PARIS! Day 1

(these posts are going to have a ton of pictures, but there was no way I could narrow it down to just a few)

We had to get up early to catch a train but the train station just so happened to have a bakery, so we all experienced our first Berliner. Here's me biting into mine. It is a jelly filled donut, which I usually do not like, but European donuts are so amazingly good that I couldn't resist it.

European trains are really neat. We found 4 seats (2 facing 2) with a table in between, which was perfect for our smorgasbord of snacks we brought. Stephanie's dad and little sister were with us also, but in the seats across the aisle. Here's some German countryside from the train window.

We arrived in Paris at 10 or so in the morning. We walked out of the train station and this was our first sighting of Paris. Our hotel was just across the street.

Here's the train station -Gare De L'est

We checked into our hotel right away. We had to get rid of our luggage before galavanting away. We looked out of the window of one of the rooms and this was our view. If you've seen Taken, doesn't it kind of remind of you of the view the daughter sees when looking out the window in Paris across to the other window, where she sees her friend get taken? It freaked us out a little, as people have been very quick to bring up Taken ever since they found out we were going to Paris.

We had a short amount of time in Paris - about 30 hrs, so timing was crucial. We jumped right into sightseeing. First stop? Notre Dame.

It's hard to get a decent picture on the inside because flash is not allowed, so mine all turned out pretty blurry.

They have these set up all over. You can pay a few dollars and light a candle while saying a prayer. Stephanie's dad paid for us to light our own, it was pretty neat.

I couldn't quit taking pictures of this amazing architectural wonder. It has pictures carved all over it, all telling stories. The cathedral is somewhere around 700 years old.

First food in Paris? CREPES! I was thrilled to find a street vendor serving the stereotypical French food. They had all kinds of flavors, but I went for carmel. YUM!

Notre Dame from the back. Looking at it from the front, you wouldn't guess the back would look quite like this. Amazing.

Myself in front of Notre Dame.

After seeing Notre Dame, we took a walk to our next stop, Musee D'orsay (D'orsay Museum)

I LOVE Mini Coopers, and they are EVERYWHERE in Europe, it's crazy! I would get so excited every time I saw one, so I had to snap a shot of this cute little black one.

Musee D'orsay is a museum in Paris that is not as well know as say, The Louvre, but it has some very famous works of art. It's more modern than the Louvre and it was very interesting to explore.

Edgar Degas 'Dancer' I saw a movie about this artist and this sculpture when I was younger, so it was really incredible to see it here.

Vincent Van Gogh is an artist I really like, and this museum had his self portrait. Steph and I really wanted to see it and went on quite the hunt to find it.

To get around Paris, we used an underground train system. It was so handy and actually pretty easy (although her dad was doing most of the navigating) This train station was the most ghetto looking one we saw, usually they weren't quite this sketch.

Elise, myself, and Rianne on one of the trains. This one was a double decker so we were on the top level, pretty neat!

At last, we reached the destination I'd been dreaming of seeing my whole life - The Eiffel Tower! There was a carousel right across the street from it, so cool!

Steph's dad paid for us to take a ride on the carousel. I felt so gleeful and childlike, it was such a perfect moment.

We waited in line for what felt like forever, then we climbed, and climbed, and climbed, up the Eiffel Tower. The elevator line was way too long, and the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed, so we figured we'd just climb up to the first level.

Afterwards we walked to the grassy area across from the Eiffel Tower to get some good pictures.

Can you tell I was excited?!

I had to nerd out a little bit.

The Seine River at night. So pretty. We walked along the river after taking who knows how many pictures of the Eiffel Tower.

We came across this Holocaust monument.

We were all quite hungry, hadn't eaten much since our beloved crepes, so we found a neat Italian restaurant. I ordered some hot chocolate, best I've ever had!

We figured Italian pizza in France would be as close as we get (for now) to authentic Italian pizza, so we had to try some. This was some kind of chicken, and it was pretty good. Different, but good. Also, even though it was an Italian restaurant, it did have a certain French delicacy available that I just had to try. So first, crepes, and then... Escargot! SNAILS! Ahh. They actually were pretty decent, then again they were covered in some rather strong sauce.

After eating we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe. It is surrounded by a ridiculously busy road with seemingly no driving rules. It was nerve wracking to watch but thankfully we did not have to cross the street (I don't think I'd be here today if that was the case) There was an underground tunnel that took us right up to the Arc.

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Seeing Paris from above was incredible. I saw Moulin Rouge and a few other famous things we were not able to explore, such as the Champs Elysees.

I wanted to take yet another picture with the Eiffel Tower, from atop the Arc, but you can barely see it. The flash of the camera blacked out the lights of the Eiffel Tower.

If you look at this picture close up, there is a silver arch in the center. That is the modern arch and the city around it is the modern part of Paris. The city wanted to maintain the 'old' feel, so they keep the modern part separate.

I had no idea about this previously, but apparently every hour the Eiffel Tower lights up like CRAZY, and lasts for 15 minutes or something. It started doing that while we were still up on the Arc de Triomphe, so we got a really good view. It looked like pure diamonds, so pretty.

Champ Elysees, the most famous avenue in Paris

Opera de Paris, the Paris Opera house. Home of Phantom of the Opera and I'm sure other famous operas. It is such a beautiful building.

We basically saw all the main things of Paris, besides the Louvre, in 12 hrs, without being rushed at any of our stops. What a day! We went back to the hotel and us girls talked for hours before getting some sleep to prepare for day number two.