Hannah, Jenn, and I left for Paris Thursday afternoon. We took the high speed TGV train from Luxembourg City to Paris. The TGV is more expensive than normal trains and it's talked about a lot so I expected it to be really nice, but it's was kind of a let down. The TGV has nothing on Spain high speed trains. The train ride was 3 hours so it allowed me some quality time to read. I recently started reading John Grisham's The Pelican Brief and I'm really enjoying it. I realize this is a old book but it's new to me.
Anyway, enough about trains and books. When we got to Paris, we got on the metro and took it to the stop where we were supposed to meet Hannah's family. Although I nearly got trapped in the metro doors, we made it without complications. We took an escalator up to ground level and Hannah's family was supposed to be waiting at a cafe by the exit. We looked around to find them and then I heard Mrs. Griebner yell, "There they are! Girls! Hannah!" She was jumping up and down and waving her arms. Hannah tried to run to her but she had to cross a busy street to get there and needed to wait for the light to turn red. Meanwhile, she starting crying because she was so happy, then I realized the whole Griebner family was crying, and Jenn and I were teary eyed as well. The light changed, Hannah ran across the street, hugged her family, and successfully completed the most precious reunion I have ever witnessed. Luckily Mr. Griebner filmed the whole thing. On May 7th, the airport could be a very emotional place.
We then headed to our apartments, which were conveniently located in the Eiffel Tower district. Hannah's family stayed in one apartment and Jenn, Hannah, and I stayed in a studio around the block. We could see the Eiffel Tower from our window! When we all got settled in, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, got asked to buy 1 euro tower keychains about 100 times, and took many pictures.
We then took a long walk to the Arc de Triomphe. We saw the eternal flame for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. We waited around a little while because many former military men and women came to the flame and we thought they were going to do something similar to laying the wreath on the grave as we do in the US, but nothing really happened so we left.
We walked down Champs des Elysees, did a little window shopping, and decided to eat dinner. We ate in a small Italian restaurant where I got tortellini. After dinner we walked over to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up. It's much prettier at night!
The next day, we got up early and got breakfast at a French bakery. We actually ate breakfast each morning at different French bakeries. Great, great decision. After breakfast, we took a train to the Palace of Versailles. We were given an audio guide headset so I learned a little about each room. There are really only 2 facts I can remember though-- 1. to prove the legitimacy of her children, the queen was required to give birth in public. icky. And 2. in the bed where Marie Therese slept, 19 royal children were born. If you would like to know more about the Palace, you should probably google it. I'm all out of facts.
We left the Palace, grabbed sandwiches for lunch, took the train back into the city. We got off the metro at the Opera House and walked around the building, then started walking towards the Louvre. When we realized it would be cheaper to get in if we came back later, we decided to go to Notre Dame first. Hannah, Jenn, and I climbed to the top. It was cool to see a different view of the Eiffel tower. Also, I can tell I'm getting used to climbing things because it now only burns my legs a little. We went up to the bell tower, looked for Quasimodo, and came back down sad. He must have been in hiding.
After Notre Dame, we went to another Italian Restaurant and I got Gnocci Poulet. It was a super tasty chicken and potato dish. The Italians served my stomach well in France.
When dinner was over, we headed to the Louvre where we stayed for 2 or 3 hours. I saw enough artwork to last a lifetime (or until the next day when I saw more). It was cool to see the Mona Lisa, who is teeny by the way, and other pieces I recognized from my art class. We were all exhausted when we finished at the museum so we walked to the metro and let it carry us home.
Saturday morning, we walked around the district by our apartment and did a little window shopping. We went into a North American store where we hoped to buy some of the comforts of home, but we were quickly discouraged when we checked prices. A box of Mac & Cheese was 7euro ($11), cake mix was 6.50euro ($10), a tiny jar of peanut butter was 7.50 euro ($12), and cereal was 12euro ($17)! As much as I wanted pretty much everything in the store, I couldn't bring myself to pay the ridiculous prices. Luckily my mom sent a box of Mac & Cheese over with the Griebners. We decided to split the price of chocolate chip cookies so we didn't leave empty handed.
We later met up with Hannah's family and toured the Luxembourg Gardens. I'm not sure why the Luxembourg Gardens are in France, but they are. We walked around for awhile trying to find "the biggest flee market in Europe" but we were unsuccessful. We also tried to go into the Picasso Museum but it's closed until 2012. After so much walking, we were all tired so we went back to our respective apartments and relaxed for a couple hours. We got dinner at a restaurant by the Eiffel Tower. I got chicken and fries.
We walked to the Eiffel Tower after dinner and we were able to see the light show. We were told it would last for 15 minutes and it actually only lasted for 5, but it was a beautiful 5 minutes.
On Sunday morning, we had to check out. We moved all our stuff into the Griebner's apartment and got breakfast at another bakery. Hannah, Jenn, and I visted the Eiffel tower one last time and then went back to the apartment because the weather was colder than we expected. We ate lunch with Hannah's family in the apartment and hung out there for a little until they had to catch their train to Belgium. We said our goodbyes, and since our train didn't leave until a few hours later, we visit Museun d'Orsey and Orangerie. D'Orsey mostly had impressionist paintings and Orangerie has a room filled with Monet's Water Lillies. Looking at artwork wears me out. By the end of our time in the museums, I was more than ready to jump on the train and head back to Lux.
No one was assigned to the seat next to mine which was really nice. I had a relaxing ride back and read more of my book. When I got home, I skyped my family, which I always enjoy. Yesterday I got to skype with Kelly and Jena! Jena woke up at 5:30am New Zealand time to join us which was awesome of her to do! And Im obviously glad she sacrificed sleep for us. What a sweetheart.
I have 2 more days of class this week, 2 weeks off for spring break and base course tour, then only 12 days of class and 3 exam days. I will be home in Ohio in 45 days. Time flies!
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