Experience Europe 2015: Paris, Day 2

Remember how I had a free day in Paris and it was the best thing ever?  Having a consecutive free day in Paris is pretty much also the best thing ever.  After eating about 92725413 croissants for breakfast, a small group of us took the metro to a north area of Paris called Saint Denis, where we got to go inside the Basilica of St Denis!



This was my second favorite church. It wasn't as busy as my favorite (Notre-Dame), and it was also different, because it had memorials and graves of a lot of French royalty.  The back half of the basilica that has the crypt usually charges a few euros to get in, but since there was a festival later that day, it was free admittance!



We left Saint Denis for now, but wanted to come back later in the day and see what the festival was all about!  Our next destination was Sacre Coeur:



This is another large, beautiful Basilica. It's also a very popular tourist attraction, unlike Saint Denis.  It was quite a walk up to the building, and we were harassed by guys selling selfie sticks, bracelets, mini Eiffel towers, and purses the whole way.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside.  This church is MUCH newer than any of the others we'd been to so far. It opened in 1914, and although the inside is a *similar* style to the others, the outside is very different, which is why it's such a visited site.



After hiking back down, we grabbed some lunch from a street vendor, then hopped on the metro and went back to Notre Dame for some unfinished business...



Yes, we went to Notre Dame the day before, but we got there too late to go to the top!  And we couldn't not.  So, we waited in line.



Then.  We climbed to the top. Over 350 stairs.  It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but I promise that it was exhausting.


Everyone was panting when we got to the top.  But the views made up for it:



I may or may not have teared up while looking through these pictures.

We went to Palais Garnier, the opera house that the Phantom of the Opera-house is based off of, but unfortunately it was closed.  Beautiful, though!



Yes, we went to the Louvre.  Yes, I wanted to go inside. No, I wouldn't have a lot of time to spend there.  No, I didn't want to spend 12 euro to get in.  Yes, I understand that it's a great experience.  Yes, I will go next time I'm in Paris.



At this point, me and a couple of people ditched the group we'd been spending the day with.  They wanted to go in the Louvre, and we wanted to go back to Saint-Denis and check out the festival that we had seen them setting up for when we were there earlier that morning.

Back on the metro we went.  We were such pros at the metro.  I wish they were more common, in the States, especially.

Saint Denis was pretty empty when we were there that morning.  Now it was full!  And not just with Asian tourists like everywhere else!  It seemed like a pretty local event... pretty much only French speakers.  Thankfully Amanda was with us, who speaks french beautifully and helped us out loads the whole trip!  Check out this rad festival:



I ordered my food in french.  Well, kind of.  It was so frustrating, because I ALWAYS responded with "si" instead of "oui".  I'm sorry, I speak spanish. I order food in spanish.  Even though I practiced with Amanda the whole time we were in line, I straight up responded with "si"...  Oh well.  I was fed.

This next part of the day is without a doubt one of the most important things you need to know about.  There was a show that we saw at the festival.  I'm not 100% sure what their group's name was.  But it was incredible.  They juggled apples.



At first it was totally weird and creepy.  You had to be there.  The three of us were interested, though, so we stayed and watched.  It got to be SO FUNNY.  They were so theatrical and dramatic.  The show was about an hour, and they kept us enthralled for the whole time.



During the show I kept thinking to myself "I'm eating a chicken leg in Paris. At a festival. Watching an apple-juggling show. With people I met a little over a week ago."  Honestly, it was at this show that I realized how surreal and dream-like this whole experience would seem when I got back.  I was completely right.

After the festival, we explored Saint Denis until it got dark, then headed back to the Eiffel Tower.



I knew we were leaving the next day for Frankfurt, so I bought one last crepe, took one last picture of the Eiffel tower, and walked away, already missing Paris.

That night I stayed awake for awhile, talking with some friends in the lobby.  But once my head hit the pillow, I was already dreaming about Notre Dame.

Experience Europe 2015: Paris, Day 1

If I could relive any day in my life, this one would definitely be in the running.  FREE DAY IN PARIS.  We started out the morning by hopping on the underground and going to the Eiffel Tower.  Our tour directors got us tickets to go to the very top!!  The walk there was okay, I guess.





We got there before the elevator to the top opened, so we waited in line for a good hour, I'd say.  Remember how a hobo stole my jacket in London?  I wish I had it now.  It was still early in the morning, which was why it was chilly, but I was wearing a knee-length skirt and v-neck because I knew we'd be doing a lot of walking outside and I knew it warm up and be pleasant!  But I was horribly cold until then.



