In Love with the City of Lights

Ahhhh (sigh)...I'm back from Paris and it was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had. The entire city is filled with incredible (new and old) architecture, and literally everything is breathtaking. I've seen pictures of Paris since gosh knows when, but the pictures, though beautiful, don't truly give the city justice. I'm very grateful that I had such an experience at this point in my life, though I'm positive that it won't be my last trip to Paris. Let's see...where should I begin?

Tuesday: Tuesday, Hannah and I went to Stockholm for the day and then to her Aunt's house (a cute little Swedish house on a lake) for the night, before catching our 7:30am flight to Paris. Since we were flying with RyanAir, we had to leave from a little airport about an hour from Stockholm, so it was easiest to stay with her Aunt the night before, and luckily, her aunt was nice enough to drive us to the airport at 4 am. (Seg-way to Wednesday...)

Wednesday: The flight to Paris took about 2 1/2 hours, and we arrived at a little airport outside of Paris and had to take a bus into the city. We arrived at Porte Maillot, on the outskirts of Paris, at around 11 on Wednesday morning. Before trying to find our hotel we decided to do a bit of sightseeing just in case we couldn't check in yet. Luckily, Paris has one of the easiest Metro systems to figure out ever, so all we had to do was buy a 3-day unlimited Metro pass (also could be used on the RER and the bus) and follow the map to pretty much wherever we wanted to go. We started by seeing the Arc de Triomphe, and I even found the name "Gautier" engraved into one of the walls, which was pretty exciting.
After seeing the Arc de Triomphe we made our way to the focal point of Paris - the Eiffel Tower. Now I'm sure that most people are like myself - you always see hundreds of pictures of the Eiffel Tower, thing it looks pretty cool, then just go on with whatever you were doing. Pictures do not give this incredible structure any justice. Standing under the Eiffel Tower is amazing - it is more of an architectural feat than I ever gave it any credit for. Even just standing under it for the hour or so that we were there that first time was enough for me to fall in love with the "Iron Lady."
While we were visiting the Eiffel Tower (currently equipped with a Rugby Inflatable in her infrastructure to promote the Rugby World Cup 2007 being held in Paris) we happened to notice a "100% Pure New Zealand" Rudby Bubble at one end of the Eiffel Tower land strip thing. We decided to venture over, hoping that it would give information about the New Zealand rugby team that we have now come to love. Though it wasn't about the rugby team per say, we watched a 10 minute promotional video about New Zealand. If I hadn't already been convinced to visit New Zealand by all of the New Zealanders that I have met, this might have done the trick. Either way, I plan on visiting.
After that, we wandered our way over to our hotel, had dinner, then went off on our nighttime excursion. We signed up for one of the "touristy" tours, where we went on a boat cruise of the Seine where we got to see all of the landmarks on the river by night, and then on an "Illumination" tour of the sights of Paris at night. Both tours were incredible - we learned about the history behind many of the points of interest of Paris as well as why it truly is the "City of Lights." I've decided that Paris is definitely one of those places that you need to see everything that you see by day, by night as well. It is the night-view of Paris that gives it its life and sparkle and identity. (Oh yeah...while waiting for our tour to begin we took a ride on the Ferris wheel near the Louvre museum - it was great to get a 360 view of Paris before we saw more of the sights.)
After our touristy adventure, we made our way back home via the Metro (our new Parisian best friend) where we were entertained by a group of boys dancing and rapping in our Metro car. Quite entertaining as I didn't realize that the Metro cars were also an entertainment venue. Finally making it back to our hotel, we both passed out rather quickly, getting ready for day #2 in Paris.

Thursday: Thursday was another day of walking around Paris trying to see all of the sights that we had yet to see. We started by visiting the Pantheon, a lesser-known but extremely beautiful cathedral in Paris. Next, we made our way over to a better-known cathedral, the Notre Dame. It was just as beautiful as I had envisioned, though I do admit that I am not aware of much of its history, so some googling will be in order so I learn a bit about the places that I've seen. After that, we walked to the Luxembourg gardens and palace for a quick tour around. Then we ate lunch and make our way over to the Montmartre cathedral. It sits on the top of a hill in Paris, so it looks amazing from the bottom of the hill and yields a great view once you're at the top of the hill. The inside of the cathedral isn't too shabby either. Then, we went for a quick viewing of the Moulin Rouge - on my list of things to do next time I'm in Paris is seeing a show at either the Moulin Rouge, Lido, or Crazy Horse - three cabarets in Paris. Next, we visited the Modern Art Museum in Paris, which houses all of the paints that aren't quite historical enough for the Louvre. Though I don't appreciate art as much as I should at this point in my life, I do enjoy going to museums - particularly to see the evolution that art has made throughout the centuries, with a focus on the modern end of the spectrum. Wandering around some more, we visited the Opera in Paris before sitting and having a baguette at a little pastry shop. Finally, we ended our day with a nighttime ride-to-the-top of Eiffel Tower. If I thought the Eiffel Tower was incredible by day, it is that much better by night. Not only is the trip to the top incredible - you can only imagine the view - but the Eiffel Tower literally sparkles throughout the night. I believe that it was on the hour, every hour, numerous lights on the Eiffel Tower start pulsing, making it look like the Eiffel Towering is sparkling throughout the city. It is amazing.

Friday: Friday we wrapped up our Paris adventure by seeing the sights that we hadn't yet seen. The highlights of the day were walking along the Canal St Martin and seeing the Grand Arche of La Defense. La Defense is a business district in Paris which is decorated by the Grand Arche, which is a giant square monument (see this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche). Seeing pictures, I definitely underestimated the size of this structure. It is HUGE, and once again, Paris has amazed me with its architecture (this time, in the modern sense). Here we sat during lunchtime and watched all of the business men and women walking around and eating lunch, and just took in the Paris lifestyle. (I even saw two KPMG buildings right by the Grand Arche, which make me very excited to be working for them next summer - they have offices everywhere!) After La Defense, we walked down Champs Elysees (the famous street in Paris) toward the Louvre. Friday night was our "Louvre night," as every Friday the Louvre has free entry for all people until 26 from 6:30 - 10ish. Not only is the Louvre incredible from the outside - the glass pyramids are mind boggling - but the inside, the structure as well as the art, is incredible as well. The amount of artwork that is housed in the Louvre would easily take days (maybe weeks) to truly see and appreciate all of it. We saw a good amount of the French and Italian paintings and sculptures (naturally, we saw the Mona Lisa) before heading home for the night.

Saturday: The trip home on Saturday was long (the Metro to a bus to a plane to a bus to a train to a bus to home), but definitely worth it - our Paris adventure was amazing. For all of you that haven't made it to Paris yet, please put it on your list of places to go. I promise that it won't disappoint. It is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen, and even though I have plenty more places that I need to visit, I'm sure that it will end up on the top of my list.