Adventures in Paris

So. I'm back in London after a completely crazy amazing weekend in Paris. When we play, we play hard, and I'm pretty sure we used every waking hour (and then some) of each day exploring and enjoying the beauty that is Paris, France.
So, here we go:
Thursday:
We were out the door at 9am ready to explore Paris. My group headed up to Montmarete (Sacred Heart Chapel) It was a beautiful building.

We climbed the 248 steps to the chapel to find a beautiful view of the city, and then hopped aboard a little train that took us all around the area. I was just in awe of how beautiful and old and quaint everything is. It amazes me still that I was in Paris, in Europe, exploring these places that I had only dreamed of going to. It was so wonderful. After our little tour we walked down to The Moulin Rouge. It was way cool to see it...but it is in a pretty sketchy part of town, but we had fun nonetheless.

From there we went to Arc de Triomphe and ate lunch outside at a little cafe that faced the arc directly.

We walked over the the arc and then we were onto the shopping district. Everything was way to expensive to buy, but we had fun window shopping, and then caught the bus to...

TOUR EIFFEL...The Eiffel Tower

What a completely surreal experience...I mean...it's the Eiffel Tower. I never in a million years thought I would be standing right there looking at it, and then going up in it! It's a truly amazing structure. The lines to go up were crazy and long, but it was totally worth it. The view from the top was breathtaking...although I'm not gonna lie, the trip to the top was terrifying.

Each of the lifts to to top is windows top to bottom. The first one goes on an angle which is crazy in itself, and then the second one feels like it's never going to end. We were up WAY high and being on an elevator were you watch yourself go that high was pretty crazy. But the experience and the view were totally worth the scariness.
The last part of the day was probably my favorite. We went on a boat tour on the Seine river. In Paris it isn't getting dark until about 10ish, and we got on the boat just as the sun was finally going down. We went along the river seeing the beautiful city in the dark ending with the Eiffel Tower all lit up. I loved it. I just sad by myself feeling the cool breeze from the water, attempting to capture the beauty I was seeing on camera, and thinking and pondering about the experience I was having; trying to take it all in. I was so full of gratitude as we went along the river for the amazing beauty that is in the world, and so much I was able to experience in Paris just in one day. The world we live in is truly magnificent.

Friday:
Disneyland Paris.
Oh. My. Goodness. One of the most magical experiences of my life. I still can't believe I was there. Disneyland PARIS. I have wanted to go there since I knew it existed, but I honestly assumed it would never really happen. When we got off the train and I saw the sign and realized I was really there, I turned into a little kid.

I was just so happy. It's funny how Disney does that to me, but it does. From then on, the day was full of magic as I tried to soak in and do everything in the short 11 hours we had there. (Disneyland didn't open until 10am and then it closed at 9pm even though it stays light there until so late...annoying!)
We had a blast, and although we were rushing towards the end, we got pretty much everthing done we wanted to.
Space Mountain: This was the first ride we went on, and it was crazy! It's way different than the ones in the US, but I loved it. It was totally fast and we went upside down like 5 times. It defienitly got us pumped for the rest of the day.

We ate lunch at "Pizza Port" (how can I go to Disneyland and not eat there, right?) and then we were in Fantasyland. We went on Small World, which was so much more fun now that I had been to more of the countries!


I saw the Alice in Wonderland Land, which was totally packed, so we skipped it and decided to come back later. We then explored the castle.

The Castle:

Wow. That's all I have to say about that. It is huge and gorgeous. Disneyland Paris is unlike and theme park I've ever been to. It is so beautiful. It is landscaped unlike anywhere I've ever been. There are trees and flowers and water galore making you feel as if you are truly transported to each of the lands in the park. The castle has beautiful grass and trees and a waterfall all around it. I could have sat and looked at it all day. There is even an animatronic life like dragon in a cavern under the castle. How cool is that? Needless to say, the castle was one of my favorite things.
We headed over to the other park "Walt Disney Studios." I seriously felt like I was in Burbank as we entered the park. They designed it to look like the real Disney Studios, which was really cool.
One of my favorite parts was actually "Tower of Terror" The cast members working the ride were hilarious. Probably the best experience I've ever had with cast members at Disney. They totally made the magic of Disney come alive, and helped us to have a blast. Also, that ride is way creepier in French...just saying.

We then waited over an hour to go on the new roller coaster "Crush's Coaster," and it was so
worth it.

We were pretty crazy and loud in line...I'm sure the French were thinking, 'stupid Americans,' but we were having a blast so we didn't care. The ride was pretty awesome. It's pretty much Space Mountain but you're sitting in a spinning turtle shell. Amazing. And I just love Finding Nemo, so it was wonderful.

Then it was back to Disney. In a whirlwind of two hours we did:
-Phantom Manor (Karina, I have tons of pictures and thing to tell you about!)
-Tried to go on Thunder Mountain, but failed
-Indiana Jones
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-The teacups
-Snow White in French
-Found Cinderella's Carriage
-Had amazing Disney French pastries
We got almost everything we wanted done and then we were onto 'Disney Village' to go shopping and eat dinner.
But first, the sad story of the day.

We got back to Alice in Wonderland, land....and to my dismay...it was already CLOSED. I'm not going to lie, I almost cried. It was one of the things I wanted to do the most there and I could not believe it was closed. I guess I'll just have to go back, now.

So. After shopping and a yummy dinner at Planet Hollywood. (American food/music videos/movie clips made me very happy)
We walked to the train station to find that the trains back to Paris had already stopped for the night.
My stomach sank.
The next 4 hours consisted of:
-trying to find a bus route in French
-getting on the 'Noctilian' night bus into the Pairs, being the only girls/Ameicans on the bus
-getting dropped at a random bus stop with no idea how to get to our hotel
-having scary french guys try to talk to us in the streets
-trying to catch a cab for 6 with no avail
-another bus ride, to another stop we didn't know how to get home from
-a kind French man directing us to our hotel, in French, in the dark, at 4am
-arriving home, a little shaken up, but so glad to be safe.
Moral of the story. When using public transportation know when the last train leaves, okay?

Saturday:
Going on about 5 hours of sleep and being completely exhausted, we were up at 10 to check out of our hotel. From there we made it to the train station to drop our luggage off in a locker and then on another journey to Versailles. Not going to lie, I didn't really want to go. All I wanted to do was go home, but I'm so glad I went.
It was so beautiful. It is a huge Palace with amazing gardens. I was in awe.

We rented a golf cart and were able to go all around the ground for an hour.

We had a blast. One of my favorite things is to just be in nature, taking it all in. This was a perfect way to do Versailles.

After that we found a cute little French road, had A-M-A-Z-I-N-G French Pastries and were off to take the Eurostar home.

The trip was exhausting and long, but beautiful and completely surreal.
I'm so glad for all I was able to experience in the 4 short days I was there.
It was most definitely something I will never forget.