There's no place like Paris

Yup, I have to say that without a doubt there's no place like Paris.  I understand why people go gaga over Paris now.  Besides my Saturday night mean French people experience, I'd have to say I do love Paris as well. Everything about that city is just so different from any other place I've been.  Maybe it's the fact that they speak French though, that certainly helps add to the whole foreign feeling.  Now I wouldn't go a say it's my favorite place, because there are a few things I would change about it, but I certainly didn't hate and and certainly loved it.  

Let me start you off with the antics I had to go through to get there.  haha, that was certainly a trip.  I didn't take a siesta on Thursday, which was a bad plan.  But I'm really bad at siestas here, there's always something else I want to do during that time.  No offense to the Spanish siestas style, and I do love it, but 4 o'clock is such a great time to be productive!! I'm so pumped after class to run errands, but I can't because I had to eat and everything is closed.  It's kind of a bummer, so I've taken to doing other productive things, such as catch up on blogging, or reading, or journaling, or just fooling around on my computer. :P  But I digress.  

I didn't take a nap and my bus left for Madrid at 1:30 in the morning.  Naturally around 10 I was feeling tired and regretting forgoing the nap, but wanted to power through it so I would sleep on the bus there.  Well, I left the house around 12:30, caught a cab with some friends to the bus station and hopped on an overnight bus to Madrid.  My flight left Madrid at 9:35 in the morning so that worked out perfectly.  Except for the whole sleeping on a bus thing.  I finally got comfortable (and I say that in the loosest terms) and fell asleep, only to be woken up at 3:30 by the bus lights.  I guess it's madatory to stop half way through these stops.  So I got up to use the restrooms at the stop and grab something to eat because I was actually pretty hungry.  Then we continued on our way to Madrid and got there at about 6-6:30 a.m .  Me, Jen, Kendall and Allie then all realized we forgot how to look up how to get to the airport from the bus station...minor oversight on our parts.  But have no fear!! We knew some girls on our bus, there were a bagillion students on the overnight buses heading out for the weekend, so they showed us the ropes and we went with them.  We took the metro and got to the airport at around 7:30 or 8. 

Then the funniest thing happened!! Me and my friends stopped to use the restrooms...don't worry this is going somewhere funny...and when I walked in a saw..........MY SENORA!.  haha.  She was traveling to "Londres" or London with her cousin/friend and we knew we were going to be at the same airport, and took buses only a 1/2 hr off from each other, but it was so random!  I said hello to her and she turned around and was so shocked and happy.  It was the cutest thing every.  She gave me the biggest hug, like it hadn't only been about 6 hours since she saw me. haha.  She was adorable and then we just said hello and goodbye and went on our merry way, but it was a funny experience. 

Anyways, so our flight was fine, it was easy and we arrived in Paris, France with no problems.  In Europe they like to let you off on the tarmac, which is a bit odd because I've only done that once before.  But here in Europe it's actually quite common.  Anyways, we headed to our hostels, and took the metro together.  I was staying at a different hostel with my friend Hollie than Jen and Kendall was, but it turned out that unknowingly we booked hostels literally 2 min away from each other.  Since Hollie had taken a different flight with a different friend I was by myself, so Jen and Kendall helped me find my hostel, after getting lost and asking  French woman who spoke no English where to go.  But it was no problem and we found the hostel just fine.  I dropped off my stuff and met Kendall and Jen outside at the metro station to explore the city a bit.  By the time we dropped all our stuff off it was only 3:30.  So we grabbed some grub (some expensive grub that was not worth my money) and then headed over to Notre Dame.  No worries, after that one experience at the restaurant I vowed that although food is supposed to be good in France, I was not going to bother spending 15 euro per meal.  The rest of the trip I just ate at stands, got crepes or bought food at a store and cooked in the hostel kictchen.  

