Paris

Ahhh, the City of....Love? Well, maybe for those few people who find busy streets and the smell of cigarette smoke charming, but for me, it was just a new adventure to be had. Dani, Chelsea, Mike and I were lucky enough to rent a car at a reasonable choice and stayed at a hotel (cheap accommodations as always, plus they sneaked me in) in a jenky part of Paris. However, the first night we were there we parked along the water's edge and walked over the oldest bridge to view Notre Dame at night. With the full moon shining in the background, I was in awe over it's shear enormous...ness. =) After a jaunt down the river, we made it to the famous Eiffel Tower, which literally sparkled and shined as we approached. I never actually thought the Eiffel Tower sparkled at night, and for that moment, I was completely impressed by Paris. 

The next day we fulfilled Mike's life-long wish of Disneyland Paris. At first, I set my standards low for my favorite amusement park, but as soon as I entered it almost felt like being back in California. Except everyone spoke French and smoked in the park. Aside from that, I continued to be pleasantly surprised by the rides and friendliness of the French cast members. By the end of the day, I had decided that Big Thunder Mtn. Railroad, Indiana Jones (in Paris, a roller coaster) and Space Mtn. were my favorites. Can you imagine I actually ended up loving loops on roller coasters? That surprised me. =] The only complaint I had was the fact that my lower back (a part of my body that has caused me considerable discomfort in the last few years) suddenly decided it wanted to remind me of how easy back pain can come back. Thus, I winced and choked down my complaints as we were all having too much fun to be slowed down.

Sunday we hung out in the Walt Disney Studios, which was basically a smaller version of California Adventures. After seeing a few shows and shops, we decided Disneyland Paris was much more exciting and ended up riding Indiana Jones as well as Space Mtn. again (twice). As Mike drove us back to the hotel that night, I fell fast asleep in the car with no trouble.

Today, however, we had a packed morning. WE woke up bright and early (6am) and shuffled out the door, bags in hand. Arriving to Paris at 7:30am, we parked and walked to the Louve down the street. Walking into it's glass pyramid was more thrilling than I thought it was going to be. Basically, I've never been a fan of huge, eleborate museums, but hey, this was suppose to be the best of the best, so I gave it a try. We ended up seeing Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, The Code of Hammerabi and tons of Roman statues. Besides having back pain still, and being exhausted from lack of food, the trip was fun. We ended up leaving just as the crowds started to swarm, and grabbed take-away pizza and crepe's (a must) and parking in front of the Eiffel Tower. We figured seeing it in daylight was a very wise choice. And so it was. We set out our food and ate lunch on a wooden park bench in front of the Eiffel Tower. For about an hour and a half we simply hung around on the grass, taking silly photos, catching up, and relaxing. It was probably the best part of the day for me.

The rest of our day consisted of the 6 hours journey back to Germany. Nothing exciting to report except that I fell asleep again (tends to happen in the car) and we drove by some French town called Bitche. =)




Tonight I get to sleep in my own bed and tomorrow we pick up Lisa and all head to Munich for the rest of the week. Maybe by the weekend I'll have a chance to finally relax haha