Paris!

I am waiting for my laundry to be done so I can finish packing! It is pretty strange to think that in two days I will be leaving my home of three plus months and saying goodbye to the people I have seen everyday and have grown to love. More on goodbyes later...

PARIS PARIS PARIS! Paris was wonderful. Alison and I were lucky enough to sell our Paris school trip tickets to two of our friends so we could have more time in the city, we have four almost five days instead of two... It was a bit pricier than we had planned but it was worth it. We flew out on Wednesday and got into Paris around 6 pm. Our hostel was in a really good location, three blocks from Notre Dame. So we managed to get into the city with no problems and we dropped off our stuff and headed back out to dinner. We had decided to treat ourselves to a three course meal at this little restaurant we had read about. We both had french onion soup, Alison does not like onions but she loved this, it was divine. Then we didn't really know what we ordered for our main course because it was hand written french so we just chose two fish dishes. Alison's fish came out as a fish... mine was prepared. Both were good and not something we would normally pick. For desert I had creme brulee which was of course delicious. That night we explored a bit and just walked around till we turned in for bed.

Christmas at Notre Dame

Thursday we were off to Versailles! This one on the top of Alison's list and since she usually just goes along with whatever I want we decided to do this first! It was a bit rainy, but to be honest we are pretty used to that. (Thank you Swansea for being the worlds rainiest city.) The train to Versailles was about 35 minutes from Notre Dame so it was very manageable. The guide books and others had said that you need at least a good half day if not a whole day to do Versailles so we had planned for that. Versailles is huge... I don't remember if you remember Potsdam from Berlin, that palace was like a maids quarter compared to Versailles. It was beautiful, even in the rain. We wandered through all of the rooms and it took us only about an hour. We saw Marie Antoinette's bedroom and the door she escaped through. We walked down the hall of mirrors which was really neat and looked out onto the gardens. Also, we had wanted to do some biking around the gardens because they are so huge but I guess flowers are not so big in December so we didn't get to do that which was a little bit of a bummer. After the tour of the palace we went to a local place to have some galettes and crepes! Galettes are made with buckwheat and for the tourists signs usually advertise them as salt crepes... which is what they tasted like. Salt and pan haus... another weird thing made from buckwheat that my family eats on Christmas. Needless to say I am not a huge fan of galettes but crepes are always delicious! We were done a lot sooner than we planned so we just headed back to the city to do some more things.

We went into Notre Dame and tried to climb the tower, for some reason though we could not find it which is a huge bummer because some of the best views in Paris are from Notre Dame's top. Next time. We also walked over to the Pantheon and went inside that. Alexander Dumas, Marie Curie, and Victor Hugo are some of the famous people buried in the crypt. The crypt was by far the nicest we have seen, it was huge and white, tall ceilings. I think it was nicer than the upper part of the Pantheon. We also got our first real glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from here so that was wonderful! From the Pantheon we went to a neighborhood market to gather some things for dinner. On the way I found my future home and a school, maybe I can teach in Paris... My mom is loving me saying that. At the market we got french bread, clementines, and cheeses; the cheese guy was super nice and helpful and let us taste a variety so we knew what we were getting. It was a delicious dinner... Next we left our hostel again to go explore the Islands which were really close to us and we went in and out of all these cute shops, Thursdays are a nice day to do this because everything is open later Thursday night.

Versailles

Friday everyone else was getting into Paris! Adam and Kyle were going to meet up with Alison and me to do the bike tour by the same company we used in Berlin. We met them there after quite a hike... our hostel was very close to Notre Dame but a good 45-50 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower along the Seine river. Adam and Kyle had gotten very little sleep on the bus so they were tired but we all started off for the bikes! Unfortunately the tour was not as good as Berlin... it was a bit weird because we really hardly saw anything and got a very limited history. It was disappointing especially because it was three and a half hours so that was time we could have spent doing other things. After our bike tour we went to have an early dinner with Maggie and it was nice. Alison and I went to Pierre Herme after to have macarons and found a nice square to sit and people watch while eating them. Macarons are delicious.

Conner, Adam, Me, Al, Kyle

Saturday was a busy day! We started at the Louvre and made our way through that in about an hour and a half just seeing some of the most famous things because it is just way too huge to do anything more than that unless you have more time in Paris. We saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo which was neat to do, but underwhelming. We also went to the Musee d'Orsay which Alison and I both enjoyed more. It was a former train station so it was just a neat building to begin with but it also housed a lot of impressionist paintings which are our favorites. At 3:30 pm we were scheduled to go up the Eiffel Tower so we got there just then and met up with Alex, Zach, Alex, Jamie, Bianca, and Pam. I had already ordered our tickets which was good because we got up faster and Alex and Zach were handed someone else's tickets so they got to go up with us. I do not think I am scared of heights but I was a bit nervous and at the first floor we got off on I was okay with not going further. Zach was as well... but we went all the way to the top. The views were incredible and it was a really neat experience. We got to stay on it until it lit up and then we made our way down. The Christmas Market was also going on so Alison and I walked over to the stalls and walked down Champs-Elysses towards the Arc de Triomphe. It was fun and very Christmasy.

Sunday... Alison was tired of art by Sunday but I still wanted go to Musee de l'Orangerie to see Monet's water lilies. So we separated for a bit. Luckily there was no queue and I got right in. The water lilies were wonderful and it wasn't terribly busy so I was able to watch them for a while. The lower part of the museum had a lot more impressionists as well so I think it was my favorite. It was small enough to not feel overwhelmed but had enough variety to be interesting. Alison and I met up after and got one last crepe before she left to catch her plane, which left an hour or so before mine. I didn't really know what to do because I wanted to get up to the art district but I didn't have enough time so I just walked along the Seine looking at all the street art. Paris is wonderful. Of all my trips this was my favorite and I didn't really expect that, it was just a really nice combination of things.

Sacre Coeur from Musee d'Orsay

So now... I have said goodbye to two of my flatmates which was a lot harder than I imagined, our whole house has been full of tears for two days now. Tonight we are all going out to dinner and then people are leaving from here on out. I can't imagine having had a better experience and I know how lucky I am. Thank you parents for supporting me, financially and emotionally! Thank you to my friends at home, I am so excited to see you! And lastly, and surely not least, to my friends here who made my semester in Wales what it was.

Back to packing... leaving for London to see Les Mis on Thursday and then leaving for Nice on Friday and home next Thursday the 22nd! Time flies!

Julia