Paris!

Well I have just returned from my 6 day stay in the most amazing city North of Rome, that would be Paris! We had the greatest time in France it was such an amazing trip. I feel like we had so much time there that I was able to see everything that I wanted to. And I got to experience the true French culture and way of life. And while we're on that note I decided that not all of the French hate Americans. And that if you at least attempt to speak French to them they are much more willing to help you find whatever you are looking for. By the middle of the week I got very good at a select few phrases. These basically included: Where is the bathroom? Excuse Me! I want one Chocolate Croissant! Can you give me directions to the Metro? and Do you speak any English!...so pretty much only the essentials! haha- but seriously I had such an amazing time I absolutely loved Paris!
So we started off our first day by going to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery! Sounds weird and creepy to go to a graveyard as our first site in Paris but in reality this place is awesome! It is the most famous of cemetaries in all of France. People such as Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Jim Morrison, and Izadorra Duncan are buried there. So after spending a few hours walking around Pere Lachaise we headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral! It was by my favorite Cathedral we have seen since arriving in Europe. It was so ornate and not to mention massive! The glass windows inside of it were the most amazing that I have ever seen and it was really neat to read about the history behind the Cathedral. (And all of the gargoyles were prett awesome too!) Those two things were the main events of the day- however we couldn't retire to our hotel until we had seen the Eiffel Tour! It was perfect timing because right as we came out of the Metro stop at the tower it had began to sparkle... it lights up all sparkly for about 10 minutes every hour! So it was perfect timing and we saw the tour at its best!
The next day was a very long one for us. We started out at the Musee D'Orsay which was an incredible Museum that housed two of my favorite works of Art! The original Degas portrait of the Ballerinas in Dance Class and the Monet water Lillies painting! We spent alot of time in this museum before moving on to the Sacraceaux... (sounds like sock-ray-ker) So we walked about eight miles up hill to see this church that sat atop a hill in Montmarte! It was a beautiful walk although farther than we had originally anticipated it being! This church was gorgeous and located just up the street from the Moulin Rouge which was fun to see! But the day was long and we retired early in preparation for the fantastic Wednesday we had planned!
We woke up early and all met in the front of the Musee de Louvre!!! First off we went straight for the Louvre's most famous resident The Mona Lisa! I have heard people say that it is overrated but I absolutely loved her! The painting was small but it was so incredible to get to see in the flesh! Well what is there really to say about the Louvre- it was incredible!!! I saw so many things that I have studied about in art classes and I was so excited that it was hard to take it all in at once. So we just picked a list of ten major pieces that we wanted to see and focused on those. These included some Greek Statues such as The Venus de Milo, and paintings such as the Virgin on the Rocks! I won't bore you all with these details of art that you don't care about... Lets just say it was sufficiently the best morning of my life. So later we walked past the Royal Opera House where the story of the Phantom of the Opera stems from! And we went to the Rodin Museum... it was so nice to come to this place because it was very low key. Located in the heart of Paris, however it was serenely peaceful. It was in Rodin's estate and the grounds were beautifully kept with his bronze version of The Thinker right in the backyard!
Thursday was a more relaxed day... we went to the top of Notre Dame and got a great view of the city, and we did alot of window shopping! Walked down the Champs de Ellyses and basically wanted to cry at how beautiful all of the stores were! We ate better food than we have had in the last three months combined! I ate more pastries than anyone needs... but I figure it was fine because I was only in Paris once right!!!
Friday was a day for the kids in me and Amanda! We went to Disneyland Paris! And it was awesome! Actually to be perfectly honest in comparrison to California the park was tiny and kinda lacking in the rides... but we had such a fantastic time nonetheless!!! And the funniest thing was going on a ride such as Peter Pan and having Peter yelling in French at Captain Hook! Ha- good times! good times! So most of it was in both english and french but yeah it was just really funny! Well that brings us to saturday where we spent the whole day traveling back to London! And now I am sitting on my bed just reliving the whole week and kinda wishing that I was back in Gay old Paris! It was so incredible and I even picked up some French!!!