Day 9
When we got up in the morning, we had to find the bus to get to the airport because OF COURSE the metro line that goes out to the airport was out. So we arrived at the airport with plenty of time - in fact, there was practically no one there & we were only the only ones in line to go through security. The people working couldn't seem to understand why we were there so early. I also saw a Gloria Jeans which made me think of home ;o)
We landed in Paris & thankfully our hostel was in my Rick Steves' travel book. He had specific directions how to get there; however, there was a little bit lacking in the map. We wandered around a bit & saw a protest in the process. The hostel was fairly decent; I had heard horror stories about hostels in Paris, so I think ours was pretty good in comparison. They did charge extra for sheets though, and since I'm cheap I didn't rent them, sleeping on a bare mattress w/ a blanket was a nice experience. We also met a sweet Canadian girl who was traveling Europe for 3 months by herself. That is crazy intense! I don't think I could ever do that. She was planning on being in Valencia, so we were going to meet up later, but she ended up not going until I had left for the States.
Since it was still early, we started our sightseeing. First we hit up Notre Dame Cathedral and then the Louvre. Notre Dame was huge and incredible. I love European churches; there is nothing like them. The stained glass was so beautiful! After a tour of that we headed to the Louvre. I have read about this museum before, and heard it was huge, but honestly it blew my mind! You could get lost SOO easily in there. The fact that someone used to live there is nuts. The highlight of course was the Mona Lisa. It's interesting that this painting is so famous. By this point, everyone knows coming in it's small & not to expect much and yet the hordes of tourists still existed. Personally I was impressed because heck - it was the Mona Lisa! So we wandered around the museum for a bit, and when it tired us out, we headed to our next destination.
We planned to walk to the Arc du Triomphe next not realizing how long of a walk it REALLY was. I thought we would never make it there. It was really neat to walk the streets of Paris at night though. The lights and the people... so Parisian! Then once we got there we had to climb all the stairs to the top. Yes, more stairs! It was worth the climb though. We saw the city lit up - truly is the city of lights!! We had unintentionally timed it perfectly too - the Eiffel Tower was gearing up for its hourly light show. It was fantastic!
At this point, it was 11ish and we were tired and hungry - as we hadn't eaten dinner yet. We decided to take the metro home. So we were down in the metro station & reading the maps trying to figure out which line to take where (the metro system in Paris is COMPLICATED - definitely the most complicated that I saw in all of Europe) and this Parisian came up to us trying to help. He was so funny - he was acting like it was do or die & we had to hurry, hurry, hurry! The funny part was he had us going here, switching lines, going there, switching lines - all over the place. I looked at the map & asked if we couldn't just take this simpler route & he looked at the map and was like - ooo yeah. He was so friendly & nice, not the stereotype of French I hear about.
When we got back we found our street full of people & restaurants open! We got crepes - yum! And then had flower shaped gelato for dessert! All in all - great night!

Day 10
So unfortunately, we woke up to rain on our first full day in Paris. The plan was to wander around in the morning checking out different areas such as: Bastille, which is an obelisk monument la Marais and Les Vosges. Lauren had it in her head that she wanted to find Victor Hugo's house which proved to be wayyy more of a challenge than bargained for. We wandered around in the rain for quite a bit, and I never did see that house. Then we saw the Moulin Rouge - which I have never seen the movie for, so it didn't mean as much to me as Lauren, but I think I'll have to watch that now.
The big goal of the day was go to see Versailles. After a little confusion with switching trains, we finally figured how to get there & it was pretty incredible. I can't get over the amount of gold purely on the outside of the palace. These palaces that people actually used to live in are amazing; it was really cool to be standing in some much history! When we got back into the city, we had dinner at a cute little restaurant recommended by Rick Steves'. The food was very tasty, especially the chocolate cake (yum!) and Lauren was happy with her escargot.
It was time for the must see monument of Paris - the Eiffel Tower! We decided to save money and actually climb the stairs to the second platform (400 ft.) rather than take the elevator. Woo more exercise! I was disappointed it was cloudy & rainy, but the city was still great! We hung around up there for a bit & saw the light show from within the tower! Then we headed down for a photo op and started walking back to the hostel. However, we misjudged a building - thinking it was one it wasn't and ended up in the wrong direction. So we had to take the metro home at that point. We feasted on some more crepes & went to sleep!

Day 11
The last day of spring break! It was hard to believe it had already come & I'd seen so much of Europe. My flight wasn't until later, so Lauren and I had some time to do final sight-seeing. We started out the morning with Mass at Notre Dame. Mass was in French, which I understood ZERO of, but it's cool to be able to go home and say I've heard Mass said in Spanish, French, Italian & Latin; I feel so cultured! When Mass was done we headed to another museum - D'Orsay. I was kinda "museumed" out by this point, but it was supposed to be impressive so I hoped for the best. The art was cool & we ended up spending a couple hours there.
At this point, I had a little time left before I had to get ready to catch my flight & Lauren wanted to look for Victor Hugo's house again. We wandered around some more (at least it wasn't raining this time ;o)) and I never did see the house. I had to leave to get my flight & Lauren stayed to search for this house. So we said good-bye! I headed back to the hostel to grab my bags. Then I took the metro to a bus, to the airport. The Paris airport I was at had 2 terminals and my ticket didn't say which one I needed to be at. So of course, I ended up at the wrong one & had to take a shuttle, luckily it was quick and easy. After waiting around in the airport for a couple hours, we landed in Valencia, and I took the metro home!
It was certainly an experience of a lifetime! I will never forget my "mini Eurotrip!" It was incredible! Since then people have asked me to pick a favorite city and every time I say the same thing - I can't! It's hard to describe with words the atmosphere of each city, but it's uniquely wonderful to that location. Rome, London, & Paris would have be my top 3 favorite cities and I can see why they are some of the most visited cities in the world. Greece is GORGEOUS and its shores blow all the other countries out of the water! I would love to go back to anyone of the cities I visited (except maybe Naples) and explore more because there is always something new to see and discover. That's what is so great about Europe with so much history and character, I never get bored!