog if you want to know about our unfortunate adventure finding the group.
After we arrived and checked-in to our new hotel, we went to a local pub to meet everyone. I will tell you all about the group when I get home (and can tell you in person). We did not stay long because we were all tired from the day.
Our tour started out in the morning on the coach bus. We pretty much just drove around the city and had an awesome tour guide! She was very fun and told us so much interesting information about the city. We went to Buckingham Palace to see the end of the changing of the guard. This can be a very long ceremony so we just saw the last 10 minutes which is the most interesting part. Around lunchtime we were finished with our group tour and we were on our own. We have decided we like being on our own a lot because a) we have already mastered the city...everyone else was holding us back and b) we can be on our own schedule and spend as much or as little time wherever we go. It was great to have a tour guide to tell us so much cool stuff. She did point out the Queen's bedroom window to us. It was not very easy to see but here is a picture. Look in the center at the arched window and balcony... there she is waving to me!
We traveled on our own to see the Royal Mews (the Queen's horse stables). This was really an excuse to technically be in Buckingham Palace. We got lunch and rested our poor feet. We then found our way to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. After taking lots of pictures, we went to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Since Big Ben is right at Westminster Abbey, we decided to go to the worship service. It was pretty awesome to be in there. We wanted to worship AND get in Westminster for free... what a way to kill two birds with one stone! We spent some time laying in the grass outside of Westminster to eat a snack and listen to Em's ipod... we are such locals! We are getting ready to go back to the hotel and get some sleep before our 6:15 am wake-up call and trip to France. Bonjour!
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