I Know Things Now!

After telling Wade a corny joke about how I have writer’s blog, instead of writer’s block, I realized that I was going to tell you folks about Paris! The week we spent in Paris was a pretty neat week. We got a Paris pass which got us into the museums and other places without having to wait in a ticket line. It also comes with a five-day subway pass. I would totally recommend getting the pass! It may be expensive, but you definitely get your money's worth, and it's cheaper in the long run. Also, if you're going to be spending an entire week of walking and climbing stairs, bring good shoes! Even with your trusty walking shoes, prepare to have your feet ache at the end of the day!

Marie Antoinette's Symbol in La Conciergerie

The first full day we spent there was pretty great and full of jet lag which may have involved me actually falling asleep on the subway a lot! (I'm telling you, every time I sat down I was asleep within seconds.) Our first stop was La Conciergerie. It was a jail that at one point housed Marie Antoinette. Her jail cell was later turned into a little chapel. Our next stop was Notre Dame Cathedral. The stained glass windows are as amazing as everyone claims they are. After you walk around on the inside, you hop in a very long line outside so you can climb all 387 steps to the top, all the while talking about how the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame was a lot happier than the book. I, for one, have never read the book, and now I don't think I want to. Once you are at the top of the building, you have a wonderful view of Paris! You get to see the very big bells too. It takes time to get up there, but it is well worth all those winding, stone steps! We then walked to the Panthéon. The Panthéon has a very large crypt full of famous French citizens. We saw Victor Hugo’s crypt, along with countless others. After all the walking, we went back to the hotel to take a little break. After sleeping for awhile, it was time to get back out there! We ended the evening by taking a little river cruise past the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

  

On the second day, we spent the whole day at Versailles. If you want to go Versailles, get there right when it opens. Avoid the huge line!  That's exactly what we did. Wade has been to France twice before this, so he knew that the line was going to be long and that it would take forever to get in. So, in this case, the early bird wins. I say “in this case” because in most cases waking up early on vacation is never anything anyone should do. Anyway, we toured the palace, and it was amazing--so much gold trim everywhere. We then went to the gardens, I remembered that my sister Char had told us to rent bikes because it's such a big place. We got there too early, so the bike place wasn't open, and when it did open, we were too far away.  By then, it made more sense to just walk around. However, I soon started to regret not following my sister’s advice! That place is so big, folks! There is so much to see and do.  It would have been easier with a bike. So take Char Garn’s advice and rent bikes! We went to Marie Antoinette's “play village”. It was a legit village that she would go to when she wanted to get away. She liked to pretend she was a peasant. We then got lost in some gardens, and it took us about an hour to find our way out! It was a beautiful place, and I totally want to go back. Historically speaking, at first I was sad that they cut Marie’s head off, but after seeing Versailles, my opinion changed. She was so out of touch with what was going on around her. As the French Citizens were starving, she was “playing peasant”. Not cool, Marie. So after Versailles, we, you guessed it, took a very long break! For dinner we found a Malagasy place that Wade was so excited about. Let's just say that the Malagasy lady charged us for, in Wade’s words, “the worst dish they serve in Madagascar.” Wade walked out of there a little sad. Poor Wade. After that, we went to the Arc de Triomphe. I would definitely suggest going at night. It was so cool!

Our third day was exciting because we finally got to climb all 674 steps of the Eiffel Tower. Once you get the the second level, you ride an elevator all the way to the top. It was so awesome! It was a great view and all the steps were worth it in the end! Folks, if you don't want to climb that many stairs, I don't blame you.  You can always ride an elevator to the top! The line is shorter for the stairs, though. Now I know why.  After all the climbing, we went to Napoleon's tomb.  I've never seen anything like the tombs they have there! Napoleon’s tomb is the biggest thing I've ever seen. I just kept thinking, “Did they build that thing in here or did they have to carry that sucker?!”  After the tomb, we went to the Opera house. Guys, don't go on a tour.  Just walk around by yourself. The tour takes a long time. and it's--dare I say it--boring. It was cool to see Box Number Five though! (Shout out to all my musical theater nerds who understand the significance of Box Number Five!) After that, we went to the Louvre. We wanted to go at night because we figured it wouldn't be as busy. We were right. So do that. Anyway, I have always thought the Louvre was just a bunch of paintings. Nope, it has so much more--so many artifacts and sculptures. Honestly, I was overwhelmed with it all, and my feet hurt. When we finally got to the Mona Lisa, I was confused as to why it was so popular. There are just so many other paintings that I would rather look at. Guys, please don't think of me as an uncultured swine, but it's a very small painting, and again, my feet really hurt!

The fourth day, my feet almost refused to get in my shoes. They figured I was trying to kill them or something. I finally did put my shoes on, and we were off again! By this time it was Saturday, and we had been to all the popular places. We decided to go to this cool castle. When we got there, we found out that we couldn't go inside because it was under construction. Big bummer. We ended up going to the Latin Quarter. We found out there was a Middle Ages museum there, so we went to that. It was cool. Not as cool as a castle would have been but still pretty cool. We walked around for awhile and folks, that was all we did.

  

Our final and last day in Paris, we went to the catacombs. Guys, the line was so long, and they only took about 200 people every 45 minutes. We were in line for an hour and a half. We didn't wake up early, but I suggest you folks do. Learn from our mistakes. It kind of reminded me of a line at Disneyland! When you got to the entrance, they had a counter that would track the number of people in the catacombs. Now, I know I went to all these different cool places but I must say that the catacombs were my favorite thing we did.  Definitely go do that if you get a chance to go to Paris. We ended the night by going back to the Eiffel Tower where we said goodbye to our awesome Paris adventure

Folks, here are a few things to take away from all of this. Wake up early so you don't have to stand in ridiculously long lines. Bring your best walking shoes, and just be prepared to have your feet hurt no matter what. Don't eat at Malagasy places because they will rip you off. Don't feel bad if you don’t think the Mona Lisa is that amazing. And finally, go to all these awesome places and try not to feel sorry for Marie Antoinette!

Thanks for reading folks!