Exactly one week after landing in Amsterdam, I was off to another European country: France! I hopped on a bus at 10pm Friday night, and by 6am the next morning, I was pulling into une gare a (a station in) Paris! As I do in every form of transportation, I slept most of the way, only waking up for our 1am stop in Belgium. When I got to the station, I headed to the Metro info counter, to get a map and an unlimited metro/train/bus ticket for the weekend (which was ridicouslouy cheap for students - if you want to travel Europe, do it when you're under 26!).
The Paris public transport system is very organized, and very easy to understand (the Netherlands needs to step up their game…). After a few minutes of looking at the map, I had pretty much figured the system out, and made it to the other side of Paris in an hour. There, I met up with Nicole, one of my closest friends throughout high school and to this day, even though I hadn't seen her since Christmas! Paris was on my list of places to visit - but she was the real reason I went! Couldn't have picked a better date to spend a weekend with in la ville de romance :D
Side note: the minute I got off my bus, I became thankful for all of those years I studied french. Suddenly I could read again! I didn't even realize I was understanding what I was reading until I passed by a few advertisements in the station, and then it hit me. And I could understand people around me, and communicate with them - not perfectly, but well enough. This was an added excitement to being in Paris.
Our first destination: La Tour d'Eiffel
We took the elevator to the top - and man was it beautiful. At that moment Paris amazed me - I was already thinking, "now this is why millions of tourists come here each year". Parks, buildings, La Seine, bridges, L'Arc de Triomphe et Notre Dame in the distance - all those things you've seen a million pictures of but never thought they were actually real.
Next up: L'Arc de Triomphe et Les Champs-Elysses
I really enjoyed seeing L'Arc de Triomphe - reminded me of all those AP Euro and World history classes from high school. Also made me think of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, probably my favorite thing I saw there a few years ago. Les Champs-Elysses is basically a street lined with the fanciest stores you can imagine. It was neat, but slightly out of my budget ;)
We continued walking, and got crepes avec la nutella et une banane! C'est tres très bonne. And they were warm - exactly what I needed on such a cold, rainy day. We walked through a beautiful park, and then through the Louvre! Didn't actually get to go in the museum and see that famous Mona Lisa, but the palace itself was stunning. We ended up at La Cathedral de Notre Dame. It was huge! And those flying buttresses - gotta love em - especially after studying them in art class :)
We also visited the Luxembourg Gardens. There was a little pond/fountain in the middle, where children could rent little sailboats and then push them around the pond. It was adorable. Being in Paris felt like being in a movie: we just sat, in a beautiful garden, with a beautiful fountain, and watched adorable children speaking french, run around and chase their sailboats.
One cool thing we did that no tourist would no about: go to a French Bible Store. It was so cool to see Christian books Ive read in French, and other languages! They had copies of the Bible in multiple languages - even Arabic. And French Christian music. It was encouraging to see, since most of Europe thinks God/the Church is dead.
Jumping on the metro to northern Paris, we visited Montmarte. We went to a big church there, that overlooks all of Paris, and was built after the revolution as a sign of hope.
We then went to une maison du chocolat - with an overwhelming aroma of cocao and the most expensive chocolate Ive ever seen. Didn't buy any chocolate, but did get some fancy French macaroons!
For dinner, I got a Croque Madame - which was basically like a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top. It was delicious! Afterwards, I dropped Nicole off at her place, and then headed to La Cite Universitaire to meet up with a good friend Teri from MIT, who graciously let me crash on her floor.
The following day, I met up with Nicole and we went to a French church - another time when I was thankful I knew French, and reminded that God is a God of all nations and tongues.
For lunch we had our own little date at a nice restaurant - with cheap three course meals. I got vegetable soup with bread, salmon and pasta, and chocolate mousse. Nicole had french onion soup, moussels, and an apple tart. So romantic :)
With happy stomachs, we headed to La Musee d'Orsay - a museum full or Impressionist artwork. So much Degas, Van Gogh, Renoir, Seurat! Made me want to have art in my house one day.
The museum eventually kicked us out to close, so I went back to Nicole's hotel, and said goodbye. That was tough - but was so so so happy we got to spend an entire weekend together, catching up on life, her wedding plans, and all the things God had been teaching us for the past few months and years.
I then met up with Teri and Stas (one of the first people I ever met at MIT, who also lived next to me for two years). We had another delicious dinner - ham and cheese crepe, white fish with rice, and un crepe avec le chocolat! Together we did some more exploring of the city. Every corner you turn in Paris you end up at some beautiful palace, the beauty just never ends…it definitely is a city worth visiting, a city of romance, a city of fine cuisine, a city that makes no accommodations for english speakers, a city built by a royal family, and a city I'd love to go back to someday.
By 11 pm, I was boarding my bus back to Amsterdam. Slept lots, saw some fancy European rest stops, and made it back to Amsterdam by 6:30am. Praise God my bike was still safely at the station! Biked home in less than 5 minutes, showered, and headed to work - happy Monday!
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