Part 51a: The Epic Blog Of Paris

Far out. I dont even know where to start and I apologise for my absence! Paris was just bloody incredible!! I mean.... *sighs* its just awesome.

Sunday:
I guess I should go back to the beginning, my departure! This will be a struggle to remember (which is so sad because I want to remember EVERYTHING! but you know...) So I got on the train to Grenoble at 9ish and then waited around in Grenoble until 12.05 when my train to Paris left! I was so excited taking my seat but then remembered I had a 3 hour train trip with no iPod (I friggen left it in Saint Marie!), no book, no entertainment... I ended up dozing off and letting France whizz by me. There was a woman behind me named Sarah and she was living in London but originally from somewhere in Asia who was struggling to communicate with the conductor. It turned out she was going to the Gare du Nord which was where I was meeting Louisa so we ended up tagging to each other and guess working our way to the next station after arriving in Paris. There, we both had some time to kill so we sat, had coffee and got each others facebooks (which I still have to do) and thus leaving me with an extra contact in London - win.

Eventually, Louisa arrived and we hugged and began catching up on our missing 6 years. If I didnt mention, Louisa and I went to Primary school together, then lost contact, then via facebook learned of each others voyages to Europe and thus decided to catch up in Paris. We get along surprisingly well which is great! anyway, our next goal was to get to Alex's place who was who we were staying with. We caught the Metro down to Porte de St. Cloud then walked to his appartment. We couldnt find the exact street number so we called him, only to find out we were just next to it! He came out and welcomed us and then showed us to his ... incredibly awesome Parisien Apparetment. I mean, it was pretty spacious, very well lit with incredible windows and just bloody hell, the apparment was more than we could have expected from any hostel! It was just fantastic and it was free and our host was soo helpful! He gave us a set of keys too and just said come and go as you please! He works a lot so he was often out and at night too, so it was like we had our own appartment! soooooo cool. We sat and chatted to Alex for about 40 minutes, got to know each other and got some tips about Paris, it was good. 10/10 so far.

Louisa and I then decided to just do a quick tour around because it was about 5.30 by this time and we had nothing else to do so we trained over to the Arch de Triumph (which become 'our thing') and checked that out then walked down to, yes, the Eiffel Tower - it was seriously awesome. We left the Eiffel Tower after some fairy floss and much oggling with plans to return other days then went got dinner, then came home and we stayed up talking in our room for a few hours before going to sleep.

Monday:
Monday was pretty jampacked as far as seeing things goes. We got up bright and early (like 8 or something) and had breakfast with Alex who had bought us all croissants and pain au chocolat which was nice so we sat with that and juice and discussing our plans of the day. Around 9.30-10ish we left and made our way over to the Sacre Coeur.

When we got to the sacre coeur stop we walked from the Metro station up a really busy street which was just tourist shops all the way down (some stops were made) and it was pretty cool but so packed! Eventually we got to the base of the church and stared up and the thing. It was so pretty. Just white and nice. We made our way up, getting harrassed by the 'hakuna matata' men... dont even ask... before stopping just before the stairs up to sit and have vegemite sandwiches. Eventually we got up again walked to the sacre coeur toured the inside and then left - it was pretty impressive.

Next, we metro'd over to the Notre Dame which was just huuge. Everything is so big! We got people to take our photos and we saw the hunchback and even some gypsys asking for money (it was like the movie all over again!) Then joined the queue to enter. Inside was so packed as well. It was an amazing and enormous cathedral and the windows ans sculptures and such we quite incredible. It was just great. You could go up to the top of the cathedral and look over Paris, but the line was phenomonal so we said goodbye to Notre Dame and walked back down to the Eiffel Tower, for the second time.

Along the way there were markets all the way down the Seine river so we pondered through them and it was very leisurely no pressure to see anything-style so it was great. We did get thirsty though so we stopped at a cafe and hot coffee and rested our feet for a bit. Eventually we made our way to the Tower and got some awesome ice cream and sat around talking again, avoiding the millions of pigeons and people selling Mini Eiffel Towers. Awful.

We left the Eiffel tower and then made our way to the Champs Elysees and walked around a shopping centre and stared at the the Arch de Triumph before walking down the road towards the Obelisk and of course, the Louvre. On the way we got distracted by the Army Museum which I think is where Napoleon is buried. We stayed there for a while, because it was cool and golden :D The Obelisk, I had alreadty seen so I was like... yea ptch. But as we made our way in to the Louvre Gardens and I was getting excited because I knew I hadnt been there yet! Unfortunately, we got exhausted and couldnt make it to the end to the pyramids and such just yet so we sat in the gardens and talked for a while to regain our energy.

We eventually got back up and hoorah! made it to the Louvre getting distracted firstly by the Arch de Triumph du Carousel. Its quite cool standing there and looking through it becuase from this one point you can see the actual Arch de Triumph, the Obelisk and the Eiffel tower at once, then turn around 180 and right behind tou is the Louvre. We were there quite late so we just stared and oggled over the Pyramids (renamed triangles) which were sooo impressive. I mean, I was impressed. VERY impressed. I loved it there. so relaxing and pretty. Also, because we were there late and it was Monday, we were the only ones there and so it was great for photos!

Eventually, we metro'd back home and then got amazing 10euro pizzas and ate our night away. It was a huuuuuuuuge but amazing day. There was more little things in there that we saw on Monday but..you know... SO much and I dont remember all there names D:

More to come!! + Photos!!