Letters from London: How many desserts can I eat in one weekend? And other eternal questions answered -- Paris Style

So as you all know I went to Paris the first weekend of November, again sorry for the late post but life has gotten...hectic.That's right, we successfully completed our first weekend trip that was not IES sponsored, totally on our own. And not only that but it was to Paris, somewhere we had been advised not to go because of strikes etc. But I would just like to make it clear now, it was totally safe in that regard, I didn't see one strike or riot and we had no real problems with transportation. That is not to say the trip was not without struggles, as Jenna put it our highs were very high but the lows were very low. It was definately a learning experience.. but still I had fun...let me tell you about itDay1
This day began with me waking up at about 4 in the morning or something absurd like that our flight left at 8 am and we had to get ourselves to Luton airport. So after attempting to wait for a nightbus we jumped in a cab and went to Victoria station where we embarked on our bus ride (about a hour). Then we got on our flight to Paris (it was so short) and before we knew it we were there! So we figured out how to take a train and then a metra to our hostel (good job Rachel) and that was surprisingly painless. We got off the metra and there was the Moulin Rouge and street corner crepe men, our trip had begun! We headed to our hostel, met Jenna and then took off.

Anne enjoying the first Parisian crepe of the trip

It was a amazing beautiful day so our first item of business was a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. We wandered down the street and bought cheese, baguettes and fruit from street vendors (yum). Then we got on the metra to head to the tower. On this metra ride, 2 of my friends got pickpocketed (and the lows began). So after dealing with that disaster and we finally headed to the tower. And it was beautiful. I had been there over the summer but was not prepared for the beauty that is Paris when the leaves are changing. So we had our french picnic under the tower and took millions of pictures.

After that we headed to Notre Dame stopping at our first bakery of the trip along the way at which Jenna and I had delicious eclairs. After exploring Notre Dame, so beautiful and moving (regardless of the religious aspects.) Then we went on absurdly long walk to find dinner, it was good but not spectacular but the dessert was amazing. I had profiteroles (which is basically my favorite dessert of all time). Anyway when I was younger my dad and I ranked profiteroles in French restaurants around Chicago, so I am somewhat of an expert :) but these were quite possibly top 3. (And yes this entry will in fact be a running commentary on food).

Pastry number 1

Notre Dame

Profiteroles!!!

Day 2
On Saturday Rachel and I headed to Versailles, something I was super excited about since I didn't go during my last Paris trip. It was only about a 40 minute train ride and then we were there. When we arrived we discovered the gardens were free and spent probably about a hour (in the misty light rain) wandering and taking in the beauty. Once again I was pleasantly surprised by the fall, by how pretty a garden could be without the flowers in bloom. After we wandered and took our amazing jumping pictures we were getting ready to pay the absurd fee to head inside. And we when arrived at the door the man told us because we had student visas (are students in Europe) we got to go in for free! We wandered the hall of mirrors and the rooms of Marie Antoinette. The only downside was the absurd exhibit going on at the time. Apparently the King was interested in modern art at the time so someone thought it would be interesting to juxtapose really bad modern art with modern art of Marie Antoinette's time. Let me tell you, not a good idea. But regardless the inside was as incredible as the outside. Then we took a train back to the city.

Hall of Mirrors

After arriving back to Paris we headed to largest flea market in Paris. We stopped for lunch at cute bistro,met some fellow Americans and then headed out to shop. Parts of the market were a bit sketchy, selling knock-offs and what not but we discovered the hidden treasure of an indoor antique market (which was especially exciting given the pouring rain and our lack of umbrellas). This market was essentially unaffordable but beautiful and after that we went out the flea market and got our Parisian scarfs, jewelry, Christmas presents and more.Then we went to Champs de Elysee and the Arch de Triumph but since it was raining after getting sufficiently soaked we moved into a cafe for coffee and warmth.

Arch de Triumph

After sitting for a while we headed back to the Eiffel Tower area to meet the girls for dinner. This was our splurge meal, 3 course of french food and even wine. It was delicious and very nice to be in a real restaurant. After our amazing dinner we headed back to the tower, to go to the top at night. Since I had been there before I think my favorite part was watching the other girls reactions, the amazement and enjoyment that is seeing it for the first time, sparkling at night. And regardless of the pouring rain the view was spectacular. The only problem was once we got down we realized how wet and cold we truly were. I had to throw out a pair of flats that day but it was so worth it.

Day 3
Our last day in Paris : ( We decided after seeing ht Louvre line that most of us didn't want to wait so I took those girls to my favorite museum in the world the l'Orangerie. It is basically a museum solely dedicated to Monet's water colors. They are the size of the wall and overwhelmingly beautiful. After the museum we did some more rain wandering and souvenir shopping. After that we went the Cafe the movie Amelie takes place in for lunch, super cute and the french onion soup was amazing. Then we climbed to the top of the Sacré-Cœur, another incredible view. We finished our afternoon with wandering all around Paris, just seeing the neighborhoods, the houses and eating as many pastries as humanly possibly. I had gelato that was to die for and a beniget filled with chocolate (who knew that even existed). But then we were cold and wet and had to take a bus to the airport because of train closures. Also I don't recommend riding a airplane with wet shoes, no fun. But then around midnight we were finally made it back to London.