Paris was wonderful. Everything about it was wonderful. From food to museums to people, I loved all of it. Before I had left some people told me that they were not too into Paris or that it wasn't impressive. They are gosh darn wrong. It was wonderful, but I think I may just be in la la land. But then - no I loved it and got to see everything that I wanted to see and more.
Basic Overview of my trip to Paris with API
Thursday
Left at some ungodly hour in the morning to ride the airport bus to get to the airport.
Finally get to Paris and are bussed to the hotel.
"Panoramic" Bus tour of Paris (quotes to be explained later)
Quick Stops at Invalides, Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame
Lunch before Notre Dame (it was an odd free time/Notre Dame time)
Free time
Friday
Free time - day trip to Versailles
Louvre in the evening
Saturday
Free Day
Explored Paris
Arch de Triumph
Champs Eylees
Musee D'Orsay (Impressionist Muséums)
Sunday
Flea Markets
Lover's Bridge
Climbing the Eiffel Tower
Back to Sevilla
Thursday:
Thursday (Nov. 8) may have been one of the longer days in my time in Europe. Went to bed at 12:30, woke up from my "sleep" (read nap, not sleep) at 3:45 and then proceeded to get dressed and walk to the airport bus station (thankfully only a two minute walk), get on the bus, and finally arrive at the airport with everyone else. Luckily the wait for the flight and the flight itself were short, or maybe I was just too excited. I also sat next to Luis, my cooking teacher and the old director of API, so I was really happy to be there.
Once we finally got to Paris we hopped on a bus and it took us to the hotel where we dropped our things and then immediately got back on the (same) bus and took a "panoramic" tour. Now, when they said panoramic tour, I thought they meant that we would be on one of those tourist buses with the open top and I could take some decent quality pictures while driving around the majority of Paris. That was a small lie. We just sat on the bus and listened to a tour guide (who spoke like 8 languages) speak slow Spanish/Portuguese. We were all so used to the fast Andalusian accent that listening to her accent was almost painful. (It was painful, I was trying to be nice, but the truth is best) However, most of the bus was asleep because we hadn't eaten in several hours and a lot of the group didn't sleep the night before. We made 2 stops, one at les Invalides (an old military hospital and now museum) and then one stop at the Eiffel Tower. I liked both but didn't get a good explanation for les Invalides.
The final stop was near Notre Dame and they told us that we could go with the group and tour Notre Dame or leave and go back to the hotel or do whatever we wanted. Friend and myself decided on lunch near the river and then go to the Notre Dame. The wait was worth it. I got a small ham and cheese sandwich and it was the best tasting sandwich because of my hunger strike from traveling.
Then we got to the Notre Dame. It was wonderful and we got in for free, which was a big bonus. The best part was that I could take pictures everywhere, and oh did I.
Notre Dame in the flesh! So big and beautiful.
The inside was huge, and the tall vaulted ceilings made me feel so tiny.
They had a good replica of the entire building. It was nice to be able to see a bird's eye view of it.
Of course, stained glass. I loved ever second of ever piece.
