Friday November 14th- Prague to Paris

I am sitting at the airport by 4:15 for my flight that left at 6:00, but I had a book to read (The Time-Travelers Wife which was very good, if anyone is looking for a book to read). I got on the plane and had an aisle seat which is good, but I was next to two women who talked loudly the whole plane ride. We got to Paris around 7:45 and this was the first flight that I've ever taken where they bring the stairs to the plane and you get off right onto the tarmac. When I told my flatmates that it was the first time I've ever done that, they were all shocked… but it's not common in the Northwest! The airport was pretty dead given it was early on a Friday morning and I had my bag by 8. It took me 45 minutes and asking four or five people before I could find out where the shuttle I was looking for was. I wanted this one because it was a decent price and it dropped me at the main train/metro station near where my hotel was. It took a little over an hour to get to it, Gare Montparnasse. Off course when I got dropped off, I got lost trying to find the hotel. Getting lost was the theme of my trip, haha. But it was absolutely insane, when I got lost, I was circling this crazy round about close to my hotel and I turned around and looked straight down the street and there was the Eiffel Tower. It was crazy. After I finally found my hotel around 10:30 and couldn't check-in yet, I dropped my luggage off and went down the street to a café and got breakfast (pain au chocolat and tea… so delicious). The guy at the hotel told me that check-in was at 2:00, but they usually had rooms around 12:00. I was back there at 11:30 because I wanted to check-in before I went off and did all my sight seeing; I just told the guy: "I'm just going to wait, I know it's not noon, but I'm just gonna wait. I'll be right over there." And sure enough they had a room available about 5 minutes later.

I checked it and got settled and had a little nap and it was fantastic. I mean, the room was small, but the bed was large (I miss my bed at home in the States…) and I had my own bathroom! It was just a Best Western, bit it was luxury for me, well worth it.

After getting settled in, I set off to walk to the Eiffel Tower. I just went back to the round-about I first saw it at and just walked straight towards it. It was so easy to find because it's so tall. The Eiffel Tower was spectacular! I mean, I've seen pictures of it and everything, but I never thought I would be so affected by it, but I couldn't stop taking pictures of it! It was amazing, so beautiful. I didn't go up it, but I sat before it, underneath it and on the other side of it.

I walked from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe, which was a beautiful walk. It was pretty cool to see the Arc, the round-about around it was absolutely crazy! I've never seen anything so crazy! I couldn't figure out how to get over to it, although I did see people over there. I didn't realize there was a bridge underneath the street to get there; I thought it was just human frogger or something. Oh well, I sat and people watched for quite a while. And almost saw a dozen or so car accidents.

Then I walked the Champs d'Elysée, whichwascovered in shops that I would never be able to afford, but it was really well kept and lots of tourists, so it was fun to walk. I saw -Chris' ultimate fantasy, a two-story Disney store with a huge screen tv in it playing a French animated film. Unfortunately they didn't have any men's clothing; I was looking for a Disneyland Paris tee-shirt for his X-mas gift. Oh well.

From there I proceeded to walk through some amazing looking museums, which I unfortunately didn't go into. Then I made it to the Place de la Concorde, and then down the River Seine and towards the Louvre. Even though it was raining a little at this point, I sat and enjoyed the gardens in front of it, which were amazingly green and full of art themselves. I walked to it and the Palace around the Louvre was so beautiful! I sat, in the rain, and watched the fountains and looked at people going into the museum. Then I went into the glass pyramid and down the escalator and into the foyer and watched the gazillions of people going into the museum. I walked the gift shop and decided that I would try to come back after 6:00 because on Fridays they have a student price after 6:00 which was much less than the original price and I still had things I wanted to see before it got dark. But I felt all Da Vinci Code even just being in the foyer!

I followed the river and did a little shopping, mostly in these crazy green boxes that people sell their stuff out of. It was getting dark, wet, and miserable, but it was fun to do that.

From there I went to Notre Dame, which, I know I've said this before, was spectacular. Amazing. It was breath-taking, and amazing because it still very much a working cathedral. I was lucky because there weren't too many people there to actually appreciate it.

At this point it was almost 5:00 and I hadn't eaten since breakfast. So I called Mom to wish her happy birthday on the way to finding dinner. I went to a little restaurant and had a ham and mixed cheese sandwich on a fresh baguette. The restaurant had a crepe stand attached to it, and you saved a little taking it to go, so after my sandwich I got a crepe with chocolate filling. It was probably the best thing I've ever eaten, ever. It was heaven in a little pastry packet. I ate it on my way back to the Louvre, but unfortunately I got completely lost on my way back and couldn't figure out how to get back. Eventually I found a Metro and navigated my way back to my hotel. After I finally found the hotel, I turned on the tv and realized the only channel in English was CNN. I had it on, but I crashed out in about 5 minutes, where I slept for over 12 hours. I was exhausted from my day!

I have two more days to blog about, and now I have my Wales trip too... but essays call most of the time. Very unfortunate.