Viva Paris

I’m blessed. This semester has been my third trip to Europe, and I’m so thankful for everything that I’ve gotten to see and experience. I’ve loved every city that I’ve traveled to except for one... Paris. I had been twice before, and well... big city France is just not my thing. I don’t know why, I just had never enjoyed it. Luckily for me, American maxim proved hold true: Third time’s a charm.

I loved Paris the third time around. Honestly, I wouldn’t originally have chosen to go back, but I had 2 big motivations... and their names are Emily and Katie. I worked with these two girls the past 2 summers at T Bar M Camp Travis. Studying abroad, I didn’t have anyone coming with me that really knew me. It’s weird to have a feeling that nobody knows what’s really going on with you, or typically really cares much. I’ve made some incredible friends over here, but I just really needed some quality time with some good friends. Em & Katie are studying in Florence, Italy, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them on this side of the world.

We met up in Paris on Wednesday night in good ole Hotel Bertha. The name says it all! After a mini-freak out session of being reunited, we fell asleep swapping stories, resting up for our days ahead.

Quickly, this is a vital paragraph... food selection. In summation: Baguetting became a verb, pastries and café au lait happened on the regs, our crepe count was 7, and Berthillon ice cream (special recipe only found on one island in Paris) happened every day. I love French food. Vale la pena.

We woke up on Thursday and took a Fat Tire Bike Tour, which I highly recommend if you’re headed to Paris, London Barcelona or Berlin any time soon. Since we were on bikes, we got to see a TON of Paris, which is a huge city. We had a blast! I like tours because with some added in history and facts, everything just means more.

After the tour, we walked around for a few hours to see more of the city at our leisure, and then actually went back that night for another bike tour! We wanted to see everything at night, because the tour is completely different after hours. It was definitely a great decision. I think we biked for a total of 9 hours that day!

On Friday, we woke up and headed out to see Versailles. The chateau and gardens were incredible. No lie, we baguetted pretty hard in the gardens. 

After getting back and grabbing some Berthillon, we trekked up to Montemarte – the only hill in Paris. From there, we watched the city of lights illuminate once the sun had set. Also, we went to what I think was my favorite restaurant experience in Europe. We stumbled across a piano/crepe bar. YEAH. The French Ben Rector was serenading us Coldplay style all night, and we did some incredible creping. We met some great French law students and had an overall blast. Last stop for the day was the Champ Elysse (butchered that spelling) to take advantage of the fact that their stores didn’t close until midnight!

Saturday, we hit the museums. E & K hit the Louvre, and I hit Musee D’Orsay. Since I was solo, I met a new friend in line, Kyle from TN/FL, and he guided me through the museum the whole time. It’s good to make friends who know how to do art museums. We had a blast together, parted ways, and wished each other nice lives. It’s a weird feeling to say goodbye to someone when you’re pretty sure you’ll never see each other or talk again.

The girls and I we hit up a market for lunch, then got THE BEST CREPE OF OUR PARIS EXPERIENCE/LIVES. Where from? The most unlikely of places. Ben & Jerry’s. I know, I know. I tried back road, off the beaten path crepe stands... under the Eiffel... in cafés... but none beat the power of Ben & Jerry’s. Crepe faces were invented for these crepes.

My favorite thing we saw in Paris was next: Sainte Chapel. It was a church built to house Christ’s crown of thorns, which I’ve never thought about even existing before. It was the most beautiful chapel I’ve seen in my life... kicking Sistine’s behind. The entire thing was made out of stained glass, telling the story of the Bible from beginning to end. My jaw was dropped for a solid 5 minutes.

Fun side story: In the line to get into Sainte Chapel, we saw one of my friends, Anna Kate, who I went to Switzerland with! She’s studying in Sevilla, too, but we’ve never seen each other in Spain. What a sight for sore eyes! She came along with us for our last scoop of Berthillon and last hour in Paris.

Our last stop in Paris was the Eiffel tower to write our campers some post-cards. We sat, enjoyed the beauty of it all, and then Em & Katie had to split to catch their plane. We weren’t happy to say goodbye, but the thankfulness that I had for our time together overshadowed the fact that we were going back to separate countries. AK & I stayed under the Eiffel for a while longer and caught up. What a GIFT! Can’t even describe it anyway else.

After catching a plane back to Barcelona, I had an overnight layover. AKA the greatest fun!! I have an inexplicable love for the Barcelona International Airport. It’s so clean; you can literally see yourself in the floor. I want my wedding to smell like their restrooms, they smell better than any human being I’ve ever met. I have a crush on that airport. Had an all nighter there, and then returned to my beloved Sevilla.

Paris, you got me. Third time’s a charm.