France was not at all what I thought it would be. Though I had heard rumors of the French people, a lot of them actually speak english and are quite accomodating to strangers like me! There was great food, amazing night life, beautiful churches and of course incredible art and fashion, as well as a general charm that really overwhelmed me. I did not expect to love Paris and I actually fell quite in love with the glitz and charm of it all. (Ie the picture above of Coco Chanel's first boutique in Paris...located on the Madison Avenue type street in Paris called Montaigne).
The big section of gardens is still perfectly manicured, of course. What's more amazing is to wonder how the garden help managed it all perfectly 300 years ago without the technology of today. Versailles is huge with so much to maintain!
Versailles extremely impressive Hall of Mirrors, of course built by Louis the 14th. 
Amanda and I went to Versailles at 9 am and thought the line was long then...wrong! We got in perfectly but there were Disneyworld-sized lines when we left Versailles about 3 hours later.
Two of my sorority sisters and me at the Luxembourg Gardens in front of the Senate, essentially a huge park for kids to race small sail boats and tulips for people to enjoy.
Me on top of the Eiffle Tower. We were there at dusk and got a view of the city as the sun was setting...
Two of my sisters and I at the Eiffle Tower before we climbed it! What an exhausting ascension especially in a dress!
This is the Sacre Coure (I think translates to Sacred Heart) Cathedral, where I went to Palm Sunday mass...there were thousands of people there, and the service was beautiful though they don't use Palms but more of a branch for the blessing.
The 4 story Louis Vitton in the heart of Paris, saw suitcases there for over 29,000 EURO (dont even want to know it in dollars), and we saw many personal jewelry consultations going on.
This is literally the best crepe I'd ever eaten in my life with Meredith, Jess, and Julie!!!!
View over the river and Notre Dame in the background!
These Gargoyles are all over europe generally speaking, but really on top of Notre Dame!
Loved the Notre Dame Cathedral. Also climbed like 700 stairs to get to the top of it which was so worth it! There was also a lot of history from Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" novel, and things like Esmerelda's tower are displayed in the Cathedral.
This is a night view of the fountain right in front of the church that has the Rose Line inside of it (the darker structure is the church). The Rose Line is super famous in the Davinci Code, but has really different significances depending on your faith.
The Mona Lisa. Way less impressive even than you thought it'd be. But there is a swarming crowd of 8,000 people there around it taking the same picture as this one! Haha
We were lucky enough to get to the Lourve on free student hour which is Fridays after 6:30 pm. I got to hit most of the highlights of this incredible art museum but there is so much to see you could be there for days! 
1 comment:
Wow, that looks like so much fun! I hope to go to France one day. I am learning French in school, but no one here speaks it!
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