Par-ee Holds the Key to My Heart!...(points to whoever can tell me what song that is from!) :)

This weekend was absolutely FABULOUS! I had a wonderful time in Paris, seeing things I've only seen and read about (until about 2 days ago) in books and movies. Now I can say I've been there. So exciting!

I left for Paris on Thursday morning, first flying to Rome to meet my friends there and then all of us would fly to Paris from Rome. It was a little weird, I was sitting in this tiny, tiny airport in Rome, entertaining myself by listening to radio podcasts (shout out to the Lunch Break with Bess and Marc- I LOVE your show!) :) and watching episodes of Jon and Kate plus 8 on my iPod. I arrived in Rome at about 12:30, and my friends came around 5pm, so it was kind of a long afternoon. I was traveling with my friend Alex Tucci, and then 3 of her friends from Rome where she is studying abroad this semester. We flew to Paris, took a bus into the city (because Paris Beauvais airport is about 40 miles outside of the city) and then got on the metro to our hotel. We decided what our plans were going to be for the next day, and quickly fell asleep. We were all very tired.

Friday we spent the entire day in the city, literally. We left our hotel at 8am and didn't get back until close to midnight! We started our day at the Eiffel Tower, hoping to beat the lines later in the day. We arrived close to 9am, only to figure out that it doesn't open until 9:30, so we sent the boys to buy us crepes that we had seen at a crepe stand on the way there. We eventually got up into the Tower, and enjoyed some awesome views from the top. Unfortunately it was really cloudy that morning, so it wasn't the best possible view, but it was still cool. (FYI- I'll put my pictures up in a seperate post. It makes my life a squosh bit easier).

We left the Tower, and found a nice place across the bridge to get better pictures of the infamous Parisian landmark (also where the new background picture came from!) After that, we walked to the Arc du Triumph and stopped along the way to eat lunch. We followed the Arc with a stroll down the Champs Elysse, and then eventually made our way to the Luxembourg Gardens. My favorite part about these gardens was the fact that they built chairs specifically made for napping- as in they had a slight recline. So we all took a quick nap in the gardens, and then continued to walk around the city. Eventually we got to Notre Dame and the Lourve, both of which were very impressive. We ate our dinner, saw the light show on the Effiel Tower and then made our way back to the hotel at around midnight. It was a long, but absolutely wonderful, day.

Saturday was spent at Versailles, all day. We toured the Palace and the Gardens, both of which give a whole new meaning to the definition of "over-done." I now know why the French government was in serious economic debt at the time of the French Revolution. It was gorgeous, but way over the top. The gardens encompass 8 miles of land around the Palace. It's crazy. So we spent all day there, walking through everything and seeing everything. We made it back to our hotel around 7ish and eventually went out to visit the Moulin Rouge stage. Afterwards, we came home and packed and got ready for an early morning- we had to catch the first metro line at 5:30am to catch a bus to get to the airport by 7:30. I spent the day at the Paris Beauvais airport (which might be the most poorly engineered airport I have ever been in my entire life) and then finally got back to Madrid that afternoon.

I was planning on posting pictures along with this, but I am tired, and I have to get up early tomorrow for class, so you all will have to wait :) And they are REALLY GREAT, so you all will defintely want to come back!

all my love--