A Weekend in Paris: Part 3

Day 2
I met up with Kamila while Sara found a couple of her friends from Spain and we all got together ath the Louvre.  On the way, I noticed this bridge.  It looks gold from afar, but it's really just a TON of locks.

Louuuuuuuvre!  Honestly, it felt sort of silly to take photos because they don't really do the place justice and it sort of detracted from the experience.  But here's a smattering nonetheless, to prove I was there at least.

BAM.

Our host Claire told us that it would take 3 days and 4 nights to stand in front of every single object in the Louvre for one minute.  IT IS MASSIVE.

I didn't realize that the museum also held artifacts, not just paintings/ sculptures.

Merp.

Seriously overwhelming to walk around here and take everything in- even the ceilings have art on them.

Venus

Unfortunate location for marble discoloration... 

There's a huge garden/ collection of statues in front of the museum.  Kamila and I walked around there while Sara and her friends had lunchies. 

Really just excited about seeing the sun!!!

After the Louvre, Kamila and I went and ate at a corner cafe nearby.  Then we wandered around by the river before meeting the other girls for the nighttime sights.

We came across this group of musicians playing an excellent rendition of "Hey Ya" by Outkast.  There were actually musicians all over the place, especially on the subways and in the subway stations.  I heard flutes, opera singers, accordions, and violins.  Click here and here for some videos of this particular performance.

Finally got to see the top of the Tower :D

Notre Dame at night

HEY!  I know that guy!

Our final destination.

Click here for a video of the tower at night!

A Weekend in Paris: Part 2

And now, photos.  Cannot remember what some of this stuff is, I'm so sorry.  I will do my best.  Sara knew what (almost) everything was and the history of it and I should have written it down but here's my attempt at a recap anyway.

Peace out, Amsterdam!  Sara and I took a bus at 11 p.m.

Day 1

We arrived an hour early (5:30 a.m.) so my first impressions of the city were obscured by fog and darkness.

Arc de Triomphe

Ate a peanut butter sandwich on the steps of a building facing the Eiffel Tower- or what we could see of it!

Once it got light, Sara and I made our way to Monmarte, the neighborhood where Amélie takes place.  There, we visited the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur (Sacred Heart), as well as the Moulin Rouge.

The Basilica is way up on a hill, so we walked up a LOT of stairs.  

View from halfway up

Getting closer...

Almost went all the way up, but this was a good enough vantage point from 3/4s of the way.  Still really foggy!

Another set of stairs to reach the summit.  We walked down every single one of them.

Street art

We also walked by Church of Saint Peter of Montmartre, the other church in the neighborhood.

Moulin Rogue 

This is a typical entrance to the subway.  The lamps, typeface, and general design are distinct to Paris and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

These were all over the road the Moulin Rouge is located on.

We walked for awhile and then came across the beautiful Trinity Church.

Worked our way closer to the center of the city.  This is the Paris Opera (I'm pretty sure)

The Madeline Church.  Originally, it was a temple honoring Napoleon and his fabulous army.

Side view...it's pretty big.

 Fontaine Saint-Michel

Notre Dame!

They are celebrating the 850th year of the church's existence soon.

No flash photography inside, so this was the best I could do.  Got a little emotional thinking about Quasimodo and childhood things :')

We met up with my roommate Kamila and walked around some more this is the Hotel de Ville, the city hall of Paris.  It's served as the city hall since 1357, but was around even before then.  Crazy!

Parisian McDonald's' are hella fancy.  Click this link for a gist of the interior. This is Kamila's coffee and macaroon (they sell a variety of specialty desserts).

After lunch, we worked our way to the Latin Quarter.  This is Church of the Val-de-Grâce:

Those aren't shadows from the leaves- it's paint!

Musée national du Moyen Âge, dedicated to medieval artifacts.

Sorbonne/ University of Paris

We went to Bastille when it got dark to see the area lit up.  July Column: Commemorating the Revolution of 1830

That night, Sara and I went to our Couchsurfing hosts' home on Rue de Tolbiac.  Claire and Ruben were AWESOME and made us dinner the first night, gave us their very comfy futon to sleep on with sheets and plenty of blankets.  It felt so good to lay down after trying to sleep sitting up on a bus!