So, I have been so busy it is hard to keep up with these posts and everything I am doing as it happens, but I am trying to record everything as soon as I can so I won't forget anything!
Last weekend was jam packed! On Thursday night Elise, Emily, and I went on a 2 hour boat tour of Paris. It was better than we could have imagined! The weather was perfect, in the mid-upper 70s and the sun was setting. We learned some of the history of the city as we sailed along the Seine past all kinds of museums and the Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower and reach a better understanding of where everything was in relation to each other in the city. (We often feel like little moles taking the metros everywhere because you are just traveling around underground and you pop out of the whole and there's the Pompidou or Luxembourg Gardens, but if you asked me to walk from one place to another I would have no idea which direction to go! haha) Anyway, during this perfect evening one of the co-owners of the boat tour company and his wife came over to chat with us. We talked about where we were from and what we were doing in Paris and he told us to all look for French boyfriends ("only after we learn French," were his terms haha). Then he offered us some free champagne! So we were sitting on the top deck of the boat sailing along sipping champagne with him and his wife as the sun was setting on the Eiffel Tower... seriously it was so great, I could not make this stuff up! Naturally I forgot my camera... :(
Friday night we met up with Leanne and one of Emily's friends who is also studying abroad in Paris to relax along the river with some wine and then we headed briefly to a bar in Bastille for a little, relatively calm night.
Saturday, however was jam packed! We got up early in the morning to go to Versailles for the day and Emily, Elise, and I met Emily's friend, Helen, at the train station. It was only about an hour out of the city which was nice. Once we got there we got awesome student discounts (8 euro instead of 27) to see the Chateau, the gardens, and Marie Antoinette's little weekend home. The Chateau was HUGE and took forever to walk through, so after being in there for a few hours we were exhausted and starving! There were a lot of pretty rooms and artwork, but it was a lot to see. We found some lunch after and made our way through the gardens to Marie Antoinette's weekend house all the way at the back of the property (a good 30-40 minute walk!). That was cute too because it had famous designers' recreations of Marie Antoinette-style gowns which was soooo interesting to see! After a long day of walking we were exhausted and we got home with a few hours to rest, but after that it was time to go out for Nuit Blanche. Now, Nuit Blanche translates to "White Night," in French but it really means "all-nighter." It is pretty much an all night art festival where expositions are set up all over the city! Some were in old buildings or just projections on the the sides of buildings, but we were really excited to see it! Unfortunately the metros were especially crowded because it turned out everyone else was as excited as us to see the art (or just use an excuse to drink a lot and stay out late because the metros would be open later). We also had some trouble finding the expositions we wanted to see which was a bummer! Feeling exhausted and a little disappointed, I knew it was just time to go home and sleep for approximately forever.
The next morning there was supposed to be a huge yoga session happening in front of the Eiffel Tower but it was already full so I didn't even bother to set my alarm. Emily ended up going with her friend and really enjoyed herself though, so I regretted missing it a bit. But anyway Elise and I ended up going to this Natural History Museum to see an evolution exhibit with all kinds of animals and when we were done in there we realized there was a zoo in the same park as the museum! We were ecstatic! So, for 7 euro we wandered the monkey house and big cats and Kangaroos for an hour which we loved, and then went home to study some French and try, to no avail, to go to bed early.
It was a really busy weekend but these were some amazing experiences! Today I leave to go to Barcelona, Spain for the weekend so I will have updates on that next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment