CITY OF LOVE

paris - a must see of europe. this was my second time visiting, but such an entirely different experience than the first when i was with my parents.

we took a bus to paris from eindhoven for 22 euro...return!! (why europeans don't travel more, i have no idea). after six hours we had arrived. jo was stoked to be here, as was i. our hostel was "montclaire montmarte" which sat at the bottom of the hill sacre couer was atop. we spent a few nights gazing over the city from sacre couer as we ate creme brulee enjoying our parisian experience. (personally i think sacre couer has much better views of paris than the eiffel tower).

one of the best things we did on our trip was a 4 hour walking tour through the city. it is the perfect thing to do right when you get there. it gave us an idea of where things were situated and what we wanted to go back and see. plus, there weren't a lot of actual tours in paris so it gave us a bit of background on some of the buildings, monuments and interesting sights paris has to offer.

the louvre is a must in paris. we did see mona lisa; however, for me it did not impress as it probably should have. there were so many incredible pieces in the louvre, i'm amazed that the mona lise receives as much attention as it does. we took a day outside the city to see the palace of versaille. immense gardens and very richly decorated. it was jo's ultimate sight to see.

an immense highlight of paris has GOT to be disneyland paris. we spent two days there to visit their two parks. disneyland is always magic for me, and it doesn't appear to matter what country it is in. our day started off a bit rough as we hopped on one train and at the last possible minute, i decided it was the wrong one and jumped off. unfortunately the doors closed before jo was able to follow. she ended up travelling outside of the city and having to return while i waited at our original destination praying that i was supposed to be the one waiting and that she was supposed to come to me. fortunately we found each other and arrived safe and sound in disneyland. the reason disneyland paris is my favourite?? they have an entire area dedicated to aladdin!! incredible!!

we joined a great group of students who were on exchange in amsterdam during our tour and hung out with them for the rest of the day. we also spent another day with a couple girls we met in our hostel touring the louvre, notre dame and eating an incredible great meal together. i think exchange changes you a bit. i was already an outgoing person, but to be able to walk up to someone, strike up a conversation and then spend the day(s) together as if you'd been friends forever is a new skill for me. one that came from making a whole group of great friends from scratch in tilburg.

the food in paris was amazing!! my favourite part was the bakeries. if jo would have let me, i would have stopped there morning, noon and night to buy a croissant or some other delicious, melt-in-your-mouth baked good. the creme brulee was another definite highlight.

some of my observations:

1) one of the downsides of paris was the smell...i noticed it immediately when i got there and especially on our tour along the seine. it's not a lie people are telling!!

2) the french people were a lot more polite than my last paris experience. i remember them refusing to speak english, being rude and brushing tourists off. this time it wasn't perfect, but they definitely weren't as rude.

3) paris is NOT overrated :).

*one afternoon we walked up the eiffel tower with a group of exchange students we met. afterwards we layed on the grass gazing up at the sky. it was an "ahh" moment to lie on soft green grass and look up at the blue sky pierced by the eiffel tower. i will never forget that.