We headed to the Louvre first. Miller said you can get into most museums for free with an EU student ID...so it's just wonderful that Switzerland is not in the EU. I'm not a huge museum fan, all I really wanted to see was the Mona Lisa, so I was hoping they would conveniently forget that Switzerland is not an EU country and wouldn't make me pay to get in. Turns out, they didn't even look at my ID and we walked right in! We think they thought we were part of the class group that walked in right in front of us. The Louvre itself is absolutely gorgeous! It's an old palace that has been turned into a museum. To my surprise, I recognized some of the art there other than the Mona Lisa, like the Last Supper painting. To be honest, I was more excited to see, and impressed by, the Last Supper than the Mona Lisa. It is a huge painting, much larger than I expected. You can see just how big it is compared to me in the picture below.
We then headed to the Love Lock Bridge, and then to Notre Dame. They would only let us climb halfway up Notre Dame because of the pollution. Paris has been having issues with pollution. About a month ago, all public transportation was free to encourage people to use that instead of their cars to help with the problem. I was bummed we couldn't go all the way up, but was immediately cheered up when I saw the beauty of the inside of the church. It was absolutely gorgeous! They have priests available too for visitors. It was very very cool.
We then headed to the Arc du Triumph. A lot of construction was going on all over Paris, and the Arc was no exception, so my picture of it conveniently has scaffolding in it. I didn't realize that it had been built by Napoleon (or I guess Napoleon had it built for him is more accurate). Engraved in one of the sides is a picture of him being crowned Emperor of Rome. Apparently he was obsessed with Rome and wanted Paris to be the new Rome.
We then strolled down the Champs-Élysées and I ate a crepe and felt cultured.
Next, we headed to the Statue of Liberty. I never thought I would say that I've seen the Statue of Liberty in Paris before seeing its twin in New York! It was cool, but kind of out by itself, and not around much else (except a make shift work out area under a bridge...there were maybe six machines, it was weird). We turned around and walked back to the Eiffel Tower to climb it. It was so surreal seeing the Eiffel Tower; I never got used to just seeing it off in the distance, let alone climbing it. I would also like to take time to thank Switzerland, and in particular the 100 steps it takes to get from the bus stop to my apartment, for giving me the leg strength to climb both Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in the same day!
View of the Seine from the top of the Eiffel Tower
The next day, I met up with one of my sorority sisters, Emily, who's studying abroad in Paris as well. We went to Sacre Cour, a church that's at the highest point in Paris. It's in an area called Montmartre, which is the artsy area of Paris (we saw the Moulin Rouge there). It was nice to hang out and explore some of the cute boutiques, sit in the sun and get a coffee at one of the cafes, and just wander around the city with no real plans. It was much needed after my whirl wind time in London and first day in Paris.
That night, Miller and I went to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up. It was even more gorgeous than I could have imagined!
Overall, I had a good, very quick, trip in Paris. And as excited I was to head to Madrid next to visit my friend Megan (and be able to practice my Spanish!), I was sad to leave all the delicious crepes behind.
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