Bonjour!

Oh my goodness, Paris was amaaazing! Loved every second of it and I already can't wait to go back again someday. Besides the crazy weather everything went really smoothly for our trip, which is great considering this is the first time I've left Spain since getting here in January.

Here's what we did:

Tuesday: I got home from class around 5 and bummed around/packed/hung out with the roomies until Kate and I had to leave for the metro. The metro closes at 1:30 so we left the apartment around 12:45 to take it to the airport. Not a bad ride at all- except that our flight wasn't until 5:45. So, we basically had to sleep on the airport floor until the check in counters opened at around 4. We were both tired and crabby by the time we actually boarded our flight, but that's to be expected. (Ryanair is also really tricky, because there are no assigned seats so when they announce that they are boarding, everyone pretty much just bum-rushes to the front of the line, pushing others out or the way, in order to get seats together- now that we've gone through that experience once, we'll be more prepared for the next cheap flights we take)

Wednesday: We landed in France at around 10:30 then boarded a bus to take into Paris (also really easy- our tickets were cheaper if we flew into an airport about an hour outside of Paris). We took the Metro (bigger and a little more complicated than Madrid's) to our hostel, checkedd in, changed, and headed out to explore the city. Our hostel was about a 20 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower!!

It was pretty cool to see in person- I wish the weather hadn't been so crazy (cloudy, then sunshine, then downpour, then sunny, then rain again) but we ended up being able to get some really pretty pictures. After the Eiffel tower we walked all around the area and down the Champs Elysees. I talked with Melissa before we left and we had scheduled to meet at the Notre Dame at 2, and not knowing how far it was from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame, we walked....(woah baby that was faaar) but we got to see so much along the way and got some more great pics.

(Nice view of the Arc de Triomphe , the Louvre, and Notre Dame)
When we finally made it Notre Dame where we met up with Melissa!!! I haven't seen her in god knows how long and it was so surreal being there with her in Paris! By this time Kate and I had worked up quite an appetite so Mel took us to this random Greek restaurant which was amazing. The decor was a little random though, but it was fun.

After the meal we walked around some more and then Kate and I headed back to the Hostel to nap and get ready for the evening. "3 Ducks" is a great place to stay, if only to check out the bar: fun times and good people. We met a few people from Paris, England, Mexico, Brazil, and Australia. Melissa and dHung out there for awhile and then headed to bed.

Thursday: We woke up early, grabbed breakfast at the hostel, and then walked around some more til we met Melissa for lunch at 12. She took us to this great bagel/sandwich place and then we headed north on the Metro to Montmartre area (home of the famous Moulin Rouge!)

After that, Melissa took us to the beautiful Luxembourge Gardens where we relaxed and enjoyed the sun. The gardens were so gorgeous, and literally right down the street from Melissa's place.

We walked towards Melissa's area, ate some delicious crepes, then grabbed some wine and snacks and spent the rest of the night hanging out at her apartment. We were fortunate enough to not only have wine from a bottle, but individual "wine boxes", a true French delight! ;) After going to get crepes (again) we headed home on the Metro, woke up early Friday morning to catch our flight back to Madrid, and spent the rest of the day bumming around, looking at pictures, and catching up with our roomates.

All in all it was a wonderful trip- very relxing and fun, and Melissa was an excellent tour guide/translator. I'd love to go back to Paris: two days was definitely not long enough! I have tons more pictures on Facebook, and I'll post them on my other picture sight as well. This weekend we're working on some homework, doing laundry, and hanging out with the WIP kids before classes start again on Monday. On the 10/11th the program is taking us on a trip to Extremadura, Spain. I'm not sure what to expect but I'm very excited! (plus it's already paid for!) Kate's boyfriend Jesse is coming into town then, so they'll be hanging out in Madrid- what am I going to do without my travel buddy?? Haha, okay...entry has been long enough!

Ciao!
-Nicole