Today I had to move to a new hostel, so I packed up my things and said goodbye to all the new friends that I had made. I wanted to go on the city walking tour and Tyler, a guy from Canada, wanted to join so we planned to meet later at the starting point near Notre-Dame. I caught the metro to my new home, the Peace and Love Hostel, and dropped off my bag in the luggage room since the rooms were being cleaned. The trip ended up taking much longer than I expected so I didn't have time to make it to the tour. I used the last of the credit on my phone to try to organise a place to meet Tyler but after an hour of wandering around Notre-Dame and not finding him, I decided to just go on alone. I visited Cathédrale de Notre-Dame first, gazing around awestruck at the beautiful interior. From there, I walked past the Palais de Justice and along the Seine until I entered the courtyard of the Louvre. Once the world's largest royal palace, it was mostly demolished in 1527 to make way for a new one but even being a fraction of its former glory it's still impressive. The glass pyramids sparkled in the sun as I walked through hoards of tourists waiting to enter the museum. Not being in the museum-going mood today, I took a seat in the courtyard and people-watched for a good hour or so before I made my way through the Louvre's gardens, Jardin des Tuileries. On the other side lay Place de la Concorde, Paris' largest square, where the 3,300 year old Luxor Obelisk reached towards the sky (a gift from Egypt in 1829). Beyond that, the Champs Elysées stretched out and I could just make out the Arc de Triomphe in the distance. I strolled down the massive avenue, past all the stands being set up for the Bastille Day parade tomorrow. I was sitting on a bench contemplating where to go next when someone tapped on my map and it turned out to be Zhujun! We decided to go check out Montmartre, a neighborhood of steep streets and sweeping views of the city. A short metro ride later, we were on the edge of Montmartre in front of one of Paris' most infamous attractions, the Moulin Rouge! We weren't interested in paying 150 euros for a show so instead we walked up the quaint cobblestone streets past little shops and restaurants into a square filled with artists selling their works. A short ways further and we were at the creamy white basilica of Sacré Coeur. The view from the front steps stretched for miles across Paris and we stood for awhile taking it in before entering the church. The inside was gorgeous and surpassed Notre-Dame in my eyes. We sat in silence and marveled at our surroundings until it was finally time to go. Zhujun had to catch a train so we said goodbye and I headed back to my hostel. I grabbed my bag from the luggage room and went up to my room where I immediately met 3 of my roomies: Sean, Sarfraz (both from Australia) and Zhewen (from the U.S.). They turned out to be awesome guys and we all decided to hang out for the night. We went to the bar downstairs and sat around talking while Sarfraz showed us these incredible card and coin tricks he learned during all his free time in senior year. Two Aussie girls and a guy from Chile joined us and the seven of us picked up some cheap bottles of wine and went across the street where there was a huge party going on by the river. We danced and drank along with all of the locals and after awhile we decided to sit on the other side where it was less crowded. As we were walking over the bridge, Zhewen suddenly takes off running without saying a word and none of us had any idea what was going on. Turns out he had chased down a pickpocket who had taken off with a woman's iPhone! Unfortunately by the time Zhewen had reached him, the thief had handed it off to his partner. We congratulated our hero and then relaxed on the riverbank as the party continued on across the water. It was a crazy night and this is just a pre-party because tomorrow is the big national holiday, Bastille Day! So after returning to the hostel bar for a bit it was bedtime!