I had an AMAZING weekend in Paris! The city was by far one of the most beautiful cities I have seen. The "epic journey" began at 430am Friday morning, when we all met up to catch a taxi to Prestwick Airport. We checked in at the airport and then went through security. Our flight took off at 640am... I was kind of nervous about the flight, seeing as Ryanair is well known for cheap flights but not so much as smooth flights, but everything went great and we arrived at Paris Beauvais Airport after 9am and all got our passport stamped! From there we proceeded to catch a bus into Paris (the airport we flew into was 80km outside the city). The bus arrived in Port Maillot a little after 11am, and from there we had to use French to find the metro and meet up with my friend Kevin, whom we were all staying with. This is when I realized exactly how long ago high school and French class really was. We finally made it to the metro station Gare Du Nord around noon and met up with Kevin. He took us to his flat so we could put our things down before exploring Paris. Kevin likes to claim that his flat was in the "ghetto" however I beg to differ because the area was really nice. What I love about all the buildings in Paris is the iron wiring outside all of the windows!
After we left Kevin's flat we decided to start walking towards the city. We stopped for lunch at a creperie to have our first experience with French food. Ordering in French was definitely amusing, but we all managed to order lunch crepes with the help of Kevin. After eating we continued to walk into the city, passing the Opera House along the way... We ended up walking to the park between the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe. We continued to walk towards the Louvre taking tons of picures along the way, and then relaxed for a bit at the fountain in front of the Louvre. We decided to save the Louvre for a different day and then went to walk along the Seine. It was really cool, there were lots of street stands selling posters all along the bridge. We walked down the river and then went to Notre Dame. It was free to explore, so we went inside to walk around and the stained glass windows were amazing. After spending some time in Notre Dame we decided to try dessert crepes from one of the street stands. We all went for the Nutella crepes, although I think I like crepes better with fruit, but I couldn't find any place that sold them with strawberries!
After eating crepes, we explored the city a little further before heading back to Kevins flat. We met up with his flatmates and bought some camembert cheese, wine, and atleast 8 french baguettes and spent the evening talking and eating before heading out later on.
Saturday morning turned in to afternoon by the time we were all ready to leave the flat and go into Paris. The plan for the day was to climb the Eiffel Tower and then go to the Louvre in the afternoon. We took the subway to the Eiffel Tower and it was really exciting to finally see it! We split off to buy tickets, as Grace and I opted to walk up whereas Sal and Anisha took the elevator. We climbed 668 stairs before meeting them at the second level. From the second level we had to wait o
n line to take the elevator to the very top... the view from the top was amazing! I was able to see Notre Dame and the French Statue of Liberty. From the bottom looking up at the Eiffel Tower I had origonally thought that it 
was smaller then I expected, however from the top I quikly realized that it was still indeed very tall! By the time we got back down from the Eiffel Tower and took pictures, we realized we would need to save the Louvre for Sunday, and we met up with Amy before heading to a cafe. We were without Kevin so ordering food was interesting, but we all managed to order crepes, coffee, and tea. By the time we finished eating and left the cafe, it was dark, so we took a second round of pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower with it lit up.After the Eiffel Tower, we headed back to Kevin's flat for dinner. The boys cooked breaded cicken and pasta with pesto and tomato sauce which was good, and we were joined by some other BC kids studying in Paris. That night we went out and found a place to sing karaoke which was definitely alot of fun. After my karaoke debut in Glasgow I definitely felt the need to sing in Paris. I sang "Your Song," with Kevin's friend Rob, while a couple other people sang songs like "Let's Stay Together" and "Man I Feel Like a Women."
Sunday morning we were all able to get up and leave the flat by 11am and to go to the Louvre. I was surprised to learn that the famous glass pyramid outside the museum was only added in 1988. But I was finally able to see the Mona Lisa in real life along with the Michelangelo's The dying Slave and Venus de Milo. The museum was huge and there is still so much more to see! But I left around 23opm to make sure I could buy a few posters from the street venders before leaving, as well as take a few photos for my black and white photography class. When we met back up with everyone, it was about 4pm and we started to head back to Kevins flat. Along the way we witnessed a proposal which was exciting. The guy actually got down on one knee which gave it away, and the the girl said yes which was good (and I took a picture for my class haha).
Back at the flat, we packed everything up before heading out. On the way to the the bus station, we stopped at the Arc de Triomphe to take a few pictures and eat dinner. The journey home was just as "epic" as the journey here with just as many different types of transportations. I definitely will miss being in Paris!
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