Now when you all talk to me, you can tell me "Sara, Je t'aime" :)
Continuing on with my Paris adventure, Wednesday was filled with art museums. Molly and I first went to the Louvre. We tried to get there early but ended up arriving at 10:30 a.m. The place was already packed full! We got to see Venus de Milo, Winged Victory statue, and of course, the Mona Lisa. It was just an incredible experience to get to see the paintings and sculptures you always see in movies or hear about.
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| Venus de Milo |
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| Mona Lisa |
Orsay was fun because I actually knew some of the paintings! Van Gogh's self portrait and Starry Night were both there. There were also some paintings done by Monet of the Rouen Cathedral, which Molly and I had visited when we went to Rouen. That was a pretty cool experience.
After Orsay Molly and I decided it was time for some shopping! We went to Marais, the Jewish Neighborhood, and just went to a ton of different shops. While I did not find anything I like enough to buy, Molly found the most adorable stripped sweater which I loved! So of course she had to buy it. It was then back to the hostel to meet up with Kate and Anthony!
When those two arrived I just died. Kate, Molly and I in Paris?!? Plus our new good friend Anothony?! It was so unreal.
Side Story: In Paris you can buy a pack of 10 metro passes to use. It's a lot cheaper than buying individual ones especially if you are going a lot of different places in Paris. Molly and I both bought them. When Kate and Anthony got on the metro for the first time, they were trying to work the machine to give them 10 tickets. A man came up to them and said he worked for the metro and could get them the tickets. So they both paid the 12 euros to get the pass. When we were getting ready to leave the hostel for dinner, Kate was searching and searching for her pass. When she couldn't find it, I told her to just borrow one of Anthony's 10 passes and then give him back one when she did find them all. Kate stops, looks at me and says, "Wait, we're supposed to have 10 of them?" Kate and Anthony got robbed in the Paris subway! The man (who did not really work for the metro) gave them only one pass and said it would work 10 times but in reality it would only work one time! (I hope you're laughing right now)
We headed off to dinner and got croque madames and monsieurs (which you know I love). After that, we went to see the Eiffel Tower! It was incredible! So much bigger than I thought it would be and it also was all light up. One of the pretties buildings I have ever seen where I like it at night better than during the day. We were planning on going up to tower that night but after seeing how long the line was, we decided to just buy tickets in advance for tomorrow and go up during the day time.
One thing about being at the Eiffel Tower. There were a ton and I mean A TON of vendors there. They were all black too (I say this in the nicest way possible. I'm not sure the politically correct term for black people in France. French Africans?) Anyways, they tried to see you everything! It got really irritating because if you said no, they wouldn't just go away, they would continue to try and sell you stuff. Well I HATE this so I was pretty rude to all of them. But honestly, they should be used to it because I didn't see anyone buying anything from them.
Thursday was a packed day! The four Americans found our way to Versailles, the palace in Paris. It's the ame palace that Napoleon stayed at and Marie Antoinette along with all the Louis (there are a ton of Louis kings! I can't keep them all straight). We got to see some of rooms in the palace including a chapel, some important rooms like military tactics and different "special rooms", the king's bedroom (where all those Louis stayed) and the queen's bedroom. We also saw the door that Marie Antoinette used to flee the palace when it was being taken over. It was pretty amazing! The gardens outside were also really pretty. It looked like a typical palace or castle you would think of.
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| Right outside Versailles |
Next Molly, Kate, Anthony and I headed to the Eiffel Tower again. I got a little choked up while we were there just thinking about how amazing it was we all met in Paris and how great of friends I have (I'm such a softy). But I did my best to pull myself together! I must admit I was pretty scared when we got to the top. It's like, really REALLY, high up and I don't do well with heights. But nonetheless it was an incredible view and it's cool to say that you've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Next was Arc de Triomphe. There was some sort of military demonstration going on. It reminded me of the Changing of the Guards ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Although we didn't know what was going on or why, it was still cool to see. There were a lot of different military men and police there. Again the view from the top was spectacular and I really enjoyed it.
We got all dressed up for dinner that night and headed out to do something fancy. We went to a restaurant close to our hostel because there were a ton of good ones and Anthony and I tried French beer! I also got a spread of cheese, meat and bread for dinner which was perfect. Of course we had to stop at a bakery and get some pastries and desserts for later that night. What's Paris without bakeries? We visited our cute and most favorite gelato shop afterward and had just a really fun night. It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip.
Molly and I got up the next morning and took the shuttle bus to the airport. I of course cried when I said goodbye to her. We had to go to different terminals to get to our planes so while we were both in the airport, we couldn't hang out. I waiting for four hours until I boarded my plane and then it was back to Vienna, and then to Graz!
The Icing on the Cake:
While on the train from Vienna back to Graz, I met some people traveling to Graz as well. One was from Spain, another from Turkey, just travelers from around the world. About an hour and a half into the train ride, one of the guys comes over and asks, "Have you heard?" Well obviously not I don't speak German and that's all they speak over the loud speakers. In Graz, they found a bomb from WWII in the train station and the entire station was evacuated along with two kilometers around the station. So what did that mean for me, no trains were getting in or out of Graz.
!!!What was I supposed to do?!?!?!
Luckily, an Austrian guy, not much older than me, said he would translate for us and help us get to where we needed to go. At Bruck an der Mur (another little city before Graz) they said there would be a bus. Well when you have one bus that carries 30 people (if that) and 70 people needing to get to Graz, you're screwed. Conrad, the Austrian, said we could take a train to Frohnleiten and then his girlfriend would meet us there and take us into Graz. Frohnleiten is the little town I had visited the weekend before Paris so I said sure, I'd do that! So I, Sara Regan, trusting a complete stranger, got on a new train with him and my other foreign travelers, went to Frohnleiten and got off the train to get into a strangers car. They dropped me off on the other side of the river where I had to walk back to my dorm. It took me about 30 minutes to get home once in Graz but I was at least home. And all of this because of a bomb. Which they set off that night!
Ah so that is my perfect ending to a wonderful trip to not only Paris, but Paris with some of the best friends anyone could ask for.
Love,
Sara
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