Lost in Deutschland: Weekend 7: PARIS!!!

October 8-11 2010

Thank you Columbus Day for making this a three day weekend in Paris!! I had my first overnight train experience. Altogether, it was a 12 hour train journey, with a 2 hour layover in a train station from 11pm-1am. It was actually really cool because my roommate Erin that went with me, who has been to Paris 4 times before this trip, and I randomly ran into about 12 other Camp Adventure folks. 2 hours flew by when we talked about our experience with the CDC's we've been working in and our traveling journeys! I am so grateful that we bought beds for our train ride, since we were on it for 8 hours. I don't know how we could have survived on Saturday without it!!
I was very grateful to have gone with Erin! She knows the ropes, how to get around, and the main attractions to see. We were very productive during our three days. When we arrived Saturday, we maneuvered through the train stations/metros. I can't believe how many homeless and gross people there are there in these things. It is rather scary, I have to admit. We found our hotel, freshened up, and then headed out to Disney Land Paris!!

Disney was AWESOME! I was rather hesitant spending that much money on it for a day, but I feel it was worth it. They have most of the same rides-Space Mountain, It's a small world, Peter Pan, Snow White. There was no splash mountain, bummer, but there was Big Thunder Mountain, probably the best one, Indiana Jones and Pirates. Another one of my favorites here, that was not at Disney World in Florida, or when I was there at least, was the Buzz Lightyear.

You just sat in a little car, spun around, and shot at the "Z" all over the place. It was the most interactive and really cool. I love little kid rides :) I was really disappointed with the Haunted House. I loved that one so much at DW, and this one did not live up. The Snow White ride didn't really follow the store I felt either, most of it was through the forest, and rather dark and scary. That's not how I remember the movie being.

The Sleeping Beauty castle was the big hit at DLP, and it was pretty in pink! I have actually never seen the entire Sleeping Beauty move, so I need to watch it now. I am actually looking forward to watching a bunch of my old Disney movies when I return home! Since we were there in the month of October, it was decorated at Halloween, which added some extra coolness to it! It was a long but great day at Disney, spent about 10 hours there. Made the most of our money that's for sure.

On Sunday, we woke up bright and early and headed into the city. We began our exploration with Sainte Chapelle, a Gothic Masterpiece built by Louis IX. It was finished in the year 1248. The church is absolutely astounding, and I have never seen anything like it in my life. It is no longer being used for masses though. It has 15 stained glass windows that raise 50 feet high. Each piece of stained glass depicts a story from the Bible; more then 1000 are shown. This picture is only 3 1/2 of the windows. You can't get the entire thing in a picture, which is why I bought a postcard :) They were remodeling the front alter part, so we couldn't see the 4 windows behind it, including the crowning of thorns. It's a 6 year remodeling/cleaning process, if that tells you anything about how elaborate this stained glass is.

The organ in the Notre-Dame

Backside of the Notre-Dame

After that, we walked over some bridges and headed to Notre-Dame. This is also a fascinating church, but Sainte Chapelle I thought was more worth it (which is probably why it costs money to go in there and not Notre-Dame. Building began in 1163, but took over a hundred years to finish. We went to the international mass at Notre-Dame, which was all in French except for about three lines, one in the beginning, during communion, and end of mass that were in English. This made it very difficult to pay attention, not going to lie.... It was really annoying and disrespectful how people would walk around the church and take pictures while mass was going on. France's largest organ is located in the Notre-Dame. Apparently, the original crown of thorns is here too, but only on display one day out of the year-Good Friday.

After Notre-Dame, we went on a little walk, went to a nice little cafe across the water from the Notre-Dame, and got to look at it all throughout lunch. It was really funny too, some people walked in looking for a table right by us. They spoke English and I made a comment about how their English sounded like a first language not a second. Our tables were next to each other, and when I say next to, I mean about 3 inches apart, literally. We chatted it up, and I found out they are from Missouri!! How awesome is that?! It is always great to meet people on trips from the US, and even more so when they're from your state as well!

The Musee d'Orsay

Later, we headed to the Musee d'Orsay. Erin likes this museum the most out of the ones she had been to previously, however this time was rather a disappointment. October is off-season, so lots of places are doing remodeling, and this is no different at the Musee d'Orsay. This is the museum that has most of the Impressionists and Post Impressionists paintings, such as those from Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh. Unfortunetly, Starry Night is temporarily at a museum in Nashville, Tennessee until December. What a bummer!! In addition to that, 53 of Claude Monet's paintings are at a different museum in Paris. Because of time, we couldn't go to all the museums in Paris, it would take days!!

The pyramid from the outside

This is only part of the Louve. I couldn't take a picture of the whole thing.


The bottom of the pyramid on	the inside

We did head over the the Louvre, but did not go through it. The Louvre was actually build in 1190 as a fortress. Charles the V was the first to live in it in the 1300's. It didn't become a museum until the 1700's. We went to the shop and took a picture of the pyramids. I do not read the Da Vinci code/Angels and Demons books, but this is the big thing from it apparently. The Camp A girls we met at the train station we actually randomly saw at the shop in the Louvre. They had been there 8 hours and were getting ready to leave. The place is absolutely huge, much bigger than I ever thought it was.

After the Louvre, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. I have an absolutely amazing postcard of this place that you can't take from the ground. All the streets of Paris lead to it. It was built by Napoleon to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. The Arc was not finished until 1836. It's really cool, and there is a lot of history to it. I decided to walk up it, 288 stairs! And I am so glad I did! The view was amazing!

Love the Eifel Tower!

Looking into the city!

Eifel Tower from the Arc de Triomphe

That was pretty much all we did on Sunday. Monday was another early morning. Our train left at 1pm and we got up to see the Eifel Tower. It took a lot longer to get there then we anticipated and we waited in line for an hour. By this time it was 11am and we were not even through security yet. It would take at least another hour to get up, which wouldn't leave enough time to catch the train. I decided that I got to see the city from the Arc, and it doesn't change much. What I really wanted was a picture in front of it. So we took a bunch of those. Then we did a few last minute travels around the city on the way to the train station. Here are some more pictures!