New Years in Paris

Bonjour to all! I'm back in Florence, but have a great story to tell of my holidays in America and Paris.

First off, it was wonderful to finally get home to the US and spend time with my family and friends. I didn't get much relaxation time because I was running around trying to see so many people, but it was all great. Christmas was small and enjoyable. I was most happy just being able to spend some time with my brother and my Dad and watch lots of home videos.

I flew out of Newark on Dec. 29 with no problems. (Thank goodness, because I just read the news about the man that snuck through security in Newark.) Unfortunately, I had a terrible cold the day I left, so the flight was pretty miserable. I tried to sleep most of the way because I knew that I would be arriving at 8:30 am and would want to start the day. The cabin pressure was tough on my cold, though, so it made sleeping difficult, but I managed.

I arrived on the 30th and was totally exhausted. When I arrived, I realized that I hadn't given much thought on how to get to my hotel. I had planned on taking a taxi, but then found out that the airport is 45 minutes outside of the city and cabs from there usually cost about 70 euro. Fortunately, I met this American-French boy coming off the plane and he really helped me. His name was Damien (the French pronunciation) and he grew up in America, but moved to France 10 years ago. His mother lives in America and his father lives in Grenoble, France. So, he was obviously fluent in French. It turned out that he needed to get into the center of Paris as well, so he helped me with my enormous suitcase and we both made it to a much more affordable means of transportation- the train for 9 euro. There's no way I would have found it on my own, so I am so thankful for having met Damien. We arrived at the Gare du Nord station and by looking at a map, I found out that my hotel was right around the corner. What luck! So, I thanked Damien and made my way to the hotel.

They let me check in right away, even though the reservation wasn't under my name. (I stayed with Andrea and her boyfriend Bobby, who is studying in York, England.) I napped until Andrea and Bobby arrived about 2 hours later. Together, we found a little place for lunch, and then waited to hear of the others' arrivals. Maggie Rossi, Maggie Wright, and Tom (who studied in Italy last year) arrived in the afternoon, so we all decided to meet in the city center in the evening.

Around 5, Andrea, Bobby and I headed in to the center and found our way to Notre Dame. Maggie Rossi and Tom were already inside. So, we went inside and met them and walked around a little. What a beautiful church! Obviously, I took lots of pictures. After Notre Dame, we found our way to the Louvre. We had previously read that it stays open late on Sunday and Wednesday nights. So, we took advantage of that. Of course, the weather was working against us and it was absolutely pouring. Also, the line looked much shorter than it actually was, so we ended up getting soaked while waiting for entry for about 1.5 hours. Once we got in, the place was completely packed. I had informed everyone that the Louvre is the second most crowded museum in the world (next to the Vatican), but that night visits are usually less busy. So, I can't even imagine how busy the place must be during the day!

Anyway, the museum was absolutely enormous! There is no way that one can see everything, especially considering the unbelievable crowds. So, we checked the map and aimed for what we wanted to see most. I had learned about the majority of the works from my art history class at Salve, so it was pretty cool to see everything in real life! The works we saw included: the Winged Victory of Samothrace and Venus de Milo Greek sculptures, DaVinci's Mona Lisa, Jacques Louis-David's Oath of the Horatii, Ingres' Grand Odalisque, The Code of Hammurabi, and Michelangelo's Dying Slave sculpture. The Mona Lisa was pretty funny. The crowd was mean and unbelievably huge. Everyone was pushing to see this little painting that has its own wall and is completely covered with glass. It wasn't as small as people had made it out to be. I would just call it a "normal-sized" painting. It was very nice, and I took a few pictures. But, I booked it out of there as soon as I could because there were so many breathing, sweaty bodies that I started to sweat. Outside of the Louvre, it had finally stopped raining, so we grabbed dinner at a little restaurant and called it a night.

The next day, we met up and went to the Conciergerie, which is a huge prison from the French Revolution. It is most famously known as the site of the cell of Marie Antoinette. She was imprisoned there with two personal guards until she was guillotined. It was pretty cool inside and very gothic. We did a little walk around and then headed over to Saint-Chappelle. We waited in line at Saint-Chappelle for a long time because security checks were very tight. Saint-Chappelle is connected to the Palais de Justice, which it still used for judicial purposes. Therefore, they couldn't let just anyone in. The chapel was absolutely gorgeous!! The entire thing is covered in beautiful stained-glass windows. It wasn't very sunny that day, but I imagine that it's even more incredible with the sunshine. It was certainly impressive without much light anyway. After Saint-Chappelle, we went to Hotel des Invalides and saw Napoleon's enormous tomb. Of course, everything commissioned by Napoleon was ironically large, so we had a nice time making fun of the situation. Jokes aside, his tomb and its church were both pretty cool. We also saw the military museum within the palace. It wasn't really my thing (the boys were loving it), so I just strolled around and tried to find some displays that struck my fancy. Afterwards, we walked to the Eiffel Tower because I couldn't wait any longer. Even though it was really foggy and freezing cold, we took some pictures and walked underneath it. Then, we found a great plaza with an incredible view of the Eiffel Tower. We made the decision to return there to celebrate the New Year, and then headed back to the hotel for some rest.

