Paris!

Last weekend I went to Paris! It was an awesome trip. I left Friday after work with Javier, my Spanish roommate. We got off the train and his friend from Madrid picked us up. We drove around through the city a bit on our way to the other side of Paris. We stopped, walked a bit, and then ate dinner at a nice fondue restaurant. Afterwards we walked around for a while and tried to go into a club, but we were not adequately dressed. Finally we drove out to stay in the dorm of Javier's friend at Ecole Polytechnique.

The next day we woke up late, took the train into the city and dropped our bags at the hostel. We walked around the city a bit. We walked by the Place de la Concorde, and saw where President Sarkozy was going to be for the Bastille Day parade. I went up in the Arc de Triomphe for spectacular views of the area.



Afterwards we walked a bit more and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. I went up to the top, by way of stairs. It was a nice journey and it offered great views of the city. I went up at sunset, which is definitely a great time to go.



The next day, Sunday, we woke up and walked to Sacre-Coeur. It is a beautiful church, and it's on the highest part of Paris so it overlooks the city with more spectacular views.



We walked down from there and across town to Place de la Bastille, the site of the beginning of the French Revolution. After meeting up with Javier's friend and walking a bit more, I split up for the evening. Javier went to meet his father and spend time elsewhere, while I took the train out to the Palace of Versaille.

I got there a bit late in the afternoon. I did not get a chance to go inside, but I walked around outside and in the gardens for quite a while and they are beautiful. I had fun watching some children feed ice cream to some of the fish for a while too.



The next morning, Monday, July 14th (the national holiday), I woke up and began walking around the city. I went to the Opera de Paris which is a beautiful building. Definitely made me think of Phantom of the Opera. Next I walked around and watched the parade a bit. They had a lot of military marching in one area, but I found another section of parade where every few minutes they'd have about six military vehicles come through: tanks, supply vehicles, hum-vee's, camouflaged construction vehicles, and lots more. That was kind of cool to watch. It's quite intimidating how loud and fast a tank can fly down the street.



The afternoon was spent in the Louvre. It was free as part of the national holiday. I walked around for quite a long time, and I think I made it into almost every room. Mind you I didn't spend very much time in any of the rooms. I found it interesting that most everyone is there just to see the Mona Lisa. There are signs throughout the museum directing you to that picture. Of course, I did go and see it.



Overall I had a lot of fun. This was a great weekend!

All pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/wcleveland/Paris