Paris, France

Ah, spring in Paris! After checking into our hostel, we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. The park was filled with people laying out and picnicking with the wonderful view of the tower. We posed for pictures and walked under it. I didn't feel compelled to walk up, so instead we walked around to get all views of the great monument. It was strange to finally be there; I didn't know exactly what I expected everything to look like, but seeing it, actually being there, was surreal.

Later that day we went to the Louvre. Christine and I walked around two of the many departments. We saw the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian work. The Italian paintings were obviously my favorite. The huge halls are filled with paintings of all sizes, except the wall with the Mona Lisa; that wall was bare besides the smiling lady. There were "No Camera" signs everywhere, but everyone took photos anyway.

The next day we took an open-top, hop-on hop-off bus tour. This is probably the most touristy thing I've done in the past four months but it was honestly a great way to see the city. Paris is huge and very spread out, so the bus tour allowed us to see things we may not have made it to on our own: Notre Dame, Grand Palais, Champs de Mars, and Musee d'Orsay. I especially loved the grandness of the Champs Elysees-Etoile, where we stopped to have lunch.

I absolutely loved Montmartre. The hill looked like a garage sale with many people selling trinkets, furniture, and art. I loved browsing through all of the old records and vintage clothes. It was here in Montmartre where Christine and I we indulged ourselves our first French crepes (nutella for her, banana and chocolate for me). It was beautiful and shady with an amazing view of the city.

On our last night we went for a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. We had yet to see it at night, and hundreds of people had the same idea as we did. It was a wonderful night to be surrounded by people from all over the world. Drinking wine and eating sandwiches we watched as every hour the Tower would begin to sparkle and the crowd would ooh and ahh. It was the perfect Parisian night in my opinion, and was very sorry to leave the next day.