Paris

My trip to Paris was such a disaster. I had a grand plan of taking the train to chateauneuf du pape, which is chads favorite wine, and doing a little tasting and taking some pics for him. The train didn't go to that town so I was going to have to take a bus from Avignon. No one would help me find the right bus some were rude and some just didn't speak English. I finally figured out the next bus wouldn't be coming for like three hours and was so aggravated at this point that I gave up and was going to go to bordeaux. France is stupid with their needing a reservation for all of their trains. It's really frustrating since I haven't had to do this in any other country. The train people told me there were no reservations to bordeaux until the next day and also none to Paris. I was so frustrated that I gave up and jumped on a train to Paris anyways. I had kept getting kicked out of my seat bc those people had reservations on the way to Avignon that I just sat in the space between cars and it was very uncomfortable. Maybe like an hour before getting to Paris the ticket checker guy came by and was like there's a seat right there why aren't you sitting in it. It was nice of him and much more comfy than where I had been!

So I made it there found a hotel which was pretty gross but I just wanted to be in a room by myself. On Friday Erin was coming into Paris at like 5 so I had a day to do whatever. I made it to the louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. It was crazy how small it was and then on the wall behind it was this huge painting that took up a huge wall. I always wonder who decides what art is so awesome and valuable. There were some paintings that were just gorgeous and the colors were so bright. I guess that they have been restored or something but if those were the original colors then that was just wow amazing. I went to walk down to Notre dame but there was such a huge line of people that I didn't even care about going in. How sad that I'm so sick of sightseeing! I had about an hour until I was going to meet Erin at the train station and I just happened to stumble upon an Irish pub. So that's where I spent my hour! I picked up Erin and we took her stuff to the hostel I found that morning and got dressed and went back to the pub because they had live music that night. It was a good night and somehow some French guy ended up with my license because he sent me a message about it the next day.

On Saturday, we went exploring. We saw where Napoleons tomb is. Of course it's in an outrageously large coffin thing under a giant dome. We went to the eiffel tower and we were laying in the grass next to it before going up when this group of 5 or 6 8 yr olds came running over making a big ruckus. After they left we were just like wtf was that about how weird. Only when we went to go get in line to go up the tower did we realize that Erin's iPhone had been stolen. We had both jumped up to grab our purses but her phone was laying in the grass and they grabbed it. So we had to go to the police station and it took forever and kinda ruined the day.

Sunday was so much fun! My most favorite boss ever had told me her daughter was in Paris at the same time so I got a hold of her and the three of us went out to Versailles. It was the largest palace I have ever seen! It was so beautiful and covered in gold. There were so many people there so it was frustrating to have to fight against all of the people but the inside was pretty. The only thing I didn't like is that most of the rooms we saw weren't how they originally were. The parts we saw had been turned into a museum. We got to see the kings room and a few others that looked like they maybe did back then. We only saw the palace and I was kind of sad that we didn't see Marie Antoinette's estate that were way back on the property but it just took so long to go through the palace. There was also an art exhibit going on in the palace and it was strange things that spun around in the air. There was one tho that was amazing! A giant pair of shoes made out of pots and pans!!! Holy cow they were so cool.

When we got back to Paris, Erin wanted to go to an art museum and Britt and I definitely were sick of going to museums so we went to the pub again to wait for Erin. We also finally got a hold of Colette and she came out that night and we met at the pub. It was pretty dead since it was Sunday but we had fun just hanging out talking. Britt had heard about a jazz bar that she wanted to go to so Colette tried to find it for us. We ended up getting lost for a while and when we finally made it it was closed. It was like 2 by that time so everyone just went home. It was still so much fun tho.

Monday Erin woke up and went to the louvre and I went to see the moulin rouge because I had been dying to see it the whole time. I really wanted to go to a show so I think I am going back to Paris after Croatia next week and Colette and I are going to go see it!