So we are back home! After 15 hours total on planes and about 2 whole days spent in airports and the lovely city of Paris, we finally made it.
We had about exactly 24 hours to spend in Paris. We stayed in a hotel near the airport and just rode the train into town. Oh, and by the way, I LOVE Paris. I did the first time I went, and still did during our short little trip this time. We had all afternoon and night to hit 5 places that we picked out to see. We headed to our first stop- Notre Dame. Before seeing the church, we ate at a little cafe near it. Mine was pretty yummy, and Todd's probably would've been if they had ever brought it! After lunch, we walked over to look at Notre Dame and its gargoyles. Lines to go in were pretty long, so we decided not to.
We then went to the Eiffel Tower. Yep, just like I remembered it. You all of a sudden look up and there is a massive tower above you. It's really a cool feeling to see it in person. Even though it was a cold and dreary day, the lawn in front of it was littered with tons of people. Again, the lines to go up to the top were massively long, so we decided to just enjoy the views from the ground.
After a while, we decided to hop on the metro again and go to the Arc de Triomphe. It was here that I realized I didn't have any "Paris book" to tell me the history behind all the things we were seeing. It really does make a difference to know background information when you see all these things. Nonetheless, the Arc de Triomphe was still pretty cool.
From there, we walked down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre. It was a much longer walk than I remembered, and we probably should've taken the metro. But the Champs Elysees is full of shops and cafes and people, so it was a fun walk.
We finally made it down to the Louvre, where we just walked around and looked at the outside (no time or money to go in....people say its overrated anyway). By this time, it has started raining....lovely. We stand under a bus stop until the rain has somewhat pass, then hop on the metro and head to Montmarte.
Montmarte is probably my favorite part of town. It's a lot quieter and seems very quaint. We stopped at an Italian restaurant for dinner. We had pizza and wine at a little table outside. Delicious! Then we walked over to Sacre Coeur- a big white church on a hill (sorry, I don't really know any more about it than that). We climbed a TON of stairs to get to the top (Todd was pretty much dragging me b/c I was so exhausted at this point!). The last bit of stairs before you reach the church was full of people just hanging out. It was almost sunset and the stairs offered a great view of the city.
We decided to end our Paris adventure with dessert....crepes! Ok, if you've never had a crepe, this is what it is....you put a thin, pancake-like crepe on a hot skillet and fill it with whatever you like. Todd had strawberry "jelly" and bananas and I had Nutella (like chocolate peanut butter) and bananas. Then you wrap them up and eat them hot. So yummy! We both decided that this was, by far, our favorite part about our day in Paris. :)
We finally made it back to our hotel about midnight. We had been up for 24 hours straight!
So now we are back. We had a great summer and are so thankful to my aunt and uncle for all their generosity over the past month and a half. We love to travel....there is so much to see and learn. There are so many people all over the world living lives that we, as Americans, probably don't even give a thought to. I mean, who had heard about a country called Azerbaijan or knew that Georgia was actually a country and not just a state? It's good for us to be reminded that the world is much bigger than just the comfy little lives we live.
So, we love to travel, but nothing beats getting to come home- getting to see our family and friends, being in our own apartment, getting to go to church, and, of course, having a car that makes going places so convenient!
So I guess that wraps everything up! Thanks for reading about our summer. I've kind of gotten into this blog thing, so if you don't mind I think I'll keep it up! Probably won't have too many exciting stories, but I'll see what I can do. :)
Last bit of pictures:
Paris: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025589&l=039f8&id=61700300
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