PARIS cont...

DAY 2!!!

okay so i don't really remember exactly what happened on day 2, but i will try. we woke up semi-early. we wanted to go to the louvre but we decided to save it for the end again because we wanted to be out in the "warmth" during the day!

we went to the notre dame first thing. wow, i can't even describe it. it's really really pretty. and right in the middle of the seine river. which is awesome! we didn't go on a boat tour or anything but we walked along it and it was so nice and peaceful.

we got in the notre dame for free and i don't know how people can concentrate in there while all the tourists are walking around. it's kind of sad. but the place was gorgeous! and huge. in the back they had a room where they had all the models of the building. there was this one wooden one that was so cool, it was so detailed and so perfect i looked like if you touched it it would break.

we walked up 297 stairs to the top of the tower on the notre dame. it was exhausting! they were spiral stairs and really really narrow, and if someone was coming down, you had to hold on for dear life to let them pass. but it was so worth it. at the top you could see the whole seine and all the pretty white buildings.

so after that we made our way to the street called champ de elysees. it's a really famous street there that has tons of shops and restaurants and it's like 3 or 4 lanes each way and just full of people. really exciting!

we walked down the street, which ended up being super long, and at the end is the arc de triomf. it's so big!!! it's just a huge arc in the middle of the street and you have to go underground to come up underneath it. so we went in and paid to walk up. another 300+ stairs. but it was getting dark by this time and the view was unbelievable. you looked down champ de elysees and all the cars and people just flashing by, all the lights looked so cool. and really close was the eiffel tower and we decided we had to get close to it!

so we walked down all the stairs and headed towards the eiffel tower. it ended up being a little farther than it looked. i guess being up that high makes everything seem closer :)

but, we made it, although this time it didn't sparkle :( but it was still beautiful! we took like 20 pictures infront of it. the only thing i didn't like is that there were SO MANY guys in the street trying to sell you keychains of the eiffel tower. they all have the same ones and they are all screaming, "three for one euro!!!" in your face. they are all in the same area and they all come at you! so i was just running away yelling at them to leave us alone. but then when we were taking pictures, one of the guys gave me a keychain for free because he said he liked my smile haha.

sooooo after that we were exhausted  and super hungry, and really wanted some crepes! but of course, at the time of need, we couldn't find any stands. imagine! we were in a more residential area though. so we decided to find a metro and head back towards our place. but once we found one, we saw across the street this really cool looking restaurant. i can't really explain it but it just had a good vibe and atmosphere. but it was weird because inside they played latin music! it was cool though, and we got the biggest meals i think of the whole trip. perfect timing after all that walking we did! such good food too, french cheese is great ;)

i will write more, but i just wanted to say this weekend, i have another little trip. march madness i tell you! on friday i'm going with a bunch of friends from school to valencia, a city south of here. it's like 3 hours away and we're going by bus. it was all organized by this guy who puts trips together for study abroad students, and he has 10 buses going! so it should be a good time.

the trip is special though, because friday night is the last night of "Las Fallas." in valencia, they have a huge festival everytime at this year. it started as a one-day feast for St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. but now, it's turned into this huge 5 day fiesta! all year long, people build these little "ninots," these wooden or paper mache or cardboard statues. they are usually of spanish celebrities or politicians and they create scenes which kind of make jokes about them. they spend so much time on these and it costs them thousands and thousands of euros. and on friday night, at 12am, they burn them all! some of them are stuffed with fireworks and they set them off all at the same time. it's a huge huge even where millions of people come out into the streets to see it. i can't wait!!!