After taking a week off of chronicling my time abroad, Ari’s Adventures Abroad has returned with an update on my trip to Paris over my birthday weekend! From learning how to navigate the metro to thinking that we would have to climb all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower, there was not a dull moment over the weekend.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

After finishing classes late Friday night, Erin and I departed for Heathrow Airport the following afternoon, taking Piccadilly Line for 24 stops before finally reaching Terminal 5. The flight over was probably the easiest part — taking only about 50 minutes, total —, but it would get interesting once we arrived at Orly Airport in France. When we got there, it was at least 9 p.m. local time and we had to navigate the airport to find the shuttle that would get us to the metro. After getting on the shuttle that went in the wrong direction, we finally hopped on the right one that brought us to the metro, where we took Line 7 for God only knows how long before we arrived at Pierre et Marie Curie, the station near our hostel in Ivry-sur-Seine. Once we got out of the seemingly endless station, we walked less than five minutes to Trendy Hostel, where we checked in and then after settling our belongings, went back down to the lobby where a group of workers and visitors were playing Werewolf. Since there were at least 10 people playing, the game lasted a while and gave us a chance to meet some of the other people who were from various places around Europe, such as France and Germany.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

On Sunday morning, we were up bright and early to start the day and get in as many sights as we possibly could. We started the day by hopping on the metro and going to the Arc de Triomphe. When we emerged from the metro station, the sun was still low and was casting a shadow on the famous Paris monument. The tribute to those who died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars is as impressive as you would imagine — more so when you climb to the top and see the view of the city. It is as though you are untouchable at the top and for a moment, there is an illusion that you can reach out and touch the Eiffel Tower in the distance, which is where we would journey to next.

The Eiffel Tower … how does one describe a landmark that we have all grown up seeing on postcards and on New Year’s Eve when they show the different time zones ringing in the New Year? Simply put, it is spectacular. When we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, our first thought, embarrassingly enough, was, “How are we going to climb to the top?” Thankfully, there are elevators and we took full advantage of them as we waited on lines at every stage in order to get to the top. Unsurprisingly, the spectacular view was well worth the wait and reflecting back on the experience, it is still hard to believe how unbelievably blue the sky was on that day. Things were only briefly questionable when Erin thought that it would be wise to try and spook me, not registering that I was taking a photo or that I, thankfully, had my phone case strap around my neck.

After the Eiffel Tower, we were hungry and in great need of a bench to sit down on and relax for a little while. Thankfully, there are plenty of those in the surrounding area. We ended up getting hot dogs on baguettes (don’t judge us, mom and dad) and then crepes with Nutella (my stomach is rumbling just thinking about how gooey and delicious the crepes were). As we enjoyed our lunch and late afternoon snack, we were given a front-row seat to locals and tourists who were lounging around the area, some celebrating occasions with their families and others tossing Frisbees or kicking soccer balls.

Once we finished eating, we made our way to Hôtel national des Invalides. There, in the complex, we saw Dome of Les Invalides, where Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb resides, as well as the Musée de l'Armée. The dome and Napoleon’s tomb were both impressive in size (not much of a shocker, considering the latter’s ego), and the museum offered a collection of fascinating pieces of history. Despite how dark and overcast it became by the time of the day that we were there, the courtyard was also impressive and beautiful, architecturally.

The last place that we visited before we began to gradually make our way back to the hostel was the Grande Roue de Paris. We had no intention of going on the Ferris wheel (especially since we have not gone on the London Eye), but I remarked how similar they are and we decided it would be a nice way to see Paris at night. Regretfully, there was a couple on the cart with us who were clearly hoping to be on a romantic ride without two Americans in their 20’s, so we likely had a better time viewing the city than they did.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Our second day in Paris was just as busy and we woke up just as early to make sure that we beat the afternoon rush. Our first stop was the Louvre, where we easily spent over two hours (and could have easily spent more if we were that devoted to art) looking at the numerous exhibits on each of the levels. We saw sculptures of France and Europe, the latter exhibit including work by Donatello and Michelangelo (I won’t bore you with the details of how long he wandered around looking for their work before realizing that we had seen it without realizing). Then we saw French, Northern European and Italian paintings done by the likes of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Claude Monet, Jan van Eyck and Leonardo da Vinci. Perhaps the most absurd moment in the Louvre, though, was going down to the lowest level to see the Mona Lisa. Seeing that painting your entire life and building it up in your head without realizing it will only make you laugh when you see how small the actual painting is against a big white wall. It’s actually the only painting on that wall. To make the situation a little more ridiculous, everyone stands around taking photos of the painting. A photo of a painting. I’m not kidding.

After we left the Louvre, we went to lunch at Café Palais Royal. Sitting inside was crowded, but we finally got to escape the cool weather, which was the most ideal. I ended up trying escargot for the first time — because all of a sudden, I’m more adventurous with food now that I’ve gone abroad — and it was delicious! It was in a pesto sauce as well, which was perfect for dipping bread into (yes, mom — all of the bread was gone by the end). Then, for my main course I ordered a sandwich that consisted of ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and egg on a baguette — also delicious! I’m still thinking about that lunch and I would do just about anything to get my hands on the portion of 12 escargot, rather than the portion of six that I ordered in case I ended up not liking them.

After lunch, we made it to the long-awaited Notre Dame Cathedral. I’m still pretty proud of the fact that I suggested that we go see the cathedral before everyone suddenly started telling us that we had to go see it when we visited. They were all correct, though. If you ever visit Paris, you absolutely have to visit Notre Dame — whether you are religious or not, the architecture alone is astounding; the stain glass windows (from the inside, since from the outside they are black) and the turrets are breathtaking and unimaginable unless you seem them in person. Next, we went to Sainte-Chapelle, where we admired the French Gothic architecture. More so than even Notre Dame, the stain glass windows were unbelievably astounding. When we went up to the second level, the windows spanned around the entire chapel, brightening up the room with the late afternoon glow.

Our final stops for the second day of touring were Place de la Bastille to see the Colonne de Juillet and Père Lachaise Cemetery. Regretfully, only one of these stops was successful. After admiring the Colonne de Juillet (mostly sitting down because our feet felt like they were going to fall off by that point), we walked further (I couldn’t even begin to tell you how far we walked) to the cemetery where the tomb of Oscar Wilde is located. What we did not realize until we arrived, though, was that the cemetery closes at 6 p.m. — 17 minutes before we ended up getting there. After staring at the closed entrance in disbelief for at least 10 minutes, we made our way to a café where we could enjoy some hot chocolate and then walked back in the direction that we came and called it an early night since we knew that we would be returning home the following day.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Easily the most important day on any calendar: my birthday! Not too shabby spending your birthday in Paris, am I right? Our final day in Paris was spent relaxing in the beautiful Parc de Sceaux that featured a giant fountain and a mansion on the far end. Despite being overcast, it was not too chilly and we were able to enjoy our afternoon watching runners go by and dog owners walking their pets down the pathway. Additionally, later in the day we got to enjoy a warm croissant and some hot chocolate.

It is safe to say that our trip to Paris was incredible! Stay tuned for the next installment of Ari’s Adventures Abroad where I will be talking about our visit to Hyde Park and my trip one afternoon to Oxford Circus.