Happy Tuesday Everyone!
Sorry for the lack of posts over the last week, I recently traveled for four days and had almost no Wifi the entire time. So I have dedicated this entire post to that trip to Paris, the Palace of Versaille and La Basilique du Sacre Coeur de Montamartre
Classes for first module finished last week on Thursday and I began my journey Friday evening. The trip I took was organized through a company and wasn't through the school. However quite a few people from my school all went on the same trip so we all got to know each other even better through the course of the weekend. Friday evening we drove all night on a large coach (those big fancy travel buses) and arrived at Dover England, home of the famous white cliffs that resemble the Seven Sisters cliffs. We from there took a ferry across the English Channel and then drove another 5 hours into Paris. Jumping forward there another hour it was morning already by the time we got there, so we didn't waste any time on sleeping and jumped right into a whole day of exploring the City of Love.
Notre Dame was breathtaking with stained glass windows, detailed sculptures, and ... I don't have a word for this but it was a place that everything was still, a place where they remind you to be quiet and capture the moments with your heart. It was such a peaceful and beautiful atmosphere that was just awe-inspiring and magnificent to be apart of if only for a short amount of time. They began a mass while tourists quietly walked around and took photos, the mass itself was a sight to see - it brought the building to life.
There was this really cool bridge, actually a few of them, and they all had pad locks all over them. The locks are there by visitors that want to proclaim their love. They buy pad locks of all shapes and sizes and write their names on it, whether its between lovers, family, or good friends, everyone that visits this bridge has the opportunity to add their lock for as long as it can be kept there.
The locks weigh so much that pieces of these bridges are actually starting to fall off and it is putting such a large strain on the bridge that the city considered getting rid of the locks all together, but people just keep adding more.
The Lovre! ahh this is a museum I have waited a very very long time to finally see. It was one of my most favorite parts of the trip. I finally got to see what was underneath that giant pyramid that you only see on the surface street. The artwork in this museum stirred emotions, and isn't that what art is supposed to do? It was really great seeing the sculptures on the ceilings and the fine detailed artwork. Being so apart of history to think how many people have seen what you are looking at in that moment, and to look at a piece of art and wonder what the artist was thinking so long ago when they painted it. Its really like stepping through time. Here we saw the Mona Lisa in all her secured behind glass glory. She was a fairly small portrait surrounded by tons of people all trying to get a photo of her. The story of the Mona Lisa and the size of the small portrait is that every time that the painting was stolen thieves would cut her directly out of the frame.This happened I think 3 times - I could be wrong on that number - and each time has made her get smaller and smaller, so now its only a small size of the original piece. Which is also why it is surrounded by at least 3 security guards and a thick plate of bulletproof glass!
After these two spectacular places we were set onto free time in the city until the evening where we would take a canal ride with our group. During the free time my friend and I decided to check out some of the shopping in an infamous mall "Galleries Lafayette". The most extravagant shopping area I have ever seen. It consisted of 6 stories and two buildings which were connected by a bridge, while everything was much too expensive for us to actually purchase anything, it was dazzling to see it all in person, and photos really cant do it justice.
After the mall we regrouped with the tour and took a beautiful canal trip down the Seine River in Paris that started at the base of the Eiffel Tower. This was the best part of the entire day, it was beautiful seeing all of the magnificent sights, but this was the first time all day we didn't have to push through crowds or walk around at all, so it was very relaxing and nice to be off of our feet.
On Sunday everyone in the tour went on an optional trip to Disneyland Paris, Allie and I opted out for a day trip to see all of the sights we hadn't seen yet in Paris. We went to a carnival at the Roue de Paris (a giant Ferris wheel) and enjoyed ice cream while we walked through the gardens at Place de la Concorde with famously designed landscaping with fountains and an octagonal pond.
We ended our day at the Eiffel Tower where we went to a cafe and had a nice dinner and enjoyed the beautiful views of the Tower. It is so grand in person its hard to take it all in. The whole grassy area in front of the tower had a bunch of people and men walking around selling bottles of alcohol, which is totally illegal, we even watched one man get arrested! There are also a bunch of soldiers walking around carrying large guns, apparently this is due to the up rise in riots in France recently. The soldiers are there to break up anything before it can really even happen.
The next day we regrouped with our tour group and went to visit the Palace of Versailles. The gates and the front of this Palace were coated in 24 carat gold, and the garden behind it was so large they rented out golf carts to see everything! It was full of ponds and statues and sculpted landscaping.
We then went to Montamartre, we were warned the whole time to watch out for scammers and pick pockets the whole time. We saw the Basilique but only had a short amount of time before we had to leave so we didn't go inside. I had something else in mind...
I finally got to try escargot! snails.. It was interesting, its hard to describe the texture and flavor, I would compare it to mussels, but it tasted kind of like the smell of a garden after it rains. Definitely a ONCE in a lifetime experience!
Finally we departed Montamartre and traveled back to England, it was such an incredible experience seeing France and experience living history. I think I can compare travelling a little bit like reading a book and then seeing a movie. Reading a book you have an imagined idea of what the place or experience would be like, but actually doing it is so very different from what you expected, sometimes its a great thing, other times not so much. But all completely worth the experience. I feel so lucky to have these experiences, and I want to thank you if you read that entire long post! Keep checking every week to see whats up next!
Thanks for following!
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