Adventures in London: Paris Holds The Key To Your Heart!

The first weekend of February, me and 8 of my best friends set out on the adventure of a lifetime!

What follows is an account of our amazing weekend in Paris! Enjoy! :)

We got our start on Friday February 4^th, at a bright and early 3:00 am! Then it was off to the train station we went! Everything was going our way... or so I thought. haha Basically, the English Public Transportation system hates me... no, it despises me. And anytime that something can go wrong, it will. So we arrive at the bus station, and we're getting onto the bus, and I swipe my oyster card... rejected! What the nut!? I tried again. And again. The bus driver just kind of looked at me like I was an idiot, and looked down with those eyes that basically said 'oh that sucks...' So I started panicking... running around the bus stop trying to find a machine to put money onto my card... but no luck. There was nothing I could do! I was a wreck! The bus driver gave me that ‘I’m leaving now’ look, and I freaked out. I pulled out a ten pound note, and offered it to the bus driver. 'I only take exact change' was all he said. So I told him he could just keep it all! That's a pretty good deal, right? Anyways, I guess he felt a little bad, he could probably see the desperate look in my eyes, and he took pity on me. He told me that he would probably have change for me by the time we made it to the train station. So he let me on! I stumbled up the stairs of the bus, and then the 9 of us scrambled through our pockets and purses, to come up with the £2.20 that he needed, and then enjoyed our nice quiet bus ride. Oops. Did I just say that? I forgot to mention one small thing... haha while we were driving, we pulled up behind another bus, and we could see a group of drunk English boys in the other bus. Well, they were pretty wasted, and they thought it would be funny to mess with the group of girls behind them. So down went the pants! Yup! That’s right... we were mooned. Twice. On the bus. Haha Great start! J So we finally made it to the train station, and I ran down the stairs, to give the money to the bus driver, remember? He looked at me for a minute, then told me to keep it, and not to worry about it... I was so angry! I had just gone through all that drama and stress for him! I'm pretty sure I yelled at him, threw the money in his little window, and ran off the bus. Once we made it inside the train station, and checked in, we had to go through security and customs. So... being the smart and responsible little student that I am, I had put my money belt on that morning. Well, it turns out that the zipper on the money belt sets off metal detectors... haha So yeah! There I was, standing in the station, practically naked as the security guard made me raise me arms as she lifted my shirt up until it was almost completely off my head, and searched me. It was really rather awkward... but it made for a good story! :) The moral of the story: Don't wear metal while walking through metal detectors. The French guards don't like it... J Our train ride was only about 3 hours long from London to Paris. The coolest part is, the train goes underground! And if you know your geography, you know that there is an ocean between these two places... yup! It goes underneath the ocean! J Cool huh? It was pretty awesome, I can't lie. I loved it! And that was my first European train experience! Yeehaw! We were in Paris! And we were so excited... that is, until we actually left the platform and realized that we were all completely clueless. I had no idea what was going on... I couldn’t understand a single thing! And people were already giving us the “crazy tourist” looks. (I think the bright orange study abroad backpacks were the dead giveawayJ ) We decided that the best way to figure anything out, was to just get to it, and put ourselves out there! So we took to the streets... I never knew it was possible to be so lost. Haha We just kind of wandered for a while... a long, long while, and then we finally decided to stop for breakfast. We found the most adorable little bakery shop on some tiny, random street. We all ordered Chocolate Croissants (paun au chocolat to be more official). Seriously, the most delicious croissant I’ve ever eaten in my entire life! We eventually found a map, and soon we found ourselves standing outside the Louvre! We didn’t go in, but took a fabulous photo shoot outside instead. Always a good alternative, right? J Then we just wandered the city... walked through a bunch of beautiful parks, and saw lots of amazing things! Paris is such a gorgeous city! We found ourselves on the other side of the city, at the Saint Chapelle, one of the most incredible cathedrals I have ever seen! It is made almost entirely out of stained glass, and it is so amazing! Loved it! Then we found a crepe shop for lunch. We all got jambone & fromage (ham and cheese)... so so so good! Our next adventure was at Notre Dame! The inside was absolutely gorgeous, and we even hiked up the 400 stairs to see the actual Notre Dame Bell... SO awesome! I loved it! Definitely one of my favourites. Then we walked across the city until we arrived at the EIFFEL TOWER!!! Most amazing and incredible thing I have ever seen in my life. I LOVE IT! We just got really excited, took a bunch of pictures, and then went and found legit French baguettes for dinner. Yummy! We then went to our hostel... My very first hostel experience! haha It was actually not that bad. Nothing like sleeping in a room with red carpet, fusia curtains, crunchy blankets, polluted water in your sink, and a neighbouring room full of loud drunk French men to make you feel comfortable! J haha It was a blast! The next morning, we went up the mountain to the Basillique Sacre Coeur! (coolest cathedral I've ever seen) Plus, there was a big Scottish Festival going on, so we saw literally thousands of men in kilts playing the bagpipes. It was great! Then we wandered the streets and found seriously the most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my life... I know I say that a lot. But this is legitimately the winner... Nutella and banana crepes! SO GOOD! haha (so funny story about this one: I ordered my crepe, and the man told me how much I owed him. Without even thinking, I reached into my wallet, pulled out a twenty, and handed it to him. I then received the strangest look I have ever been given... I just looked back at him, totally confused, he then waved the money in my face, and said, 'you’re not French, are you?' That's when I realized that I had handed him a twenty pound note, instead of a euro note. I was so embarrassed. But we got a big laugh out of it! J We then made our way to the Arch De Triopmh! My absolute favourite part of the whole trip... It was so gorgeous! It was tons of fun. We hiked the million stairs to the top, and took literally hundreds of pictures! It was so cool... The view was stunning. As we were walking back across the city to find our next adventure, we decided to take a river tour! It was so much fun! We just got on a big boat, and we went up the river, and saw just about everything there is to see in Paris. It was so beautiful! (Except for the 4 Scottish men in kilts who decided to moon us at one point while moving under a bridge... Those guys wear absolutely nothing underneath those kilts! It's pretty nasty! But it gave us a good laugh....and officially made our mooning count 6 in two days!) Our last conquest was back at the Eiffel Tower... this time, we went to the TOP! And it was seriously the most incredible view I have ever seen... You could see everything. Literally. It was fabulous! So on our way back down, me and my friend Carly got separated from the group. It took us almost ten minutes at the top before we made it onto the elevator to get back down. So when we made it to the bottom, we tried to find everybody else... and they were nowhere to be found. We started getting angry. We thought they had ditched us at the Eiffel tower. We were so mad! Then after about five minutes of sitting on the curb trying to decide what to do, we saw the other girls running towards us, laughing hysterically. You'll never guess what happened to them! Their elevator got stuck! haha When they asked the operator how often that happens, he told them it maybe only happens once a year, for about a minute or two. And they happened to be in it, and it lasted for about 10 minutes. Funny stuff! It's hilarious how things like that happen... J As we were leaving, the sun set, and the lights of the tower came on! It is so pretty at night! We even got to see it sparkle! Every hour, they turn on sparkling lights, and it's absolutely gorgeous! So French, I love it!

So there you have it...my Paris adventures! It was a great weekend, and I loved every minute of it! (well, except for the fact that I never went to the bathroom, because you have to pay for it... and the fact that I had to wear my gloves the entire time because that city is so dirty... I refused to touch anything!) haha I'm such a nerd. .. But it was so much fun, and I am so glad that I had that wonderful opportunity! It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, one that I will never forget! J

Here are some pics to help give you a taste of the one and only Paris!