Adam landed in Rome on Friday evening with just enough time to go out for a pasta dinner and then unpack/repack for Paris! We had to wake up at 4:30 am in order to take a cab to the airport--but my roommates didn't get home until 4:00, so we were running on very little sleep! We got our tickets to Paris for 10 euro each way from RyanAir so we were pleasantly surprised when we made it safely and on time! We stayed in a little boutique hotel called Hotel du Champs de Mars and was right next to the Eiffel Tower and a little fresh food market right outside our window--tres chic et tres Parisian!
Our first day we managed to walk down the Champs Elysees, stand under the Arc de Triomphe, and watch the Eiffel Tower glitter all night. For dinner, we tracked down an amazing restaurant that I ate at a few years ago with my mom, Jen & Chris when I stayed the summer with them--it definitely lived up to our expectations!
On Sunday, Adam and I hiked up the stairs to Sacre Couer and explored a little bit into the very touristy but exciting area, Montemarte. From there, we headed to Notre Dame and even saw a protest happening in front of St. Michael's regarding the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad--there were police and military everywhere! We ended up ducking inside the Louvre when it started to rain again and it happened to be the first Sunday of the month so entrance was free! We checked out the major must-sees like Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and Venus de Milos before it closed and we were sent back out into the rain. If you're gonna be stuck in the rain and cold, it's not so bad to do it in Paris because there are warm cafes on every corner with cappuccino's, espresso & vino to drink while you watch the rest of the world go by.
We also found this bridge in Paris covered in "love locks." Couple latch the locks to the bridge and throw the keys in the water to symbolize their hearts being permanently locked together.
On our last (windy!) morning, we climbed the Eiffel Tower (something I never did when I was there for the summer) for a pretty gorgeous view of the entire city. We spent the rest of our time in a cafe in front of the Great Lady, sipping wine and enjoying each other before we headed home. It was a late night of travel (we didn't get home till 1 am) and I had a momentary freak-out over my two exams the next morning--eek but we made it back in one piece.
Overall, the weather was pretty chilly and rainy & as Adam said, it put a bit of a damper on things haha :) But despite the temps, we had an fantastic trip, ate way too much fantastic food (pain au chocolat will be the end of me & Adam tried escargot!) and saw some pretty incredible sights. Feeling pretty lucky that I got to experience the City of Love with Adam!
No comments:
Post a Comment