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Now in Paris......an interesting city. It seems like everyone is selling stuff. I cannot figure out if it is just the neighborhood I am in or it is actually Paris, but everytime I get out of the Hostel/Metro.....i get people trying to sell me Marbolos (cigs), then beggers, and then people selling more stuff. The hostel is very cheap, but the people running/neighborhood is kinda sketchy. I just found out that the nieghborhood is full of drug people... now it makes me wonder if it is really cigs that people are selling.
Our first stop in Paris was the REAL Notre Dame. I got a chance to do confession in the Notre Dame (how cool)! The entire design of the Norte Dam was symbolizes something...like I read that it is shaped like a Cross. It is incredible that someone created it in the 1400s by hand.
Next was the Eiffel tower. The best part about the tower is that at you can have picnics and social gatherings on the ground near the tower. We almost had a picnic but I left stuff at our cheap hostel that required us to go back to retrieve before anyone stole it. When you get to the top of the tower, it gives you a chance to see all of Paris. You are so high up that it feels like it has changed temperatures. I used the view to figure out what to do next in Paris.
Today, we went to the Musee de l'armee. It hold the tomb of Napoléon. When you actually walk down to the crypt, you get to see Napoléons tomb. Other sites were the history of battles from late 1880s to 1945. It was funny, to actually see signs of Hitler in Paris and French landmarks in German (due to the fact that if Germany had won in world war 2 the french would be speaking German instead of French)......crazy right!!!!
Then we went to the Montmarte which was close to moulin rouge.....so i got a chcance to see a TON of porn shops.......i guess it is preparing me for Amsterdam. It was just crazy to see that many porn shops in a ROW!!!!Something I am not used to at ALL! Nick was asked to go into one but the lady got very offended when he said no. Her response was this is Paris!!!
Montmarte was a pretty little church that had artists and shops right outside of it. I am planning to purchase a real painting of Paris before I leave.
Then we went to Arc de Triomphe. This has a tomb of an unknown soldier, yet everything at this amazing symbol of Paris was in French so I could only look at the statues and read from the book that it was made by Napoléon.
I have to admit Paris is harder for me to enjoy because of language barriers and I was told not to trust French peoples directions due to the fact that they enjoy making people get lost......not sure if it is true but not really trying to in find out. I got yelled at the other day by a child because I would not move out of his way when he said pardon. I do enjoy the deserts here. The pastries are amazing and completely affordable. Today I had my first french meal. It was salad, french fries, and ham with cheese on it. It was amazing but then again anything besides bread or sweets sounds good right now.
The Louve was interesting. I thought the Mona Lisa would be bigger but it is quite small. The lure of the Mona Lisa is that they do not know who it is, why Da Vinci kept it for so long, he worked on it all his life, and that it was stole. The venus de milo was really cool. They say that the pieces of the sculpture were put together and that it had a crown; however they are not sure about the gestuers of the arms. I think a whole day is needed in the louve to truly enjoy it, but we left after our tour to find the ild de cite....which is an old bridge....we are not sure if we found it though. It is on every map yet no signs of it.
The place de concorde is beautiful. The obelisk dates back to 3300 years ago and is still standing today. INCREDIBLE!!!I like it because the jardins are not far away and it provides a great view of the Eiffel tower, arc de triolphe. Plus it was not at all far away from the louve.
The trains are always so warm here. .....when I get into them I almost always fall asleep. I actually like it(most days).
Versailles is amazing. I would have to say it was my favorite part of the trip to Paris. The palace is just incredible. I felt like each room I could sit for in hours and still be noticing new things. The design of the palace was so extravagant that I left me speechless.
On my way back from Versailles, I was walking down the street when a French man walked up to me and started talking French. I informed him that I was American. He asked me if I had a boyfriend, so I lied and said I did. Then he asked if he could be my French boyfriend and wanted to get coffee with me. I insisted that I was not interested. I have never been confronted that quickly by a man, it was quite shocking.
It is really hard to adjust to the time here. At 11pm the sun is just setting. I feel like it is so early here when it is actually really late. It doesn't help that my clock is in military time which I have not adjusted to yet.
I think it is interesting that each country has one person that really made a difference for them…... France has Napoleon, Rome has Caesar, Turkey has Atturk,……what does America have?
Next stop is Amerstdam
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