Paris

Hello blog followers, my apologies for not writing in a while - I've been experiencing the Parisian lifestyle through bread, cheese, and wine. And then more bread, cheese, and wine. I think that might be all I did in Paris.

Did you know you can get a baggette for 80 cents? Or an award winning bottle of wine for 3 euros? We were very adventureous in our cheese selection, getting some strong ones, some mild ones, some good ones and some stinky ones that went immediately into the trashcan. That went outside.

We scaled the Eiffel Tower. I say scaled because we climbed up about 700 steps to the second platform before taking the elevator to the very top. The elevator ride was where I experienced the majority of my freak-out. I was up against the glass window saying "oh my god, oh my god, I'm freaking out" and grabbing onto Colin, who made sure he was not next to me on the way down haha. If you can't tell, I'm afraid of heights. But I managed to do okay.

Eiffel Tower:

The views from every side of the Eiffel Tower are absolutely stunning. You can see the entire city, and that's saying a lot because Paris is a HUGE city. It's incredible to think that the Eiffel Tower is no where near the tallest building in the world. I want to see the view from the Burj Dubai under construction right now. Or even the Empire State Building.

Views from the Eiffel Tower:

The first thing we did in Paris was go to the Louvre and, when I went, I always thought I'd hate the 1984 addition of the glass pyramid. Many have said it obscures the view of the original building. However, I surprising loved the glass pyramid, especially with the sun shining off of it. Inside the Louvre, I almost liked the architecture of the building more than the actual artifacts and paintings. The building has stunning ceilings; I walked around with my head to the ceiling just smiling.

The Louvre:

The ceilings: 

I saw the Mona Lisa, which is a very defining life moment as it's the most famous work of art in the world. It's amazing to see up-close (or their definition of close, as it was barred off and had glass in front of it), but I still can't figure out why it's in the most famous piece of art. I think it's arguably not as impressive as some of the other works I encountered, such as Paolo Veronese' The Wedding at Cana or the Venus de Milo.

The Mona Lisa:

The Wedding at Cana:

The Venus de Milo:

One of my favorite parts of the trip was going up to Montmarte, the highest point in the city. There's an old cathedral up there and on the steps leading up to it, people were performing. It was funny to see a Jamaican man singing American songs while in France, real culture diversity there. Another guy was doing tricks with a soccer ball, and let's just say, if he fell, it was going to hurt. Here I also tried hot wine for the first time, tastes like amazing grape cider (instead of apple) - would definitely recommend it.

Basilique du Scare-Coeur at Montmarte (the highest point):

View from Montmarte:

Performers on the stairs:

The soccer player:

We also went to Angelina's, a place known for its hot chocolate, which apparently is equivalent of melted blocks of chocolate it's so rich (I opted for the tea).

As we always go to churches, we of course made our way to Notre Dame. The circular stain glass windows on the sides are stunning. Especially when the light was shinning through (can you tell I really miss sun back in Manchester).

Notre Dame:

Inside the cathedral;

One of the famous windows:

We went across this bridge that had locks all along the railing. You and your loved one are supposed to engrave your name into the lock and then throw the key into the river, showing that your love will last forever. The funniest part to me is that some of the locks had combos, so if you remembered the combo you could just take it off later haha.

Love locks on the bridge:

Overall, I just enjoyed walking around Paris, half the time not really knowing where we were going. Ending up in amazing cafes and shops that I would have no idea how to journey back to.