Viva La Paris!!

Bonjour Mes Amies! Viva la Paris!!!
I have just returned from a quick getaway in Paris over this past weekend. It was amazing!!The weather was incredible, sunny and high to mid-twenties all weekend. The trip was short but sweet. This is a little bit how it went.
Salvador and I both worked on Friday until 3pm then we took the train to John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, where we slept on the bench at Burger King from midnight until 4 am. Our flight left at 6 am Saturday, getting us to Paris around 6:30am Paris time (1 hour ahead of the UK). After customs and airport security, we took a train to Gare Du Nord, where our hotel was situated about a 5 minute walk from the station. We got kinda lost looking for our hotel, and after asking for directions a few times and getting only French responses, we finally stopped at a hotel and picked up a map. Great plan!
We checked into our hotel and went out for petite dejourner, which in Paris is 6 Euros for a small coffee and a croissant!! I can’t believe the price of Coffee in Paris. Its more expensive than beer, I am not even kidding. Anyways, our first stop was the Eiffel tower because that’s what I wanted to see the most. The line for the stairs was shorter and also cheaper than the lift so we decided to climb up. 3000 steps later we found ourselves on the second landing. The view was unbelievable!! We then waited 45 minutes in line to take the lift to the very top (no stairs exist for that). It was well worth it! Everything is white from the top and you can see the entire city. I was so happy that we went up.
The rest of the day we spend walking around and checking out monuments. I loved the sacre coeure (sacred heart church) & we saw were Napoleon was buried. We ate dinner at Quick, a MacDonalds like restaurant, and then we went back to the hotel to die of exhaustion.
The next day we slept in by mistake because we were so tired from the day before and the lack of sleep in the airport. But we got up around 10 and headed out again. We walked along Trocadero, where we saw the most beautiful gardens, fountains and monuments.
We also stopped at the Arc de Triomphe Etoile which was a beautiful monument dedicated to all of the soldiers who have fought in wars for France.
Later on we stumbled upon a lovely market, where we bought fresh croissants and fruit and other goodies and we had a picnic lunch on the island right outside of Notre Dame. Unfortunately were 15 minutes late getting to the Musee du Louvre, where Mona Lisa and the Venus De Milo are, so we weren’t able to visit. But it was okay, we just continued to walk around and take everything in. I loved the park where all the painters were painting and selling their work! How typical of Paris. It was lovely.
Paris has 40 subway lines, and we made use of a lot of them. At first we weren’t sure what was going on, as it is really confusing, but it didn’t take us long to catch on, and it felt like we spend a third of our trip in the underground. There was ALWAYS someone singing or playing an instrument either on the train or in the stations, and asking for money. At one of the bigger stations there was practically a symphony orchestra set up. It was surreal and very beautiful. We stopped to enjoy it.
Sunday night we ate dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant on Avenues Des Champs, where we sat at a terrace table and just watched the loads of people pass. Then later we went back to the Eiffel tower to see it light up at 10 O’clock. It is absolutely beautiful, kinda like a Christmas tree the way it sparkles. I loved it.
Monday morning we left at 6:30 am for the train to the airport and we arrived back in Bowness around 5pm (UK time). It was a long day of Travelling, but when we arrived in Liverpool we decided to see a bit of the city centre before coming back to Bowness. Liverpool is a cool place and received the European Cultural Capital award for this past year. The people there are interesting. I liked it, but its kinda strange.
Paris was really beautiful and I am so glad I had the chance to visit it. I took Salva to MacDonalds for breakfast and it was his first time ever having an Egg McMuffin. Can you believe that? Also in Paris the McDonalds had a little section inside it called “McCafe” where you could buy specialty coffees and little colourful sweets shaped like hamburgers, they also had doughnut and croissants. It was weird.
Last night was Salvadors leaving party and this morning he left for Liverpool airport (again!) at 9:30am. It was sad to see him go, he has been my best friend here and was a really important person for me at the hotel. I guess I am learning a lot about life in the sense that people will come and people will go.
I miss home a bit and I think about you guys all the time. Rachel brought me back a tin of Tim Hortons coffee from her trip to BC but I haven’t had a chance to buy a coffee maker. I did however move into my new room in the Terrace. It is freshly painted and looking very nice. However I moved in the day before Paris so I still haven’t unpacked and it looks like a bomb went off in here! I have internet now though so I am very thankful for that. I will be getting my self set up with a skype account soon, so expect some phone calls!!
Thursday night is the “block party” in Bowness. I am not really sure what that entails but Rachel said “ohh its and experience luv!” So I’m excited to check that out.
I also took a boat cruise to Ambleside with Salva last Sunday. It was such a beautiful day to be out on the lake, and later in Ambleside we visited the most massive garden center I have ever seen. Poor guy, I dragged him around in there for over an hour probably. It was a really lovely day.
Anyways, those of you who are still reading at the very bottom of this massive chapter book of a post, that’s real dedication! I will leave you now as I have wasted enough of both of our time.
Miss and love you more than words can say. Enjoy the pics that are posted. More to come on FB.
Love you!
Carlie