Arrival in Paris!

I know I have been MIA the past few weeks but it has been because I have been traveling all around Europe! First Paris, Prague, Brussels and this weekend I'm leaving for Amsterdam! I can't even choose my favorite city thus far because ALL have been absolutely amazing and so completely different. Our first trip at the end of February was to one of the most traveled places in the world, Paris, to visit our sorority sister Michelle who was kind enough to let us stay in her apartment and personally guide us around the entire city. We were in for a long fun-filled weekend with only about 3 hours of sleep to work off of. After arriving in Paris late thursday night we decided to take it easy in order to wake up early for a complete day of tourist activities.

Of course the first thing we had to do was go and see one of the most famous and recognizable structures in the world, the Eiffel Tower. However, before taking the metro there we stopped for the most amazing croissants and quiches I have ever had in my life! Because I'm only in Paris for a weekend and I could not choose between ordering a croissant or a quiche I decided to order both causing a chain reaction between al of my friends to order both a croissant and quiche. After an extremely satisfying breakfast we made our way to the Champ de Mars where the Eiffel Tower is located. It has 3 levels for visitors to climb or take the elevator  up to. Being the achievers that we are as well as after seeing the massive line for the elevator we thought we would just walk all the way up to the third level. After climbing over 600 stairs to the second level of the tower we decided we were high enough and would not make it walking all the way to the top. (The second level is still only about halfway) However, the view from the second level was still one of the most amazing I have ever seen and gave us one of the best views the city has to offer.

After an exhausting walk up and down the eiffel tower we made our way to the Champs Elysees and to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe honors those who fought and died in France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic wars. After always seeing pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe it was amazing to be able to finally see these historical monuments in person. Paris is a city that must be walked because there is so much to see and you don't want to miss one second of the city. However, walking around the entire city created a large appetite among all the girls. We had lunch at Welcome Cafe, a small restaurant right outside the tuileries.

We all ordered an assortment of cheeses, my favorite being emmental cheese. I ordered a croque madam which consists of ham, cheese and an egg and although it may sound like a normal breakfast meal, Paris is known for their croque madams and croque monsieur's and I was nothing but satisfied after my meal. And to top the end of the meal off we stopped for crepes before walking through the tuileries. I ordered a nutella and banana crepe and although it was one of the most delicious desserts I have ever tasted I was unable to finish because the chocolate in Europe is so much richer than the chocolate in the United States.

The walk through the tuileries was a very relaxing and much needed walk after such a large and rich meal although most things were not in bloom you can tell how amazing it would be during the spring. The great thing about Paris is if you are studying abroad you are able to get into all of the museums in Paris for free with your visa! Our next stop was the Musee de Orangerie, my favorite museum during the entire trip to Paris. The Musee de Orangerie is known for holding Claude Monet's famous waterlilies oil paintings.



Monet's waterlilies consist of about 250 oil paintings which show the flower garden at Giverny where Claude Monet lived for a period of time. Monet contributed the last 30 years of his life to these oil paintings while suffering from an obstruction of life in his eye also known as Cataracts. The pictures I took while in the museum do not do the paintings justice but sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by these beautiful paintings not only relaxes you but puts you in a peace of mind that is so normally hard to achieve.





Although we were not able to visit Giverny or Versailles during our short stay in Paris, I hope to go back one day in order to fulfill these goals. The Orangerie Museum was built during the 1920's by the state of France specifically to hold the eight water lily murals by Monet in the white oval rooms. The exhibit opened a few months after Monet's death.







We had to make a quick turn around in order to catch the concert that Michelle bought us tickets for. After rushing home from the museum and getting dressed for the night we headed to the Airborne Toxic Event which included a bunch of small indie rock bands playing in a small venue in the middle of Paris. When we arrived to the venue we were actually able to run into the main band inside the bathroom due to the fact that our french is not very good and our english accents were taking over the bathroom. (Being abroad has shown me how loud and obnoxious we americans really are!) The Airborne Toxic Event is a small indie rock band from Los Angeles, California who travel around the world playing in different countries and cities every week. Their band consists of vocals, guitar, keyboard, viola, tambourine, drums and bass guitar. They are only a recently forming band but they put on an amazing show and were fantastic to watch live.