Under Stars and Over Seas: Paris; And So The Travels Begin

The past week has been a wild one. I’ve been without wifi for a few days, so unable to post anything on Facebook or write up a blog post, I’m running a little late on updating the world on my adventures.

Last week started with our last few days in Oxford, finishing up the Ashmolean museum, looking at Oxford Castle (where the first writings of King Arthur and Camelot were penned), and hitting up the last of the shops we needed to visit. Friday we were up early and taking a nine hour journey to Paris. We took a bus that went under the ocean, which would have been pretty cool if we could have seen anything. But it was all a dark tunnel for a while, so mostly it was just exhausting.

We got to Paris to find that street names and navigation is much easier compared to London and Oxford. Within ten minutes of being there, though, I managed to damage my phone screen, rendering it useless. Luckily I had a digital camera with me so I could continue taking pictures even when I couldn’t message my family and friends.

Paris is beautiful. It’s colder than I expected, and there is a ridiculous amount of air pollution, so bundling up and not seeing the sun for a few days was necessary, but the buildings are incredible and the landmarks are amazing. We spent two days going around on a bus, hopping off and on to see all the major landmarks of Paris, including Moulin Rouge, The Louvre (where we spent several hours wandering among ancient Greek and Roman statues and, yes, saw the Mona Lisa), the Bridge of Lovers (where my roommate and I put a lock on the bridge to commemorate our trip), Notre Dame (where I may or may not have quietly sung Hunchback of Notre Dame songs the entire time), The Triumphal Arch (with the tomb of the French solider and the eternal flame), the Eiffel Tower, the Opera Garnier, The French Naval Museum, and Champs de Mars.

We took a night bus around to see the monuments all lit up as well, and the Eiffel Tower puts on a twinkling show every night, shining out over the city like stars. We were lucky enough to be there the weekend Paris implemented a free public transportation weekend rule, and so we used the metro system several times for free.

There are a lot of gypsies and people trying to illegally sell souvenirs in Paris, so you’ve got to dodge around them and the pickpockets in order to keep all your belongings and money intact. We were approached a few times but managed to get away before we were reeled in too far. Everyone smokes here too—no designated areas or limited places, people can just light up a cigarette anywhere they want. And almost everyone does. My throat is beginning to hurt and I’m concerned with secondhand smoke at this point. But I’ve heard that’s how it is all over Europe, so I should probably either get used to it or practice my evasive maneuvers.

Today we got up ridiculously early (my sleeping schedule is so off at this point I’ll probably hibernate when I get home) and took the metro to Disneyland Paris, where we’ll be staying in a hotel and visiting the park for a few days before going to Italy.

The park is enormous, especially when compared to the one in California, which was built in such a crammed space that everywhere you turn there’s something Disney. In Paris it’s much more spread out. The rides are generally the same but faster (Paris is on a whole other level speed wise—this applies to people walking, motorcycles, and especially cars. I would never want to drive in Paris it is ridiculous). The food was on the expensive side (but that’s just Paris and Disneyland in general) but good, and we budgeted well. I’m on the hunt for a sweater that I saw in the Paris Disney store but haven’t been able to find in any of the stores in the park. But I am determined.

The fireworks show was probably my favorite part, as it combined a little bit of almost a dozen Disney stories and music, and the castle was just beautiful lit up with firework light and projections. It’s Sleeping Beauty’s castle here, just like back home, but built differently and with a dragon underneath (which was way cool because dragons).

We head back out there tomorrow and for the first half of the following day (we got a sweet deal on the hotel where we basically got the tickets to the park for free) before we take an overnight train to Italy to meet up with my roommate’s cousin.

I’ll get this posted as soon as I can, which will probably not be until Italy (where I will also attempt to get my phone fixed), where I’ll have another blog post to put up. So, until then, good night Paris and good morning California,

Sam

Moulin Rouge

A clock tower--which is a great pun

The Louvre

Inside The Louvre

My weirdly obsession-driven knowledge of Greek mythology helped when identifying statues with only French descriptions

Every single ceiling was just as, if not more, beautiful than this one

Nike; goddess of victory

Aphrodite; goddess of love and beauty

Mona Lisa

Louvre paintings

This whole hall was made of Gold and jewels and expensive things

Some trinkets that belonged to Marie Antoinette

Napoleon III's apartment bedroom; he lived int he Louvre before it was a museum

The Bridge of Lovers

There were so many locks that the bridge is actually beginning to sink and the city has started boarding it up. The locks have spilled onto the surrounding fences as well, so the street is lined with them