Pristine in Paris

Ah Paris, it is quite warm in the year 2005 the month was August and It was part of my first trip to Europe. 3 days to see Paris, and 3 days filled with adventure. Travelling with me was my sister, 3 cousins and Aunt and uncle. I have fond memories of my aunt walking through Paris with her baguette sticking out of her backpack and sitting in the park eating our kaas (cheese) sandwiches, taking our shoes off cause it was that hot. We stayed in a little hotel called Hôtel Maubeuge Gare du Nord. A cute quaint little hotel (79, rue de Maubeuge, 10. Gare du Nord, 75010 Paris) It was a nice clean simple hotel, and breakfast was delicious. We didn't spend much time there, because obviously ... it was Paris. We went up the Eiffel tower, and we could see everything at a 360 degree view, the wait to go up was a little bit long, but once you make it to the top, its definitely worth it! And that is not the coolest part, while we were there, we had a room with a small balcony, and for the first 10 minutes of every hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles, and my sister and I would get up together and watch it sparkle, it was amazing.  I think my favorite place in Paris was the Arch de Triumph, right in the center of the Champs-Élysées, you climb up hundreds of stairs to the top and you get to see streets coming towards you, you see people walking down the street stopping in some of the many shops. We saw the Notre Dame which at the time was being restored and cleaned so it looked magnificent. The architecture was brilliant and going inside we got to see beautiful Gothic architecture. We weren't able to go up into the towers, but some time i hope to. On one of our final nights there, we went up and saw the Sacre Coeur and, I didn't even know it existed until we went. A gorgeous white building on top of a hill, to get to it... you guessed it... more stairs lol but these weren't bad. We got to call back home this night and talk to my parents who, at the time, were travelling around the United states with my younger brothers and sister. We saw Napoleons tomb, which if I remember correctly was 6 coffins, I guess he wanted to die big since all his life, he was quite small. And lastly but not least, the Louvre, I have to say, it was pretty cool and disappointing at the same time. beautiful huge canvases and then what I was most anticipating was... slightly overemphasized, yes I am talking about the Mona Lisa. The picture was very small, I kind of expected quite a big portrait and there it was in front of me... her head was smaller than mine and there were so many people crowding around her trying to get the picture.  Over all, my Paris experience was really amazing, it is super expensive there, but the trick is to head out of the tourist areas, and buy a simple loaf of baguette and some cheese, and just enjoy the beauty of one of the many beautiful Paris parks

- B



photo cred: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattcomi/201739527/
note: photo is not mine, it is from the site above