Well about a couple of months ago, my computer decided that it didn't want to turn on anymore. Because of that, I have been unable to post pictures or update this blog. Luckily, my roommate Rachel has let me use her computer to do this. Meanwhile, I will be home in 3 weeks and I will get my computer fixed..............AGAIN!!! Once I have it back, I will post the rest of my pictures and finish my blog posting. I can't believe how little time I have left in Israel - this trip has flown by so fast!. That being said I am excited to be heading home where I will have luxuries such as not sleeping on a bunk bed, my own bathroom, and home cooking. Anyways, this post is about my trip to Paris and London with my good friend Ben Sattin. Without further delay, enjoy..........
So after a long debate about where to go on a vacation, Ben and I finally decided to do both Paris AND London. We knew this would give us less time in each city but that we would be able to see two amazing places instead of just one. I left for Paris at 5am from Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, April 25th with plans to meet Ben at our hotel. I had a quick layover at Riga Airport in Latvia - fun times. I arrived at Charles De Gaulle Airport around noon, where I followed a maze of paths to get my bags and changed currency. I then took a shuttle train to a different terminal where I took a RER (Regional Express Network) train into central Paris. I ended up at a station named Chatelet Les Halles which was near our hotel. Above the station was a mall. After multiple failed attempts to exit, I finally found the right door. Soon enough, I was at the hotel with Ben where we dropped our bags off in our room. The hotel was very different than most hotels I have stayed in. It had a little door for its entrance and a small office for reception. It was almost like a house. It was nice because it was quiet and we had plenty of space. We then headed over to a nearby cafe where I refueled on an Omelet Fromage (a cheese omelet.)
As we walked over to the Louvre, I was amazed by the architecture and old time feel to the city. We walked through the inner atrium of the Louvre that had fountains, and the glass Pyramids. We were amazed by the architecture of the building and how huge it was. We didn't go in to the museum at that time but that will come later. Just past the Louvre is the Jardin De Tuileries - a big public park that used to have a Palace in its place. We walked through the park and stopped a couple of times to sit down and people watch. After we reached the end, we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower - or the Tour Eiffel in French. It was an amazing site. As typical tourists, we took lots of pictures. With the sun going down and not much to do at this point, we decided to take a boat tour on the Seine River. On this tour, we saw Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower again, and some other significant buildings. Once the tour was over, we were very hungry. We eventually found a bar and grille where we both devoured some amazing macaroni and cheese. After dinner we went back to the hotel - exhausted but excited for the next day.
On day two we woke up early enough to make it to the Louvre around when it opened. We stopped on the way and bought a fresh out of the oven baguette and dessert croissants. So good. We arrived at the Louvre to a much shorter line than we expected. Once inside, we grabbed a map and picked out certain things that we wanted to see. It was clear that this was an enormous museum and it would take days to see everything inside. We saw Italian paintings, a lot of sculptures, and of course, the Mona Lisa. I'm not a big art fan, and the art of the Louvre does not exactly spark my interest. That being said, I still found it to be an interesting experience. After our visit to the Louvre, we spent some time in the Latin Quarter, a University area, and got some lunch. We then walked over to Ile Notre Dame, the Island that the Notre Dame Cathedral is located on. We entered the cathedral in amazement. It had a high arching ceiling and stained glass windows. It seemed like it would be an amazing place to pray - not for Jews of course. I have not really been to too many cathedrals in my life but I knew right away that this one was amazing. At this point Ben and I were both exhausted from the day and decided to go back to the hotel for some rest. We felt lazy for not seeing more of the city but we needed some down time. Around dinner time, we woke up and decided that we didn't feel like doing much else that night. We got some Italian food near our hotel and walked around the area a little before heading back and crashing for the night. Another action packed day.
On day three we were heading to the Musee d'Orsay, an art museum containing mostly French art. The art in the museum is more modern than the Louvre and includes impressionist and post impressionist works. The museum has works by Monet, Van Gogh, and many more. I really enjoyed this museum and found it to be more relatable than the art in the Louvre. Our next stop was a Creperie that I had looked up before the trip that I heard was one of the best in Paris. We took a short train ride to get there. I ordered a chocolate banana crepe that was delicious. I don't know if it was the best in Paris but it was definitely good. We took a train to the Arch de Triumph. It was really cool coming up the escalator from the station to see the Arch. The Arch is right in the middle of a large roundabout with streets running into it from every direction. We walked a complete circle around the Arch, taking pictures along the way. One of the streets running into it is Champs De Elysee - a well known street around the world with cafes, stores, and many other shops. It is the most expensive strip of real estate in Europe with rest as high as one million dollars. Ben and I checked out some cool cars on display, saw some break-dancers performing on the sidewalk, and stopped for some delicious Haagen Dazs. We then relaxed at a bench and planned our next few stops. Our first stop was a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower where I had salmon and we shared some wine. We sat there for a while drinking because we ordered too much but it was nice to just hang out for a while. We walked over to the Eiffel Tower with plans to go up to the top. We wanted to see Paris at night and the sun hadn't set yet so we waited while watching some guys play soccer. When the sun started going down, we walked up to the tower and waited in line for the ride up. When it was our turn, we crammed in to the elevator. The first stop was the second floor. We had to transfer to another elevator but first caught the nightly light show on the tower. After the light show, we got in the elevator and went all the way up. It was much like any other observation deck except for the fact that it was the Eiffel tower which just made it amazing. While there wasn't that much to see from up top, we did see the Arch De Triumph and the river. I was really glad that we did it. Our last stop of the night was the train station where we were to take a train to London the following morning. We used a machine to print out our tickets and headed back to the hotel for packing and sleep.
We woke up very early to catch our train. Little did we know that we didn't wake up early enough. When we got to the station, we had to go through security and customs before boarding. We did not expect this delay and we ended up missing our train. If we hadn't already booked our return flight, I think we would have been happy to stay in Paris for another few days. Luckily though, we were able to get a ticket for the next train at no extra cost. Problem solved.
That is all for my Paris post. London should be up soon. I hope you enjoyed this post. I really had an amazing time in Paris. I had wanted to go there since I took French when I was in school. It definitely lived up to my expectations. We saw amazing things and ate great food. I already miss Paris and I can't wait for my next trip - whenever that may be.
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