Hello everybody! This past weekend I went to Paris with my friends Lauren, Hayley and Linda and there is a lot to tell so here goes nothing…
We woke up at about 5:30AM to leave for our train leaving at 8:30AM. After sleeping for a few hours, we were in Paris, trudging through the central train station to find out bus. After we hoped on around 12:30, we took a 4-hour bus tour of the city. We didn’t get out too many places, but it was still fun to see what the city had to offer. Afterwards, we checked into our hotel and headed over to meet another friend studying in Paris for dinner. I had a great ham and cheese sandwich (sounds boring, but it was amazing) and then spent the rest of the night in the Louvre. The Louvre is a famous museum that holds thousands and thousands of works from many famous artists. I had a great time and even saw the Mona Lisa! Before we went in, everyone was telling us how seeing it wouldn’t be that great and how it would be so small and how it was all a big hype. Well I’m here to say that is all a bunch of nonsense. Even though I had seen it many times in pictures, something about seeing it in the museum, in its own little, glass case made it seem so much better. In fact, after I had seen it once, I went to another area of the museum and then decided to go back again. Since we decided to leave the Louvre around 10, we headed back to the hotel so we could rest up for our long day ahead.
Saturday we started the day strolling through the Tullerie gardens. It was a very peaceful, park-type atmosphere with beautiful scenery and statues. We took our time walking around, and it was really refreshing to feel the morning cold. Plus there were no kids around, which is always nice because they ruin peaceful moments almost all of the time. At the end of the gardens, we ended up at the end of the Champs Elysees. This famous block has TONS of great shopping, and somehow I managed to keep my spending under control. I had a moment of weakness though, when I almost bought a $50 coin purse from some really posh handbag store. Now that I think back on it, the purse was hideous. Good thing my friends bailed me out of that one. Continuing down the Champs Elysees, we took lots of pictures and ended at the Arc de Triomph. We took pictures, looked underneath, looked at the tomb of the unknown solider, took some more pictures, etc.
Next was Notre Dame Cathedral. Not only was it stunning and amazing, as all cathedrals are, it was FREE to get in. We all looked around and soaked up all the beautiful stained glass and elaborate alter. After about an hour there, we were getting hungry. And what better way to quench that hungry than with crepes! Oh the lovely crepe. It’s like a pancake, but better. It’s a little thinner and they put basically anything you want inside. Bananas, strawberries, blueberries, sugar, meat, nutella. I opted for ham and cheese because I didn’t think any fruit option would fill me up until dinner.
After eating, we went to a famous cemetery. It was famous because a lot of historians, authors, philosophers, etc. were buried there. The reason we originally went there was to see the tomb of Jim Morrison. Granted, this really wasn’t my type of thing, but the girls were dying to see it so I went along and was pleasantly surprised. The cemetery, I kid you not, was as big as a city. It had a map once you entered and they had road names and division numbers to section of areas. And all of the tombs were crammed side by side. