PARIS

Why, hello there. This has been long overdue but it was in my mind as a rather daunting task to do. We were in Paris for close to 8 days, which is the longest place besides Oxford. I am trying to remember everything we did so good thing I take enough pictures. Paris was the biggest surprise to me in all the places we went to. You always hear negative comments about Paris: the people are mean being the most common. Or they hate American culture/people. I think I was just in love with the city so much that I didn't notice any rudeness or disdain. The art, food and architecture in this city is unreal. Also, over 50 museums so we had to be selective. Lets start with Day 1...

First picture taken

Notre Dame

Wheres Quasimodo? 

Front of Notre Dame

The masses of people were a constant feature.

There were just rows and rows of crepe shops. HEAVEN. 

Government building

Modern art area

This was the view from one of the apartments we stayed in. 

One of my favorite little streets

On Day 2, we were signed up for another bike tour with the same company that we did in Barcelona. When we were making our way to the bike office, we were on the look out for the Eiffel Tower. We couldn't find it for a while... until we realized that it was pretty much hidden. 

Incredible

The bike tour was great and our tour guide was awesome! We went to major government/historical buildings.

Where Napoleon is buried

Mini Arc de Triomphe

The Louvre - we would actually go inside a couple days later. 

The next day, we had a picnic adventure at Versailles. Unreal. The amount of wealth displayed was truly incredible. The gardens were miles long. Marie Antoinette also had a pretend village built deep into the gardens where she would pretend to be a milkmaid. I think it was either for relieving stress or expressed her wish to be normal. So, she would have her real servants pretend with her. It was a full working farm that is actually still preserved and has animals in it today. 

The gates

The Gardens

I mean, they have a lake within the gardens... with huge fish.

View from the huge lake back at the palace. 

Endless

On our way to Marie Antoinette's section of Versailles. She spent a lot of time there and not in the actual palace. 

Here's her rather strange village. 

They had these crazy white peacocks just walking around. I don't know what its about Europeans and peacocks. They are always just roaming around. 

Back at the main palace.

Inside the Palace

The amount of people they let in at one time is rather unfortunate. It was so crowded. 

Famous Hall of Mirrors

Overall, the day was super fun and educational, just like the entire trip. The next day, we went to the Louvre! Very crowded, yet unreal place as well. So the glass pyramid is actually the entrance to the underground mall. You can enter the Louvre down there too but I always thought that was the actual entrance. Always learnin'. 

After waiting in line, we were finally in. This is the Winged Victory. 

THERE SHE IS. Good think I have long arms. 

My favorite. 

Saint Mary Magdalene. One of my favorites.

Venus de Milo 

CODE OF HAMMURABI. SOOOOO COOOOOL.

For those of you who don't know, this is the first written law code. This artifact is so important and so cool. Yeah, go history!

The Louvre was truly massive. There is no way you could see it all in one day. We did our best to see the major things.

This is inside Notre Dame.

The stain glass was magnificent. 

One of my favorite pictures from the trip.

So on one of our free days, a few of us did a guided tour of the Paris Opera House. This was truly a special day because, as many people know, Phantom of the Opera is my favorite musical and the Paris Opera House is actually where Gaston Leroux based the story on. He got his inspiration from the architecture of this building. It was a very impressive, well thought out building.

The famous chandelier with a rather modern painting.

This is where it was imagined that the number Masquerade would take place 

After the opera house, we headed to Auguste Rodin's house museum. It was super special because Rodin actually designed the museum setup before he died. And it is in the house that he actually lived in too. 

There he is: The Thinker.

There's the smaller one. And me in the reflection. Haha I couldn't resist.

A very cool garden as well. There were sculptures just randomly around. 

So, the next photos are just some random ones that I took throughout our time in Paris. I would recommend Paris for anyone who likes cities, art and bread. It's a great place. So romantic and wonderful.

This was the view from our apartment that we stayed in. Yes, we stayed in this AMAZING apartment right along the Seine River. Once in a life time. 

From a random walk around with Savannah. 

This is from the d'Orsay Museum. You couldn't take pictures of the paintings. This museum was my favorite thing we did on the whole trip. They had Monet's, Van Gogh's and so much more. Unbelievable. 

Last sunset!

Love these people so much. 

So this is what I carried for a month and a half. To 5 countries. My back hated me for a very long time. 

These were in the Modern Art museum we visited. Very interesting place. 

Overall, I am in love with Paris. So amazing. I'm so thankful that we stayed there extra time. Though the length of our stay was nice, it only gave me a taste of what the city can offer. It is a cultural hub, and as seen in the recent events, a resilient and connected place.

There is just England left, with the majority of it being about my Jane Austen tour. Looking forward to sharing something so close to my heart.

xoxo,

Halle