The views at the top were amazing!!  I could have stayed there just taking pictures and freaking out about the fact that I was on top of the Eiffel Tower...  Enjoy pictures:



At the bottom, we all reconvened and took some more incredible pictures:



After snapping 2083506 pictures, we grabbed a metro map, rolled up our sleeves, and got ready to metro our way all over Paris and hit a bunch of touristy stops.

Touristy stop #2 (Eiffel Tower was #1): Arc de Triomphe
This is a cool monument - it stands to honor those who have fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleanic wars.  It has the names of the French victories and their generals (I think) engraved all over it.  We didn't go inside, but spent some time looking at it and passed it a couple times over the next couple of days.



Touristy Stop #3: Champs Elysees



The picture above is not mine.  But it's to give you an idea of this street.  It's close by the Arc and it's pretty famous for its shopping, theaters, cafes, etc.  Fun place.  We stopped and watched some street performers do their show.  They referred to me and my friends as the "Spice Girls".  I call Mel B.



Touristy Stop #4: Sainte-Chapelle
This chapel was consecrated in 1248.  That's a year, not a time on the clock, by the way.  Things were built that long ago in Europe.  I love it.  Again, we didn't go inside.  We wanted to make sure we had time to go inside and visit places for free... and it was about 10 euro to go inside.  Go google image search Sainte Chapelle when you get the chance.  It's crazy.  I would like to go inside at some point in my life.



It was a beautiful walk on the way to our next touristy stop:



Touristy Stop #5:  NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL
Dear readers, this historical catholic cathedral is for sure within my top 3 favorite things I did/saw during the whole trip.  Construction started in 1163, and it opened in 1345.  I heard the bells ring.  The bells, each of which weighs about 13 tons, and one of which is named Emmanuel.  This is real life, folks.  I couldn't take enough pictures of the outside.  There will be more.



There were many places, especially churches, that didn't allow photography inside, which is fine.  I was never upset about it.  I was, however, significantly happier when I could snap photos. Enjoy.



Breathtaking.  Fortuitously, there was a mass service going on, so I got to see Notre-Dame filled, not necessarily just with tourists, but with people going to church.  It was refreshing to see an old, beautiful building fulfilling the purpose with which it was built over 800 years ago.

As I promised, more pictures of the exterior:



Quick shoutout to my fellow adventurers for the day:



We stopped for a little rest near Notre-Dame, where some people shopped, and others used the most unique public bathroom pictured below.  It would speak to you in French while you were using it, then, after you were finished, it would usher you out (or something) in French, then self-clean.  Between each use.  Brilliant idea, but it was kind of scary.  Scary, because it was more complicated than most public bathrooms, and it didn't speak English.



Enough about bathrooms.

Touristy Stop #6:  The Catacombs of Paris
Please go here and read a little bit about the history of the Catacombs.  This underground grave site has an eerie history involving digging up existing cemeteries, carts loaded with bones, and over 6 million people, whose remains are now in this ancient Parisian tunnel network.  It was totally creepy and totally cool:



It was cool and a little bit humid.  Quiet.  Creepy as heck.  We turned the corner and saw this:



Remember, folks: these are real bones.  Usually in the displays and museums we're used to, bones are either completely fake, or they're fossils.  These are the skeletons of actual people.

Touristy stop #7: Restaurant by the Eiffel Tower
Since we'd been spending most of our mealtimes rushed at gas stations or small bakeries so that we could move on to the next thing, we decided to slow down, and stop at a nice French restaurant.  It was relaxing, and even though we were polite and quiet, the waitress still was kind of mean to us.  I think it's because none of us were going to get alcohol, which brings in more revenue than us "just water, please" type of people.  Here was my meal:



Yes.  Escargot.  I had it.  Because I'll try anything.  I won't necessarily like it, but I'll try it.  If I was going to try escargot ever in my life, I figured that France would be the best place to do it.  My thoughts on the dish: I like butter and garlic.  So it tasted pretty good.  The snails themselves don't have a super exciting texture (think raw shrimp), but between the shell, and the butter and garlic, the vehicle the snails came in was enjoyable.  I probably won't order it again.

Touristy Stop #8: The Eiffel Tower at nighttime
It's magical.  It just is.  The tower is all lit up, then for 5 minutes every hour, it SPARKLES.  It's so dreamy.



Touristy Stop #9: Crepes and the Carousel
We were in Paris.  We had to.



Touristy Stop #10:  Hotel.  Bedtime.  Immediately.  Exhausted.