Climbing Many Stairs in Paris

Starting February 12th I was on winter break. I must say I am going to miss this schedule of working six weeks and then having a break for two weeks. Since my cousin Elena was working in Rome and finished when my break started, we decided to travel around together.

Monday, February 15th
Today I woke up around 4am to get ready and go to the train station. I walked to get a bike to take to the train station, and it was so quiet and strange being up that early. My train left around 5:30am for Paris. Then I had to take the public transit to get to Orly airport in time to meet Elena when she arrived around 10am. By God's grace we found each other because I didn't know if I was in the right terminal and Elena didn't have a cell phone so that we could call each other. Then we headed back into Paris and took the train out to see our relatives Françoise and Manu. Françoise picked us up at the train station and took us out for lunch since we got in around 1pm. Then we just did some shopping before going home and relaxing. Françoise and Manu showed us some old pictures of our family, and we watched a home video of when they visited the family in the US in 1991 (before Elena and I were born). It was nice to watch all of that especially since everyone at home was at the funeral of our grandpa Pete (or as the relatives call him, Pierro).

Tuesday, February 16th
Elena and I walked around Les Sièges in the morning and we had lunch with Françoise before she took us back to the train station to catch at 3:20pm train. It was a super short visit, but it was nice to go to the country and relax a little before our crazy adventures. It was also nice for Elena to finally meet the French relatives.
In Paris, we stayed at the Ferguson's, so we went there first, and Megan was home to let us in. We sat and talked for a little bit before walking to the Eiffel Tower. We took the elevator up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and the sun was setting as we were going up so we had some nice views of the city. It was fun to be up there at night, which I had never done before.

La Tour Eiffel 

Beautiful Paris

The Eiffel Tower was the only thing we did our first night in Paris. After we climbed to the top we walked back to the Ferguson's apartment and had dinner with them. Then we watched a hilarious movie from late 60s called If it's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium. If you haven't watched it, I recommend seeing it because Elena and I quoted it the rest of our trip.

Wednesday, February 17th

Elena and I started the day by walking to the Arc de Triomphe and walking to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. 

 Views from the Arc de Triomphe. It was a hazy morning in Paris

Elena and I on top of the Arc de Triomphe

Usually it is so crowded that it's hard to see the Eternal Flame, but not today.

Then we went to Montmartre and walked around there. We went into a church I had never seen before called Saint Jean de Montmartre. Then we walked through the square where all of the artists sell their works. We decided to climb the tiny spiraling staircase up to the top of the dome of Sacre Cœur since that's something I've never done before, and it's not like we had just climbed a bunch of stairs already! (That's a joke! We also climbed a bunch of stairs just to get to Sacre Cœur. And that is after climbing the spiraling staircase in the Arc de Triomphe.)

 St Jean de Montmartre

 

Sacre Cœur

 View of the bell tower from the top of the dome

It was a little hazy this morning too. That's Paris in the winter.

After going through Sacre Cœur, we walked around and looked for lunch. Everything in the Montmartre area is expensive and touristy, so we ended up going to the bakery that is by where Amelia lived when she studied in Paris. It was amazing that I could still remember her old métro stop and find the bakery from the métro! That was four years ago! Time really does fly! We ate at the bakery since they had a few tables, and then we walked to Palais Garnier, which is one of the opera houses in Paris. I have been there before with Amelia, but it is still so pretty. Plus Elena and I didn't have to pay to visit since we both are under 25 and residences of the EU with our visas. (We also didn't have to pay for the Arc de Triomphe. It's great being young! and poor...)

 I was surprised that there weren't many people inside Palais Garnier, but there was a class of artists drawing different rooms. It was fun to peek at what they were drawing!

Palais Garnier

After all of that walking, we went back to the apartment and relaxed for about an hour before going to the Conciergerie, which used to be a prison. Many people were held there before being beheaded during the French Revolution, including Marie Antoinette. I really didn't take any pictures in the Conciergerie because there wasn't much to photograph. It was really strange imagining all of the people who were imprisoned there and then killed.

The big entrance room in the Conciergerie.

Again we had dinner with the Ferguson's and hung out with them for the rest of the night before going to bed.

Thursday, February 18th
 Today we first went to Sainte Chapelle, which had the least amount of tourists I had ever seen! We didn't have to wait in line to go through security and get in. We also didn't have to pay to go in for the same reason as the other places.

Inside Sainte Chapelle

Then we went to Notre Dame since it's just down the street. We walked around inside the cathedral first and then waited in line to walk up the towers. I hadn't been up there since I was a kid, so it was fun for me to see that again.

Top of Notre Dame

One of the bells in Notre Dame

Another cloudy day in Paris, but it's still pretty.

After Notre Dame, we walked over to the Louvre and waited in a long line to go inside. It started to snow very lightly while we were waiting in line. I thought I wouldn't see snow this winter, but this wasn't too bad. When we finally got inside, we went to get tickets and the lady at the counter was really mean to us and wouldn't take my passport, so I showed her my visa, and she just waved us away and said "free". We didn't know what to do so when we went up to the ticket check to get into the museum we just showed our visas and they let us in. First we walked around the sculpture section. Then we made our way through the ancient oriental section, whatever that means. We looked for lunch in the museum because we wanted to stay there and see more art, so we walked around looking for the cafeteria. Instead we found a café called Angelina, which I have been to outside of the museum for hot chocolate, for which they are famous, and their food is delicious too. Of course we had some of their hot chocolate too since I told Elena about it, and then we ended up eating there. After lunch we walked around the Egyptian art section. When we were trying to leave we happened upon the Venus de Milo.

 Waiting in line to get into the Louvre

 I found this statue hilarious! A kid annoying his mom and the mom isn't having it. :)

 Sometimes I forget that the Louvre was a palace until I run across beautiful areas of the building.

This is just the capital (top) of a column! Imagine how big the column must have been!

 So much pottery in the Louvre

The sarcophagi were decorated on the inside and the outside! This is a carved stone sarcophagus.

Venus de Milo

After we finally found our way out of the maze called the Louvre, we walked to Place de la Concorde, and then we went back to the apartment for the rest of the night.

Obélisque and the ferris wheel

I had a great time visiting Paris with my cousin! It was fun showing her everything since it was her first time to Europe! I wish we had a little more time to see more, but we left on the 19th for Venice!