Paris!

To top of my parent's European vacation, the three of us spent Easter weekend in Paris. We left Amsterdam on Thursday afternoon, after I finished with class. We arrived in Paris around 5 pm and set out to find our apartment. My first impression of Paris was not excellent. The airport in huge and very confusing, but that is to be expected in a large city. What I was not expecting, however, was the very poor quality of their public transportation. The trains and metros were crowded, dirty, and had no air conditioning. This was a big change from clean, pristine Amsterdam. I think the difference is based on those who use the public transportation in each city. Amsterdam is a very "green" city so using public transportation is considered the norm, as is biking. In Paris, however, a lot more people drive, so those that ride the metro are those that cannot afford cars. Therefore, the ratio of crazy/dirty/drugged out people to normal people on the metro is about 10:1. I might be exaggerating a tiny bit, but you get the idea that I was slightly disappointed in this respect.

Making our way to the apartment was fairly easy, with only one wrong turn. The apartment was very nice with a small kitchen, bedroom, pull out couch for me, and very nice bathroom. It was close to a little river and park. Nice location! 

For our first evening, we were very tired and hungry. We had dinner in a little Paris cafe', my mother ate a cheeseburger! It was actually quite good. We tried to find some English television and turned in early. I was busy reading my Water for Elephants, which I highly recommend!

For our second day, we slept in late and then hit the ground running to see all our of tourist sites. We started at Notre Dame and walked and walked and walked and walked all day!! We walked from Notre Dame to the Isle of St. Louis, which is a very cute area. From there we walked along the Seine to the Gardens de Tuileries, the Lourve, Champs Elysees, and Arc de Triumphe. I was very happy to be with my father and learn about the history of the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triumphe. The Arc was built by Napoleon after a victory. During World War II, when the Germans conquered France, they marched their tanks, troops, and generals down the Champs Elyse to the Arc. Then, when the Allies liberated France, they did the same. According to my father, Hitler, Eisenhower, and many other officials probably walked the street. It was very cool.

U.S. soldiers of Pennsylvania's 28th Infantry Division march along the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe in the background, on Aug. 29, 1944, four days after the liberation of Paris, France.

My Dad and I pose in front of the Arc de Triumphe, April 2011

 This is also one of the nicest streets in Paris, with restaurants and shops along the way. We stopped in Adidas to buy new shoes, because my feet were killing me! According to Mary Hart, my mother could find a place to buy shoes in the desert and I have to agree. Somehow we were able to find our favorite Adidas sandals all the way in Paris! My feet were very thankful! We also looked for our store to buy macaroons, but were unable to find it. To finish our day, we had a wonderful picnic of cheese, baguettes, and meat under the Eiffel Tower. We finished it up with some ice cream. We tried to go to the top, but the line was simply too long. It was a simply wonderful end to a great day!

New Shoes!

The next day, we got up early to attempt to go up the the Eiffel Tower, but the line was extremely long again. It just was not worth it! We then caught the train out to see Versailles. It was amazing!! We toured the inside and the gardens. Since we happened to go on Saturday, all the fountains were turned on so that was a nice touch. We spent the day walking all through the palace and grounds, it's a massive place. I actually liked it better than the gardens at Kuekenhof. This was probably my favorite part of the trip!

Beautiful!

After our long day, we had a relaxing evening of (finally) seeing the Eiffel Tower at night! It is an amazing sight-it actually sparkles. I got lots of good pictures and felt that our trip was finally complete! Early the next morning it was back to Amsterdam for me and back to the United States for mom and dad!

Eiffel Tower at Night!