A Tall Tower and Yummy Snails

After an amazing few days on Norderney a group of us headed to Paris.  As my dad would say, "wow, what a tough life."  I am so unbelievably lucky to have the opportunity to be on this trip and even luckier to have parents who made it possible for me to experience all the amazing things Europe has to offer.  We took a train back to Cologne where we switched trains and then headed to Paris.  We got to Paris around 10:00PM and headed to our hostel.  This was going to be my second time staying in a hostel and I was not expecting much.  I was not dreading it by any means but I just figured it would be kind of bland, it turned out that this was not the case though.  Before even entering the hostel we were greeted by a building lit up with blue lights and a big sign outside, "Generator."  

Once we entered there was a huge lit sign over the check-in counter and we could see a very lively bar in the back.  We all checked in and then went up to our rooms.  We were all very tired but we decided it would be fun to see what the bar was like.  We went to the bar and found that it went down to another floor that was a lot more like a club.  There was a DJ and a dance floor.  We all hung out for a bit and then decided that we should get to bed so that we could explore Paris the next day.  Our first stop the next morning was the Louvre.  I had been told that the Louvre was massive but I really had no idea just how big it actually is.  It does not help that the whole thing is also a giant maze.  You think you are on one floor when in fact you're two floors away from it.  All of that aside, the pieces in the Louvre are stunning.  There are so many amazing and noteworthy pieces all in one place.  I had been warned over and over again at how much of a letdown the Mona Lisa is but I still had to go and see her.

This picture about sums up the Mona Lisa, too many people and way too many cameras.  That being said, enough people had talked it down that I actually enjoyed it.  From my friend's descriptions I thought it was going to be the size of a stamp so I was happy to see that this is not the case.  It was funny finally seeing the real painting, it is such a famous painting that I feel like I already knew every little bit of it without ever having seen the real thing.  A lot of art seems so different in person but the Mona Lisa seems to have been recreated pretty effectively.  It was still cool to finally see the real thing.  It is still a very important piece of art and its importance is very apparent from the bulletproof glass to the fact that you cannot get close to it.  After the Mona Lisa we explored more of the Louvre, we saw number after number of amazing works of art.  It all becomes a bit overwhelming after a while though.  After the Louvre we went for lunch and then headed to Notre Dame.  The Cologne Cathedral is on a whole other level from Notre Dame, but Notre Dame is still very beautiful.  The Cologne Cathedral is massive but Notre Dame was prettier on the inside to me.  I am by no means saying that the Cologne Cathedral is not beautiful but Notre Dame is lit in such a way that casts a beautiful aura on the inside of the church.  After Notre Dame we headed to a market to pic up wine, meat, bread, and cheese so that we could have a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower.  This was an awesome experience.  There is a lot going on in front of the tower but just sitting in the grass and looking up at the tower is an awesome experience.  We went up a little too late and so we were not able to make it all the way up.  Even from half way up though the view is beautiful.  We decided that we would come back the next day so that we could go all the way to the top of the tower.  After the Eiffel Tower we went back to the hostel to try and plan our fifth, and last, weekend in Europe.  We got back to the hostel later than we intended and failed pretty hard at planning.  We are all exhausted pretty much 24/7 at this point so we were too delusional at this point in the night to plan. The next day was more of a relaxed day.  We got brunch and then we headed to the Champs-Élysées to see the Arc de Triomphe and explore the shops on the street.  The Champs-Élysées is a prime example of the luxury present in Paris.  Huge designer brands like Louis Vuitton and Mont Blanc line the street and at the end is the magnificent Arc de Triomphe.  Since we were mainly shopping this would not be a highlight of my trip.  I am happy we went and saw all of this but Paris has a lot more interesting things to offer.  I was wishing Dr. Wasser had been with us because I feel like he would have had a lot to say about the Arc.  After the Arc we headed back to the hostel to shower and change so that we could go out to a nicer restaurant.  We ended up running a bit late so we had to head to the Eiffel Tower before we got dinner.  We made it to the top of the tower pretty fast and the view was amazing.  We watched the sun set on top of the Eiffel Tower; this was definitely a highlight of my trip.  We were so incredibly high up and we watched as the sun moved below the horizon within a matter of minutes.  We then headed down and watched the Tower sparkle before heading to dinner.  The Eiffel Tower sparkling in the night is a truly beautiful thing to see.

We then headed to a café down the street where we had an awesome dinner.  This was where we all tried escargot.

I am happy to say that I really enjoyed the escargot.  It is a weird food but when cooked correctly it is delicious.  We all had a lovely dinner together though and then went back to the hostel to get some sleep.  The next day was travel day.  We had waited a bit too late to plan our trip home so we ended up on a bus from Paris to Brussels and then a bus from Brussels to Cologne.  We all talked on the bus though and the trip flew by.  This upcoming week is our last full week in Bonn!