The City of Romance

That's right. I went to Paris. My namesake (kind of).

And look who brought me!!

 at the Eiffel Tower!

I was a last minute addition to the travel plans. Will literally bought my plane tickets 2 days before we left.

No one knew getting to Paris would be such an adventure. This is how the journey unfolded:


FRIDAY:

Train: Florence to Pisa

Lunch in Pisa

Train: Pisa Centrale to Pisa Airport

20 min to boarding Will realizes he lost his wallet

The flight starts boarding and Will comes back with wallet (everything still in it). In the meantime an Asian from England (with a proper british accent) has made small talk with me

Land in Paris

Realize we didn't land in Paris. We landed in a rando small town and hour outside of Paris.

British Asian guy tells us to walk 45 min to another town and take a 6e train into Paris instead of the 16e bus from the airport.

We take his advice.

Singing his praises all the way to the city we get there 2 hours later (with a stop at McDonalds)

At the train station we can not buy tickets due to the machines only taking cards with chips in them. Who knew.

Cursing the British Asian we start to walk the long uphill trek back to the airport when we find a taxi driver.

He is paid 20e to drive us a 10min drive to the airport. a reasonable amount when split between 5 frustrated freezing Americans.

Pay the 16e and ride the bus into Paris

Saved at the metro by a friend studying in Paris who shows us the way to our hotel. She was the real angel of the day, not the British Asian.

We were so exhausted, but were greeted by a beautiful sight when we finally made it to our hotel room.

no words. beautiful.

SATURDAY:

Went straight to the Eiffel Tower. Obviously. 

But first we stopped at the most amazing bakery ever! I wanted to try one of everything!

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

This guy. Eiffel Tower. I win.

Here comes the snow!

View of Paris from the Eiffel

It. Is. Snowing.

As we climbed the steps of the Eiffel Tower we could see the storm moving in across the city. We thought it was rain! And none of us wore our rain jackets. It only had a 30% chance of rain. Why would there be rain. Am I right?

We were wrong. It was snow pellets! The coolest thing ever! Snow. On the Eiffel Tower. In Paris. 

It was magnificent.

We spent a lot of time at the Eiffel Tower. We then walked to the Louvre and stopped for Asian food along the way.

Dont judge. It was yummy!

Finally. The Louvre.

yes yes yes

If you think you're about to get an Art History Lesson with Paris. You. Are. Wrong.

We arrived at the Louvre at 4:45. It closes at 5:30. I had to wait another day to tour the Louvre. I was more than disappointed. 

So instead we went to see the Arc de Triumph. 

Crepes on our way to the Arc

View of the sunset from the Louvre.

Arc de Triumph

When planning our evening with the rest of our group. Will turns to me.

"Do you want to go on a date with me tonight?"

....uummmmm.................. Hang on. Let me think about that for a second.

"YESS!!"

So. Taking advantage of Paris and all of its romance, we made a few stops during our date. 

Eiffel Tower. Notre Dame. Candlelight Dinner.

This guy took me on a date in Paris! Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

What a great date night!

Besides not being able to see the Louvre. Saturday was a fantastic day. 

SUNDAY:

Will and I ditched the rest of the group and woke up early to go to the Louvre. It was free admission today since it is the first Monday of the month.

We went with the rest of Paris to see amazing art. But first we stopped yet again at the yummy little bakery.

Eating Macaroons outside of the Louvre

And we finally made it into the Louvre! The museum of numerous puns Will made this weekend! and yes, I louvred each and every one of them!

My favorite sculpture of ALL TIME is in the Louvre. We were on a mission to find her! And were able to see some amazing things along the way.

And now. What you have all been waiting for with great anticipation. Art History time with Paris!

We found the Venus de Milo. The Greek goddess Aphrodite, but Venus to the Romans.

There are no words.

So, if you have payed attention during my previous blogs you will know what such a HUGE DEAL this guy is!  He was found at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea in 1996 because of a ship wreck. Basically all bronze statues were destroyed and melted down to use for money and every day objects. Especially during raids and wars. So the ones that survive are so amazing! I love him! He is thought to be an athlete removing oil and sand from his body by using a strigil. Thus the name given the him: The Croatian Apoxyomenos. He is also thought to be a Roman replica of a Greek original. BUT HE IS BRONZE!!

The Code of Hammurabi. Learned about this awesome thing my freshman year. Can't believe I got to see it! These are the laws of the 6th Babylonian king. It contains over 282 laws which range from matters of contract, how to pay a surgeon, property damage to your house if it is in another's care, and divorce. So crazy!! 

 Finally.. What I have waited to see again for 8 years. "Nike of Samothrace" or, the "Winged Victory of Samothrace". Whichever you prefer.

Let's take a moment and look at how beautiful she is. Isn't she stunning? Background. The commanding naval officer of the time commissioned this sculpture after winning a huge naval battle! From the island Samothrace she was placed where she could be seen by ships on the ocean. Her clothes look like they are blowing in the breeze from the ocean and it displays such an image of triumph. SHE IS SO AMAZING! They date her back to as late at 250 BC. There is so much more about her. But. There is so much more!

I mightv'e become a little depressed when I left her.

So, after dragging Will through the Louvre, I know he was bored out of his mind, but I think he enjoyed the fact that I was so giddy about everything, we ate at, yes, another chinese restaurant!

Not being able to contact anyone all day we went back to the hotel to get our bags we left in storage there.

They weren't there.

Finally got a text from the rest of the group, they picked up our bags on the way out. 

High tailed it to the bus stop because we didn't want to have a huge awful crisis getting to the airport again.

While we were waiting for our friends, our bags, and the bus, we had another round of crepes!

Men and their crepes.

yummmmm!!!

Finally, we got our bags, the rest of our group, and it was off to the airport.

We were all relieved to be back in Italy where we could understand some of the language, instead of the French vomit of letters that they call a way to communicate. 

But, there's more.

Will lost his passport at the airport. It was recovered. Will had his guardian angel working over time this weekend! 

And when all of us got back to Florence I realized I had no idea where my keys were or when the last time was I had them...... uh-oh.

With a 45 min layover Will and I rushed to my apartment and buzzed in thanks to my awesome roommates and I tore apart my room and backpack looking for my keys. 

I still can't find them. 

So. Prayers for me as I start my first week of classes. That I can find my keys, and if not, that the process of requiring replacement keys will not be awfully painful.

A HUGE shout out to Will this weekend for him and his friends including me in a great trip to Paris! I had a blast and it was the perfect weekend after not seeing Will for a month! He's so good to me! And his friends were awesome to take care of me all weekend and keep me feelings safe! 

And, with that, I leave you until next time. Don't worry. Next weekend is Venice!!