Paris!

11-16-12 to 11-18-12

After finding out about a rock fall that ruined some of the train tracks towards Zurich, the majority of people traveling for the weekend had to change our plans. On Friday, the people going to Paris had to leave an hour early in order to catch our train from Zurich to Paris. Once we got to the stop where the rock fall occurred, we had to get on a bus that took us to another train station. The ride was not too long and we ended up making it to Zurich with plenty of time. The train from Zurich to Paris took about four hours, so we ended up arriving around 7:30 in the evening. There were 9 of us and we stayed in one of the famous hostels, St. Christopher’s. Caroline, Caroline, and Meghan went to Chipotle to eat dinner that night, but the rest of us went to this restaurant called La Rotunde. David tried beef tartare for the first time and it was very interesting. Dinner that night was a lot of fun, because we took our time and were able to enjoy it. After supper, we all decided to go back to the hostel and call it a night. 

On Saturday, we got going around 9 in the morning and started off going to the Notre Dame. The inside of it was gorgeous, but to be honest it looked very similar to many of the other ones that I have seen in Europe. We then walked over to the Jardin du Luxembourg and it was very cold out! When we were there, a few of us bought some mulled wine. It is made with red wine that is mixed with spices and raisins and is served hot. While in the gardens, I saw these two people dancing on the edge of a fountain wearing masks as someone was videoing them. It was very entertaining to watch and I assume they were doing some sort of project. There were some interesting statues in the garden and we kept stopping so that Holland could imitate them! It was a very foggy day, so we were only able to see the bottom half of it. I had been to Paris when I was younger, so I was not too upset about the fog. By the bottom of the Eiffel Tower there were bear statues from countries all over the world. I found the Switzerland and Great Britain bears. After stopping by the Arc de Triumph, we started walking towards the Louvre and came across an enormous Christmas market. I was very excited, because it was so unexpected. The market was playing Christmas music and had hundreds of wooden booths. They sold all kinds of sweets as well as homemade crafts. I got a bratwurst and this huge marshmallow covered in chocolate and coconut. After spending a few hours there, Meghan, Caroline F, Caroline K, and I all went to the La Fayette mall. There was a beautiful Christmas tree that was covered in Swarovski crystals. That night we went back to the hostel and napped but then decided to go and see the Eiffel Tower. It was a clear night, so we were finally able to see the whole tower as it was lit up and it twinkled every hour for a few minutes.

Notre Dame

Inside of Notre Dame

Jardin du Luxembourg

Jardin du Luxembourg

Half of the Eiffel Tower

Great Britain bear

So many bears!

We found the Switzerland bear :)

Arc de Triumph

Surprise Christmas market!

Near the Louvre

Christmas tree in La Fayette Galleries

Eiffel Tower at night

Eiffel Tower twinkling!

Sunday morning was an early start. I got up at 8am and headed to the Louvre with Meghan, Caroline, and Kacey. We could not spend very long there, so we made sure that we saw the main attractions. While waiting in line to get in, we saw a security guard kick a woman out and shove her as she was leaving. They then started getting into an argument. She would not stop yelling at him and he kept following her and eventually spat on her. Later, I found out that she had been caught stealing from people inside. We were able to see the Mona Lisa, Aphrodite, and the Code of Hammurabi. Before we headed to the train station, all of us met at Chipotle. I haven’t had Chipotle in so long, it was delicious! Our train left at 1:12 from Paris and we took regional trains all the way back. On our last train from Zurich, we were the only ones in our car, so the ticket man talked to us for a while. 

The Louvre

Mona Lisa

Aphrodite

Code of Hammurabi