My New Years night began with my dressing for the Arctic. I put on stockings and leggings with wool socks over both of those layers. Then, I put a pair of jeans and my boots over everything else. On top, I wore a shirt, a cardigan, a sweater, a jacket and a scarf. I also put a hat on my head. Once I was dressed, I headed over to Maggie, Maggie, Chrissy (who had just arrived that day), and Tom's hostel for some dinner. We decided not to eat out because it was too expensive, and we didn't think we'd be able to find a place to walk into. So, since their hostel had a kitchen that we could use, we made pasta and ate French baguettes while taking advantage of the free happy hour at the hostel's bar. Around 9 pm, we took the subway to the Champs-Elysees and walked towards the Arc du Triomphe to get a view of it on our way to the plaza that we had found earlier in the day. It was definitely starting to get very crowded. We made it to our post around 9:30 and actually found seats on the stairs, from where we had a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. So, we sat there until midnight, drinking champagne and eating baguettes. Around 11, the Eiffel Tower had an awesome light show, so that was pretty cool to see. However, there was no firework display or countdown at midnight, so there was a bit of confusion as to when exact midnight actually struck. I think the city had been planning on fireworks, but it was a little foggy that day, so maybe they nixed it. Anyway, after midnight, the mobs started moving and Andrea, Bobby, Maggie Wright and I got swept off in one direction, while Chrissy, Tom and Maggie Rossi went in the other. We just had to go with it because otherwise, things could have gotten dangerous. We finally got out of the crowd about an hour later and made it to the subway station.

Now, since the subways had become free at 5 pm, they too were mobbed. Maggie Wright and I got separated from Bobby and Andrea, and a little fight broke out between some drunk French people, so Maggie and I hopped on a train and scooted away. Unfortunately, the subways finished service 2 stops away from our destination, so we had to walk the rest of the way to the hostel, where we had agreed to meet for the "after party." When we arrived, Tom and Maggie Rossi were already there, but Chrissy wasn't. It turned out that each group of 2 had thought that Chrissy was with the other, so she was off on her own somewhere! Maggie gave her a call and found out that she had been taken away in the crowd and had had a hard time finding a cab that was willing to bring her back to the hostel. She finally made it, after about an hour. Andrea and Bobby never made it to the hostel and just decided to stay back at the hotel. So, the rest of us hung out at the hostel's bar until 4 am, when we started getting tired and had finished our baguettes. I walked back to my hotel, which I discovered was really close, and Maggie, Maggie, Tom and Chrissy went to the upstairs part of the hostel for bed.

The next day, we woke up around 1 pm, and Andrea, Bobby and I went to the Champs-Elysees to walk around. We had a really hard time getting in touch with the other group because our phones were not working well for the entire trip, so we didn't end up seeing Chrissy, Tom, Maggie and Maggie until later in the evening. Around 6, Andrea, Bobby and I headed to the Eiffel Tower, prepared to go up it. We got in line and waited. 2.5 hours later, we were absolutely freezing and disappointed to find out that we had waited in the STAIRS line, and not the ELEVATOR line, as we had wanted. At that point, Bobby decided not to go because of his fear for heights, but Andrea and I went because we needed to get the blood flowing in order to feel our toes again! The climb ended up being fine. It really wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Both the first and the second levels had the most amazing views. We took lots of pictures and decided not to go all the way to the top because I had read that the second level has the best views. From the very top, everything is so tiny that you can't make out the buildings. I was so amazed with the structure. When you can see everything inside it, you really understand the genius behind its construction. There was almost no wind from either of the viewing decks and within the center on both levels was a cafe and gift shop. It was soooo cool! Totally worth the wait.

After the tower, we finally were able to meet up with the rest of the crew. We all went out to dinner and for dessert, I got the Nutella and banana crepe that I had been searching for. It was delicious.

The next day, Maggie, Maggie, Tom and Chrissy left Paris, and Bobby, Andrea and I went to see Versailles. It was HUGE. That's about all I can say... no words will do it justice. The gardens were also enormous, but it definitely wasn't the season to enjoy them. I'll have to go back another time. After Versailles, I went to the Musee d'Orsay by myself to see the Impressionist paintings. It was really nice to do something alone, and I love Impressionism. The Musee d'Orsay is really cool too! It's inside a converted train station, so the building itself was also a beautiful work of art. I saw lots of paintings by Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas and Van Gogh. It was great! After that, I scooted over to the Moulin Rouge (because I'm obsessed with that movie), took some pictures, and then had dinner with Bobby, Andrea, and their friend Cassie (who was visiting from Holy Cross). Then, we went back to the hotel and packed up!

Yesterday, Bobby and Andrea left early, but my flight wasn't until 6:45 pm, so I took myself to the Champs-Elysees and found a croissant for breakfast. I walked to the Arc du Triomphe and took some daylight pictures and then bought a beret :). Afterwards, I had been down there for a while so I was hungry again and grabbed a sandwich. Around 1, I headed back to the hotel, grabbed my suitcase and backpack, and walked to the train station. From the station, I took the train to the airport. It was a little bit of a hassle because I was alone and had to lug my stuff around while keeping an eye out for thieves. But, I did fine. I was super early at the airport because I didn't want a repeat of my attempts at getting to America. I landed on time and Maria Pia picked me up at the airport. Now, it's back in Florence and back to work. Ugh.

Overall, I had a great time. Paris is gorgeous and I can't wait to go back and see more. However, I wish I had had more food recommendations because I wasn't completely impressed. I loved the pastries and the crepes, but the rest was just average. Regardless, I'm ready to go back!

Au revoir!