Ummm. Paris. Wow.

Paris was nothing less than an adventure. Jill and I thought we had everything planned out pretty well. We had our bus and plane tickets, and knew which metro to take to our hotel once we got in the city. But I am learning that Europeans like to go on strike. Especially with public transportation. And it usually happens right when I need to use that particular public transportation. Our flight ended up being delayed by two hours and since it was already a pretty late flight we didn't get in to Paris until midnight. Much to our horror, there were also no ATMs in the airport and our bus was leaving in 5 minutes. The machine for tickets didn't take our cards. By some miracle Jill found a 20 euro bill in her wallet hidden among all the British pounds. We barely made it onto the bus and were on our way to the metro stop. We only then realized that the metro had stopped running at that point because it was already 12:30. Yep... we began to discuss walking to our hotel. Luckily a nice Canadian guy we met on the bus helped us get off and find an ATM and then grab a taxi. I swear I meet nice Canadians everywhere I go. The taxi driver spoke absolutely no English but we managed to finally make it to our crappy Hotel on some back street in Paris. Our hotel manager also spoke no English so after a lot of miming we got our key and went to our room, exhausted. After 10 minutes we figured out how to actually open the door and fell asleep after saying a prayer of gratitude that two inexperienced American girls managed to navigate our way through this strange country. We woke up at 11.

Up until this point we weren't really loving Paris. It's amazing what a difference it makes to not be able to understand anything anybody is saying. At least in Italy I knew enough to get by. France was a whole different story. But once we got a hang of it, I loved Paris like I've loved every other place I've been so far in Europe.

The main thing I noticed about Paris was how quiet it was. Especially considering it's a city. But it was! Even the language seems to be whispered. I understand now why people say it's the most romantic city in the world. I loved this view from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The buildings are all literally cream or white. It was stunning. 

We also went and saw Notre Dame. It was one of the prettiest buildings I have ever seen. The architecture is so intricate and detailed. I couldn't help but fall in love with it. We didn't want to pay to go inside... but someday. 

We also didn't want to pay to go inside the Louvre. Before you gasp at how I went all the way to Paris and didn't see the Mona Lisa let me tell you this: I am most definitely not a museum person. I saw more than my fair share in Italy and I did appreciate a few key pieces like Michelangelo's "Davide" and all of Bernini's sculptures, but I heard the Mona Lisa is small and hidden behind a huge glass box so you can't even get near it. Plus the museum is HUGE. And we were only in Paris for two days. But I did get the famous picture, as you can see! It only took us 20 minutes to get my hand in exactly the right spot. 

The streets of Paris were beautiful in themselves. They looked like this mostly and the street right by the Seine River was lined with old books and pictures. Jill and I walked these streets a lot... mostly because we were looking for somewhere reasonably priced food to eat and couldn't find a single thing. But the dessert more than made up for this downfall. 

This is just a taste (punny am I not?) of the desserts we had in Paris. Mostly because we only ate dessert and bread since everything else was outrageously priced. Macaroons are now one of my most favorite things in the world. But you can't find them in the U.S. like this. They are so rich that one is all you need. And the eclairs... don't get me started. My sweet tooth liked Paris, I'll tell ya that.