Fall break 2009- France!

Geeking out in the hall of mirrors

After two very busy days in Madrid, it was time to head off to the city of lights, Paris!

I was very excited to get to Paris and finally be able to use some of my French language skills (which were very rusty, but helpful nonetheless.)

We thankfully had the foresight to purchase Paris museum passes while we were in Madrid, to gain fast-pass entry for all the major sights in the city as well as to Versailles. This proved to be invaluable, as after only 3 museums the pass paid for itself!

Our first morning in Paris we headed out early to get to Versailles palace. I was very excited to see a Starbucks across the street from the train station, which gave me some extra energy for our long day. It was my first cup of Starbucks in almost 3 months so it was quite enjoyable. Anyway! the important landmark!

Photos of this really do not do it justice. I was blown away by the sheer size and scope of the palace. It was easy to imagine it during Louis XVI's time, with the entire royal court milling around outside, angry mobs at the gates, and the Royal family holed up inside happily spending all of their nation's wealth... ahh. I guess this is where the history nerd in me comes out to play. Anyway, we toured the palace and saw the hall of mirrors, which is GORGEOUS, not at all overrated, and then had a nice picnic lunch in the gardens. We then wandered the gardens for hours. It's easy to get lost there, and while we walked around we suddenly understood how Marie Antoinette could have been so out of touch with reality. Her hamlet in the gardens was so secluded!

After Versailles, we stopped at the Eiffel Tower right as it was starting to get dark and took some wonderful photos. It really is enormous, and if the weather had been better I would have gone straight to the top. Unfortunately, we had neither the time nor the ideal conditions to do so... so I guess that just means I'll have to go back to Paris someday.

Le Tour Eiffel


We headed back to the hostel to cook dinner (sidenote, we made WAY too much pasta.) and spend a night relaxing before our jam-packed day the next day.

In the morning, our first stop was the Louvre. We got there just as the museum opened and bolted to the mona lisa. Why we did this, I do not know, as it's not really that exciting, but it just felt like the right thing to do. We saw ton of other great art there, obviously, but we left after a few hours feeling generally exhausted after looking at so many masterpieces.

After a quick lunch we headed to The Orangerie, which is a tiny musem housing some of Monet's largest water lilly paintings. Needless to say, they were incredible. We then strolled down the Champs-Elysees (longer than it looks) toward the Arc de Triumph. We climbed to the top of the arch and enjoyed panoramic views of the city, despite the low temperature and not-so-great weather. It was still beautiful.

Our last stop of the day was the Musee d'Orsay. Again, awesome.

Throughout the day, all I could think about was how much I loved the city of Paris. It reminded me so much of NYC in that most of the tourists we saw were not foreign (although we did invent a game involving foreign tourists... ask me about it.) Instead, they were French families out enjoying a day in the city. The whole city just felt very homey to me, perhaps because I speak a bit of French and the whole comparison to NY thing. I just really enjoyed the day.

We ate out at a small restaurant near our hostel that night where I feasted on a delicious STEAK (I have been red-meat deprived this semester, mainly because I don't feel like cooking my own) with a cream sauce (does not exist in Italy--very exciting.) It was a satisfying day all around.

Although it was halloween, we didn't really celebrate. Paris in general didn't seem too keen on the idea of Halloween and by that point, most of us were too exhausted to celebrate in full form.

Never fear, however, as we are currently planning Halloween Part Deux, which will take place in Florence sometime in the near future.

Back to Paris!

On our last day of vacation, we had a very leisurely day. We slept in and started our day with Mass at Notre Dame cathedral. I have to say that although I understood little of what was happening (it was a sort of latin-french hybrid mass, very confusing) it was one of the most beautiful masses I have ever been to. The cathedral itself is absolutely gorgeous, and since it was a holy day (all saints? or is it all Souls? some Catholic I am...) they pulled out all the stops.

Tiny ants at Notre Dame

After mass we checked out Shakespere and Co., which is an amazing little english language bookstore near the cathedral dedicated to providing a home for aspiring writers. tres cool. We then headed over to Montmartre (spelling) area on a wild goose chase for children's books. (I wanted Harry Potter in French and my friend Christine wanted The Little Prince in French. I know, her choice makes more sense.) Unfortunately the store was closed for the day (everything was closed on sundays, just like Bergen County) so we used the opportunity to get some crepes with nutella and bananas (SO GOOD) and some starbucks (so necessary) and snap a photo of the Moulin Rouge.

We then went back to our hostel, packed up our things, and headed home to Florence.


So there you have it, my adventures around the world. 5 cities, 3 countries, 10 days. Exhausting, yes. Exhilarating, even more so. It feels great to be back in Florence, and even better knowing that some of my best friends from Stonehill will be visiting this coming weekend! And as hard as it is to believe, I will be heading back home to the US in just 6 short weeks. Better make the most of the time I have left! :-)