Weekend in Paris

Weekend in Paris

After a lengthy train ride from Norderney, we arrived in Paris. It was pretty late, so we immediately tried to figure out our transit for the weekend. It took us a little bit to figure out, because not only were there different regions within Paris that required different ticket options, we also did not know exactly what all we wanted to visit while we were there. Once we managed to get it all figured out, we hunted for our hostel. As the 12 of us walked down the street for our hostel, we saw a hotel-looking building with bright lights. We jokingly said we wished we were staying there. Then we saw that the name of it was “The Generator,” which was in fact where we were staying. This was my first experience booking a hostel for myself, so it worked out fantastically. We even had a full breakfast in the morning. Gabe, Nick, Kathryn and I shared a room and the other eight people were in another room. The next morning we tried to get an early start and head to Louvre. We (Carter, Gabe, Kathryn, Alana, Emily, and I) walked around, admiring the art and antiquities for a couple of hours, yet still only managed to look at maybe a corner of the entire museum. We split up, so once we all got to a good stopping place (aka when we got hungry enough that we couldn’t focus anymore) we decided to go get some lunch. We walked around until we saw a little corner café. I had some delicious salmon brought to us by a saint of a waitress. She made sure we had an endless supply of water and bread. Holy cow, she was my favorite lady. She even gave us some tips for traveling around and how to stay safe. We decided the next landmark we should see was Notre Dame. The stained glass windows really stood out to me. They all had a central color of blue, which I thought was absolutely gorgeous. We walked around the entire church and read some about its history, then headed to Saint Chapell. After seeing that it cost more than zero dollars, we just headed for the metro. nächster halt: Eiffel Tower. We all wanted to just sit under the Eiffel and hang out (we really like just sitting if you have not caught that vibe yet). So, we stopped at a couple of markets on the way and picked up some meat, cheeses, fruit and a couple of bottles of wine. 10/10 would recommend. I had to keep reminding myself that this was reality. I was actually sitting under the Eiffel Tower with cheap bottles of wine and cheese with my new best friends. After a couple of hours of sitting in disbelief, we decided to try to make our way up the tower. The girls got in line for the elevator, while the guys tried to show their athleticism by taking the stairs. There is no way I could climb to the top, it is so tall, I think my legs would give out before I made it halfway. However, because it was about 10 PM we could only go to the second floor. We knew then that we would be back the next day because we couldn’t not go to the very top. We enjoyed the view from the second floor until about 11:15. After taking the stairs down, we headed back to the hostel.

Day two was just as filled as day one. We began by going to the Church on the Hill. Gabe and Kathryn acted as our tour guides. According to them, the view from the Hill would have been more beautiful, but it was still neat to look over most of the city. We waited in line to go inside the church, but were turned away because we wee wearing shorts. From here, we followed Kathryn to an impressionist art museum, and I am so glad we did! At the Musée d’Orsay, which was an old train station turned museum, we saw many pieces by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. My expectations were extremely surpassed. We finished at the museum and made our way to Avenue des Champs Elysées. We just walked around the shops, not really buying much, except for Kathryn whose family gave her a list of things to get them. The avenue ended into the Arc de Triumph. We walked in a tunnel under the busy street to get a better look. The Arc was beautiful with the French flag waving in the center of it. We did not stay long because we wanted to have time to go back to the hostel to change clothes and freshen up before the night. We left the hostel a little later than we had hoped, so instead of getting dinner we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. The six of us all took the elevator to the top. Gabe was a little disappointed that he did not realize until it was too late that the line we were in was elevator only, so he could not run the stairs to the top. We made it to the top of the Tower and I never wanted to leave. I was ready to just spend the entire night standing and staring at the view. We watched the sunset below the horizon, the Emily, Kathryn, and Carter went down to the bottom, while Alana, Gabe and I just relished in the fact that we were looking over the city from atop the Eiffel. We watched as some of the buildings below slowly, one-by-one, turned their lights on making the view even more breath taking. The three of us walked town at the last possible minute in order to find a spot in the lawn. We ran into the rest of the group and sat next to them to watch the Tower sparkle at 11 PM. I cannot even describe the splendor of seeing this. Everyone’s attention that was previously on the conversations with their friends and significant others was now completely focused on the sparkles that filled the night sky. We sat in awe for a few moments before realizing how hungry we were. So, we decided to head to a restaurant we saw on our way to the Eiffel Tower that we hoped was still open. To our surprise I was. Carter and I split a bottle of Merlot and Alana ordered a plate of escargot for the table. There was just enough for each of us to have one snail. So, we each tried one and passed the plate around to see each person’s reaction. It was my first time ever trying it and OH MY GOSH it was so good. We all debated on order more, but decided we should see how hungry we were after our meal first. After sitting at the restaurant for a good while, we decided we should catch a metro to the hostel before they quit running for the night. 

Carter, Kathryn, Gabe and I all being a little delirious after a long day decided to stay up and watch some funny YouTube videos. Honestly, we may have laughed a little too hard at things that were not super funny, but that was the best part.

Day three was not very jam-packed. All we had to do was pack our bags, eat breakfast and make it to the bus stop. We had a bus ride back to Bonn that would take about eight hours with only one stop in Brussels. However, the ride did not feel that long. I was going through the notes on my phone, where I had a bunch of random questions typed out from a small group I was apart of this past year, so I just started asking them to everyone on the bus ride. The questions were kind of all over the place, but gave so much insight into each person’s life, goals, and family. Before the bus ride began, I was prepared for Carter and I to be the only people awake, because we hardly ever sleep on any public transit ride, so the fact that everybody was awake and talking was wonderful. Then you add the great discussions that we all shared made it even better! I will never forget this weekend and the incredible memories that will forever flood my mind when I think of Paris.

-Hailey