touring.

I adore Paris. Honestly, this past week was one of my all time favorites... ever. There is nothing like Paris. There is also nothing like Paris in 75 degree weather with no clouds. There is also nothing like Paris in 75 degree weather, with no clouds, and pastry of choice (ok... maybe 2 pastries of choice) in hand.

Here is a super long recap of the entire week, feel free to stop reading at anytime haha... here we go! Early Monday morning we took the fairy over from Dover (I got to see my favorite castle from the coach window!) to France. After a long day of travel through the french countryside (so pictaresque and beautiful... Natalie and I are going to share a vacation home there when we marry our rich sugar daddies), we finally reached Paris. That night I went on a river cruise down the Seines with tons of girls from the group. 

The next morning we went to the town of Chartres to see a cathedral. It was the cutest little town with cobblestone roads and amazing croissants. Next, we went to Versailles. They were displaying some weird Japanese anime art throughout the entire palace which kind of took away from the grandeur. We were stuck in wall to wall, booty to booty, groups of asian tourists. We quickly got out of there and went to the gardens and park to ride bikes! This was probably one of my favorite things we did in France. If anyone is planning a trip to France in the near future, please ride bikes throughout Versailles, you won't regret it!

This is me, Lisa, Natalie, and Meegan in the park. You can kind of see Versailles in the background.

That night we went to the top of the Arc and saw the Eiffel Tower lit up at night... and of course, we got a crepe at the crepe stand across the street. They are the best in Paris!

Wednesday was a marathon day. By 11 in the morning, Natalie, Meegan, Becca, and I had already seen Notre Dame, the Musee D'Orsay (tons of Van Gogh and Picasso - way rad!), Musee Olangerie (Monet's waterlillies - so beautiful!) and St. Chapelle (a floor to ceiling stained glass church). After that, we went to the Opera House, Moulin Rouge, the Pompidou (modern art museum with Picasso and Rothko - crazzy), the Louvre, and splurged for a celebratory dinner... with many pastries in between of course :). We were running like mad men, I guess mad women, throughout the city. I added 4 new blisters to my collection, bringing the total up to 7. It was a great day. We saw so much and finished all of our homework so we could just play on Thursday. Can I just pause for a moment and talk about how amazing it is that I did my homework at the Louvre and Orsay?? wow. soo incredible.

This is Meegan, me, and Becca outside of the Louvre celebrating how well we conquered it. We finished our entire humanities checklist in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Thursday we woke up early to get to the Eiffel Tower to find out that there was a metro strike. The Tube workers went on strike a few weeks ago in London, so us American's must bring a revolutionary air wherever we go and cause union workers to go nuts. After a few more delays than we had planned on and a sandal that was almost lost during a running jump onto the train, we made it to the Eiffel Tower and went up. It was fabulous of course, but this time I was a little more afraid of heights than I had been. 

This is me and Natalie at the top. Excuse the hair, we fried our converter so we didn't have a working blow dryer, straightener, or curling iron... au natural.

After that we just relaxed and headed over to our favorite area over by the Pompidou and got pastries and had a bread and cheese party :) probably one of my favorite times of the trip.

That night we left Paris and went to Amiens in Northern France. My dad went there on his mission so it was really cool to be there. It was a tiny little town where no one spoke English. This night I really felt like I was in France. It really made me wish I could be there with my dad to hear him speak... my French 1 skills weren't cutting it. The town was beautiful, the cathedral massive, and the hotel heavenly (speakers in the bathroom and soft duvets). 

Friday we explored Amiens and then made our way back to Calais to catch the ferry. After 13 hours of traveling and one too many WW1 sites along the way we made it back to London. I absolutely loved France. I'd go back in a heartbeat and have already entirely planned my next trip. But it is good to be back in London, I can't wait to get to know the city better.

Lots more to come!