Well, we visited Paris - the ultimate whirlwind ending to our ultimate whirlwind tour. It was in and out for a day - but what a day.
Off on another boat cruise to start the day - a lovely ride down the Siene River - we saw all the sights that you might see, The Louvre, Royal Bridge, The Tuileries, Alexandre III Bridge, Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, the Clock Tower - just to name a few! It was a lovely sunny day, I was so excited to see all the famous landmarks, but boy, did I ever struggle just to keep my eyes open....
That state of course, didn't last long- it really couldn't with all the stuff we had to cram in to see! Our last day on tour, the grand finale itself... And all I wanted to do was sleep! ._. Oboy, I needed some Redbull. (Don't drink coffee, never will - foul, beastly brew.)
We all walked to the Latin Quarter to book a place in one of the Parisian Restaurants for dinner later that night. We all agreed on a place (somehow without taking all day - what with all 20+ of us), and that was that - off we scattered, bright butterflies fluttering off in small clusters only to bomb-dive, diverging on the chosen sights.
Katy-Kath, Em-J and I waltzed off to Notre-Dame, took our photos, contemplated the line and decided against waiting to climb up the bell tower. The gothic spirals where incredibly beautiful, and totally inspiring. All the lacy stone carved and curling, Notre-Dame's points reach high into the blue sky, but even more magnificent is the stained glass window that decorates the front of the building. The rose is 40 feet in diameter - it's pretty huge!
So out on the way we saw a more expensive version of Ben&Jerry's - Häagen-Dazs, but we ignored it as it was way too expensive and overpriced. On that note though - romantics and fashionistas, "Hear ye, hear ye, Paris is cheaper than Italy full stop!" Yaayyya! ^_^ More shopping - naturally, but only in a speed-rush-gotta-keep-moving-way, so on the Metro and off to the Arc de Troimphe. Did you know that any driver with any type of vehicle can not get insurance to drive around the Arc? It's this MASSIVE round-about with eight exits!
We on the Metro in a flash so we could hit the Eiffel Tower, (did you know the Paris train run on tires??? How weird is that? P.S - Burning rubber smells! @-@)
When we saw the lines that stretched a way under the skirt of the famous tower and d'oh-ed. After some groaning, a lot of moaning, a wee bit of hemming and hawing we decided to join the line and spent the next hour and a half crisping in the sun as we waited.
We didn't end up going up all the way, we didn't have enough time to get all the way up to the top, but we got to see the second level. And it was well cool. The view was grand - I was surprised to see how pristine and white the city is. In Bruges, when we climbed up the bell tower, all the roof tops where terracotta, or burnt orange... Every view I've ever seen, when you look over the houses everything is colored. Except Paris.
There was an endless expanse of city - a daub of greenery from tall trees here and there, a glint of gold over there; and the Siene cut the heart of the city out. But as you gazed over the horizon, the buildings stretched out and met the sky like a white sand shore kissing aqua waves. It really was unlike anything I've seen.
Not much time to appreciate though, 'coz it was run, run, run for dinner and we where still half an hour late! Dinner was good (really cheap even by Aussie [read as low dollar] standards.) - I tried escargo! Once you get over the mind trip of actually eating snails... (bleeeerggggg.....) They taste pretty good - like basil, butter, garlic and salt. No snail, not at all!
I was happy when we finished early-ish, 'coz then we got to duck off to the Lourve! Only an hour and half, but I died and went to heaven!!!! o.O The pretties... The PRETTIESSSS!!!! Just enough time to catch a wee, elusive, exciting, intreguing, enticing taste of the treasures stored in the massive maze of halls, rooms and alcoves.
We saw the Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of S-something or a rather, The Cannan Feast and of course, many other amazing statues, paintings, etc, as we ran by.
I *heart* the Lourve, it was definately the highlight of my trip to Paris. I think I would've been really disappointed if I hadn't gotten to go. We then randomly decided to metro out to the Moulin Rouge. Totally worth it! The spinning lights, the sparkle, way cool!
We finished the grand tour with one last look at the Eiffel Tower - it was lit in a glorious royal blue with a circle of golden stars to mimick the European Union Flag. Like most Parisians fusspotting - the Frence hate it, where as I thought it was pretty dang cool.
That was pretty much it, there was a muddle getting home but we met up with the others and it was all cool. (Cute French guy, thanks for all the help! ^_^)
Paris, so yeah, it's amazing. I absolutely love it!
'Tis a city of rain - turbulent, refreashing, cool (in more than one sense of the word) and clean.
Wheeeee! Go Paris! I am soooooo going back.
:3, b.