I'm going to digress again and say that I actually like staying at hostels.  Idk why I thought they would be so scary.  People tell you they are, but in Europe that are really nice places.  I enjoy the experience, it's a cheap and easy way to sleep somewhere.  And honestly, why should I have $100+ just for a place to sleep in?  I stayed at Le Regent Montmare, I have no idea how to say that or if it's spelled correctly.  But it was a nice little place with like 6 floors and a huge common kitchen and nice common space.  You also get to meet some interesting people.  Me and Hollie had a room with one awkward person who we had no idea who he was.  I really don't even think he slept in the hostel.  And then there was this Turkish guy there for some medical conference that was happening.  We saw a billion people with that same silly pink bag all over France.  He was really nice and gave us some extra pads and pens he had gotten from his conference.  He was meeting with some teacher to find out if he could study in London for 6 months this summer.  

Any ways, so that's my hostel.  There's a pic of the outside and of the inside.  There's Hollie and our dinner feast on the floor.  It consisted of bread, nutella, crackers, cookies and an apple :) Yummm

Well, I didn't actually check into my hostel until around 9, but that's because Hollie was MIA with Gabe and our phones didn't work.  No biggie, I headed out to Notre Dame!!! with Kendall and Jen!  I was so excited to see Notre Dame, who hasn't watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame and wanted to be Esmeralda or just be there in general.  Oh and all the gargoyels are scary!

So we found out way via metro, and when we walked out, the first thing I saw as "uh guys, I think I found Notre Dame"...this is what I saw...  Yup, it was pretty sick.  We got there at a good time too, because the line wasn't too long to get in.  Unfortunately I have too many pictures of Notre Dame and just not enough to talk about inside of it.  I didn't get to take any cool free guided tours, so I don't really have any cool tid bits of information.  We got there too late to take the free tour they offered, and I didn't want to waste the rest of my days there on a 3 1/2 hr tour if I wasn't going to get to see everything well.  Hollie went on one because she got there early enough on Saturday.  So she gave me a few bits of information while we were walking around, but we didn't go to Notre Dame together, so I didn't get any cool info.  But I can tell you this place is ENORMOUS and really super cool inside and outside.  I was literally just in awe the whole time. That also could have been the sleep deprivatey, but I doubt it.  So since I have so many photos, I think I'll just list them and post little captions.  

ME!

Pretty stain glass window

Gorgeous alter

Mother Teresa

Ceiling

Model of Notre Dame

ME

Another view

Gargoyles!

That's pretty much the only way I describe this place.  It was breath taking and I loved being inside.  I wanted to return but we just didn't have time.  But I spent about a good hour inside and I loved it.  After we wandered around the Cathedral we actually ended up asking these two girls we heard speaking English take a picture for us.  Turns out they're studying in Granada too!! So we hooked up with them and walked around that area of Paris together.  It was pretty fun.  We found this cute cool little shop that I actually got a gift for someone from there.  They had all sorts of quirky little things....like this!  I wanted to buy one so bad for Maggie but it just wouldn't have fit into my backpack :(  So I settled for a picture of it for you guys.  Hope you enjoy them.  Then we found this cool shop that was full of stuff made from olive oil.  Turns out the girl at the place was from Cleveland and studied in Paris about 5 years ago.  She got into the Olive Oil business (I know weird) and ended up living in Paris.  It was a cute little store and we gave her some nice company!  From there we turned around and headed back.  We stopped for some coffee and then parted ways.  I was pretty exhausted and wanted to head back to the hostel in hopes of catching Hollie and getting some rest.  Jen and Kendall headed over the Eiffel Tower and the two girls were heading in my direction towards another Cathedral.  So I went with them towards my hostel and checked in.  Turns out Hollie was there just hanging around so I stayed and we planned our Saturday.  I went to bed at around 9, which I legit think is the earliest I've gone to bed the whole time I've been here.  But after nearly 12 hours of travel I was pretty beat.  I knew seeing the Eiffiel Tower and doing more touristy things would just make me cranky and unappreciative, so I hit the hay.  Let me just say I slept amazingly.

Once again this is going to take more than one post, so I'll continue with another post of Paris!!  Maybe I'll even get most of them up today and tomorrow.  Seeing as I leave for another adventure on Friday morning I'm hoping to finish all of my blogging and journaling so I'll be all caught up for that.

Till then, love you all!