Bonjour Paris!

After packing our final things and dragging our suitcases up a hill and onto the metro and a surprisingly not so bad 12 hour bus ride, Brittany and I arrived in Paris! So many people have been so great to us on this entire trip we've had so far. Someone helped us find a taxi and get to our hostel and our hostel is amazing, very clean and the reception is excellent. We got there early because check in wasn't until 2 PM so we went on this free 3 and 1/2 hour walking tour of the city. Ahh! Our guide was INCREDIBLE and we got to see a lot of the city and received a lot of tips on navigating the city and making the best use of our time. Our guide is originally from Los Angeles but he married a Parisian woman, has a 3 year old son and has been living in Paris for over 2 years now.

Afterward he took those who wanted (us definitely included) to a place to get typical french food. We both had duck and it was delicious! We also met two people from Ottawa, Canada who had been traveling for a while and we walked back with them to the metro/hostel. Then we planned what we would do for these few days and got dinner before going to Montmartre for a pub crawl (which is organized by the same company who conducted the free walking tour). It was a great night, we met a girl who is doing a teaching assistantship in France but is originally from California.  We also met three Argentinians who apparently were also at the Concurso de Paella festival in Bilbao the past Sunday when we were there! Crazy. I talked to them in Spanish and it was so fun! Haha talking in Spanish in France. We also met some Aussies and they were fun as well. Elaine (the girl from California) was trying to imitate an Australian accent but said she didn't know how and one of them (Josh) just said "It's like an English accent, but less posh". One of the pubs was also decorated to be Australian and Elaine pointed out how there was a kangaroo on the bathroom door. Josh responded how that was true, that there are kangaroos everywhere but that other depictions aren't: "Like those pictures of guys sitting on rocks, why would anyone sit on a rock?" Also, his friend's name is Angus and we were commenting on how when we hear Angus we think Angus steak. Josh and Angus went on for about 15 minutes asking us about Angus steak and what it was and why we name our cows Angus and what about the cows named John, etc. Only to find out they were just pretending the whole time. Brittany programmed Angus' name into her phone as First Name: Angus, Last Name: Beef. So whenever Josh had to get Angus
 he would say, "I have to go get Angus Beef!" The pub crawl ended at a bar/club but Brittany, Elaine and I left around 1:30 AM to try to catch the metro and we had transfers so Brittany and I made it to our first metro train but the transfer train never came so we had to walk back to our hostel from there. It ended up being really close though so yay!

We ended up getting up surprisingly early and had quite the productive day. We went to the Louvre and entered through the Lion's Gate entrance which apparently no one knows about because we were the only two there and got in right away. Also, we got free tickets because we had European student IDs (whoo studying in Spain!). It was also the entrance closest to the Mona Lisa, which everyone had warned me was quite small so I wasn't too surprised by that. It wasn't a life changing experience but a good one nevertheless because we actually were able to get pretty close to the painting and get some pretty nice pictures of it. Interestingly because the Louvre lets you take pictures of it now I guess? (Unlike Nick who had his camera confiscated for his contraband picture of the Mona Lisa a few years back). Our guide was basically like yeah the guards have been wearied down and they have glass over it so take pictures with or without flash, just do it! But you were allowed to take pictures in the Louvre which I thought was interesting because it's basically the best art museum in the world, but the other art museums we visited did not allow cameras...I guess to keep the appeal of actually going there?
We stayed in the Louvre for about 4 hours and only got to see basically the surface, but that is one big art museum, but gorgeous.

Afterwards we went for a stroll and got some crepes and sat by the fountain in the garden area by the Ferris wheel. Then we walked down the Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe and saw that and the eternal flame. Apparently, the "eternal" flame has been put out twice, but they don't publicize that haha. According to our guide, the first time it happened was after France won the world cup in their own country. A Mexican man later that night in his anger decided to pee on the eternal flame and put it out. The Parisian authorities decided his punishment would be to be sent home to his country and never be allowed back to France. The second time, an Australian was cooking sausages over it and one fell in and put it out. At this point the Parisian police already had a protocol and sent him back as well. Our guide was saying if we lost our passports and wanted a free trip home, that was one way, but to first see everything we every want to see in France. Then we headed back to our hostel to have dinner before going to the Montmarte tour, which is such a cute section of Paris, or different at least. On one hand you have the Moulin Rouge and the red light district, and then up the hill you have the Sacre Coeur cathedral and where all the artists are, which is such a great scene. That night we went up the giant skyscraper in the city to see a view of Paris and it was so absolutely gorgeous, but then we went up one more level and realized there was a terrace. Wow! We just lied down on the blacktop under the Paris stars. What a day.

Our final day in Paris we visited the impressionist museum and the Palace of Versailles before grabbing some baguettes and other french pastries and wine to sit in front of the Eiffel Tower and wait for it to get dark and watch the light show. It was the perfect way to end our trip in Paris. Another group of people ended up sitting by us and talking to us, which ended up being surprisingly nice! Next stop/post: Amsterdam