Today is our first full day in Paris!It took longer to get from Charles De Gaule to our hostel in Paris than Susanna and I anticipated—we actually made it just in time to check-in—so Kate (my friend from home), Susanna (my friend from Jena) and I decided to plan out our day last night instead of going out to see the city.

Susanna and I had quite an enjoyable trip to Paris yesterday.When I was in elementary school, I used to watch the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie Passport to Paris every weekend with my friend Natalie, so I figured it would be appropriate to watch it again before I went to Paris :) I didn't bring the movie with me to Germany, though, so I found the movie on Youtube.Not the best quality, but considering Germany blocks literally everything on Youtube, I was pretty excited!Susanna and I watched it together on our flight to Paris... and did I mention we got champagne, too!?I love flying Lufthansa =]

When we got to Charles Du Gaule, we found the RER station that would eventually connect with the Metro.It looked pretty easy, but unfortunately the trains were absolutely packed with people (and luggage), we had to transfer lines four times, and Europeans don't believe in escalators.Man did I regret not packing lighter as I hauled my suitcase up flight after flight of stairs.You would think that would have taught me a lesson, but probably not ;]

Kate is studying in Mayen, a city closer to the French border, so she took the train to Paris.As luck would have it, we arrived at our hostel at just about the same time as Kate.I think we both had to laugh because she had said she would get there around 7, I was anticipating arriving around 11:30, and we both arrived just before 12:30.Oh well, we made it!

Our hostel is...interesting.All of the hostels I have stayed at thus far have been quite different, but this one is by far the most unique.There is only one key per room and there can be as many as 8-10 people in one room, so when you're in the room, you have to leave the door unlocked.So for example, if you get back to the room for the night earlier than the rest of the people staying in your room, you have to leave the door unlocked while you're sleeping.There aren't any lockers either.... and the sink is in your room, but the toilet and showers are community-style and in separate locations in the courtyard (aka you have to go outside to use them).I know for a fact that wasn't in the fine print!Man would that suck in the winter... Oh and another thing, we had booked 5 nights at our hostel and we're staying in 4 different rooms.So every morning we have to pack everything up again and lug it down to the luggage room, which honestly looks a little sketchy and I wasn't too excited about leaving my bags there.... but oh well... they were still there when we got back from sight-seeing.The staff is really nice, though, and the other guests here are normal and friendly, so I think we'll be okay =]

Enough about the hostel, though! We began our day with a New Europe tour, which is always a good orientation to a new city, especially considering these tours are free and we're poor college students dealing with a crappy exchange rate ;]But before we met up with the group we stopped for crepes.I got nutella and banana and it tasted just like it sounds... like Heaven :)

Our tour covered most of Paris's most important sites: Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tour, Champs Elysee, the Seine, Musse d'Orsay, etc. etc.Our guide was really nice, funny, and knowledgeable of Parisian history.It's so much more interesting to learn about a country our city's history when you're actually there as opposed to in a book.In addition to an Italian history class, I also want to take a French history class.Just for fun =] Boy do the French have a violent history, though!Aside from wars and revolutions, our guide told us how King Henry IV's assassin, François Ravaillac, was killed.In the 16th and 17th centuries, the punishment for killing a king was to be drawn and quartered, aka the executor would tie your left leg to one horse, your right to another, your left arm to a third horse, and your right to a fourth.Then he would whip the horses until they took off galloping in four different directions.I don't think I need to go into anymore detail about what would happen to the person who was up for execution... anyway, because the people of France loved this King so much, they decided that even a death so gruesome as drawn and quartered was not a sufficient punishment for the assassin, so before they tied him to the horses, they poured hot sulfur, molten lead and boiling oil and resin over his body,Alive, but totally in pain, he was then dismembered.Yuck...

After the tour, we joined our guide and part of the group at a café near the Eiffel Tower.Our guide highly recommended the duck, which apparently takes about two days to cook and is probably somewhere around two full days worth of calories, but how often is one in Paris, right!?It proved to be totally worth it =]

After our duck we wandered back to Notre Dame.The architecture is absolutely amazing... I can totally understand why it took 200 years to build.Mass was just starting when we got there, but we were able to go in anyway... I'm not sure how I would feel about it if I were attending mass; I think it would be quite odd/distracting to attend mass with tourists filing in and out.But at the same time, I was glad we didn't have to wait until the service was over to go in and take pictures.The stained glass windows are stunning.It was hard to take good pictures with the low lighting, but trust me, it was beautiful!Part of me wished that we could have stayed for Mass but 1) it was in French, 2) I wasn't really dressed for Church and 3) we had a LOT to do still, so we took our pictures and then headed back to our Hostel.

We checked into our second room and met two guys who had just graduated from a small college in Philly (jealous), Dominique and Joe.Kate, Susanna, and I had planned on grabbing some wine and pastries and watching the Eiffel Tower light show. Dominique and Joe thought that sounded cool as well, so the five of us headed to grab a quick bite at a café nearby before heading to the Eiffel Tower.I was still pretty full from the duck, so Susanna and I decided to split a crème brûlée.In my opinion, it was an excellent decision =]

The Eiffel Tower is stunning at night, and this was our first time seeing it up close.Well, I guess I should say the first time I remember seeing it up close, because I technically saw it my first time in Paris, but I was only two then ;]The light show occurs every hour on the hour for five minutes, but it's still lit up beautifully during the other 55.It was so perfect just to sit in the park in front of the Eiffel tour, sipping wine and nibbling on croissants... Dominique and Joe were going to a club and wanted us to come with them, but the three of us were pretty tired and we have a full day scheduled to start early in the morning, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hostel.

Tomorrow we're going to Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, and les Escaliers de Montmarte, then we'll have a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tour, then shopping, and then hopefully the Louvre!It's free admission for those under 26 from 6-9:45 PM on Fridays, but our tour guide warned us we would probably have to wait in a 2 hour+ line.That definitely doesn't sound fun, but I really want to see the Mona Lisa.I know everyone says it's disappointingly tiny and unimpressive, but I want to be disappointed for myself!! ;]We'll just have to play it by ear, though...