How odd that even though today was SO amazing, it had a completely different feel from yesterday! We did different type things, different speeds, etc. So different! Anyway..I shall explain.
I did not get to bed until around 2:30am last night because I was blogging, then I planned our route via metro, and then I showered. And we all got up around 7:30 am. Yes technically you would say I am "running on fumes" but Paris gives you some "Paris juice" in my opinion, I had energy all day!
We got ready, and went down for our free breakfast at the Hostel. It was actually very good! A croissant, roll, coffee, juice. That is what I had. They also had teas and some amazing looking granola w/ fruit bits cereal. Yummmm. Coffee especially was such a good way to start off the morning.
Our first stop was to go to a famous cemetery and see Jim Morrison and Chopin's grave. Oh yeahhh. It was easy enough to get to the cemetery, a bit harder to find their actual tomb sites. We split up (different walking speeds) and Chelsea and I went off to find them. It took at least an hour. We did not spend the 1 or 2 euro for a map, so occasionally we would ask people (in French of course :) even though they are all tourists haha) where they were. FINALLY we found them. Snapped some pics. And that was it. We met Ed and Noelle in perfect timing back at the entrance and headed to our second place for the day.
Jewish Art/History Museum. It was free, and sounded interesting, so we had planned to stop by. It was not clearly expressed on our map, but we soon saw where we needed to go and began walking. Found the museum! Walked in, got in free (being a student IN France is the BEST money saver ever), and are looking at our pamphlets and the surrounding articles and realize something.
We are in the wrong museum..
Oops? How does that even happen, haha. We were in some mechanical mathish museum hah. Left. SO glad we hadn't paid anything for it. And in 10 minutes were entering the Jewish museum! Free too heh. It was very interesting. I never knew much about Jewish practices after Jesus times, aka anything recent, so I got to learn about a lot of their customs and practices. After, Noelle, Ed, Chelsea and I had a talk. Not about the museum, about what to do next.
Ed and Noelle were not in a GO GO GO mood (completely understandable) being worn out from yesterday, and in a leisure mood. Also they were more interested in the Champs Elysees than the Holocaust Museum that we were headed to soon. So we decided that after we went to see Victor Hugo's house next, we would split up for the rest of the day and meet back at the train to go to Caen.
Victor Hugo's house. Very cool. Free. I haven't read his stuff so it was not as interesting to me as it was to Ed, for example, Les Miserables being one of his favorite books.
Then we split. It was 2pm by that time, so Chelsea and I scarfed a chewy bar and headed to find the Holocaust museum. Found it. Loved it. There was SO much information about how the Holocaust affected France specifically (With the Vichy regime in France at the time for example) so I thoroughly enjoyed that. We took a breather in the library/gift shop and I got a 50 cent coffee (They have coffee vending machines with these little espresso cups of coffee, SO good, SO cheap), then decided what we wanted to do next.
Originally the plan was to go to Musee d'Orsay, then Champs Elysees, then see what else we had time for. We decided that we didn't even know what was in the Musee d'Orsay (paintings), and were a tad museumed out, so we went to the Catacombs!
Turns out, after rushing on the metro to get there in time, they closed early that day. Dang it. It is a big underground tunnel burial system that the French used a while ago, and you can just go look at all the bones and open tomb stuff. Pretty legit. That will happen next trip.
Also we decided to run to the Luxembourg Garden and Pantheon since they were not too far and snap some pics. So we did. It started raining. We didn't care.
It was so nice getting in the Pantheon free, because we would not have gone in otherwise, and the inside was magnificent. It, inside, looks like a cross between a church and a museum and a Palace? There is a ton of art work on the walls and statues too. The lower underground level has a sweet crypt where we saw the tomb of Victor Hugo, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Alexander Dumas (Marie Curie and others were there but we did not want to spend the time to see them).
For the entire weekend I have been able to tune out the crowds. People don't affect my experience at all, I just do my own thing, enjoy what there is to enjoy, etc. But for some reason, the crowds at the crypt bugged me. I was ready to leave. It also might have had something to do with the fact that it was around 6 pm and I hadn't had anything but my breakfast, 2 chewy bars, and coffee all day.
Next stop. Napoleon's tomb. It is in the cathedral next to the Army Museum. This was closed. So no tomb for us. We definitely had researched hours and such, but they were not entirely accurate :(. Also, we had to go to the bathroom, bad. And we got excited as we saw signs in the courtyard of the big area we were in pointing to "Les Toilettes". So we walked around and around. But no. No toilettes. Fail Army Museum, fail.
Last stop of the day? Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. It was dark, still rainy, but we had about an hour left and that was the last thing to see! We realized that the metro stop we were getting off at would not give us enough time to walk right up to the Arc, but we definitely saw it from the road ( I snapped a pic as we were crossing the Champs Elysees...blurry..scary..hah).
As we are browsing the stores and food on this famous road, we see something I was shocked by. Haagen Dazs ice cream restaurant. It was MASSIVE. You could sit down and order these massive desserts, or just wait in line like a normal ice cream store. But either way, Haagen Dazs, has its own store!
We browsed a few insanely expensive stores, then headed to finally grab dinner. Pain Au Pomme. A chain sandwich and dessert shop, was our last stop. I got a sandwich, drink, and big wedge fries (a surprise for me) for 6.90 euro. That and my 50 cent coffee were my ONLY purchases today. Yes parents, be proud :).
We had also ran into Noelle and Ed as we started our Champs Elysees walk which was completely random, but that was fun! We then met them at the train station after, as they had already seen where we were going!
SO that was the day. We saw so much, and yet it was a lot more informative items, and walking around than yesterday. Also, since we split up, Chelsea kept a faster pace and did not do any type of leisure activity (we always slowed down and enjoyed wherever we were visiting, but transit was always speedy). We already have our next Paris trip planned. It is going to be a leisure, shopping, enjoy the city trip. We have now seen the majority of famous wonderful sites that Paris offers to the immediate tourist, and now, I just want to sit and soak in its calmness. I love that there are 2 sides.
This being my/our first legit travel weekend, It was such a major success. I was happy and energetic and loving every moment. Nothing disappointed me (even the things that were closed. I will see them another time!) and I have such a better knowledge about Paris, it's Metro, and where things are, so I will feel so much more comfortable ever coming back!
Ok. That is enough for now. Ack, school soon. I need sleep. I am also getting a tad sick. My body, which I have been ignoring all weekend, will have its vengeance. Bring it on it was worth it haha.
*Also, my back is going to be probably the most sore I've ever had it in my life. Even though Noelle and I shared 1 backpack, I definitely learned a thing about packing light, and why it is important.
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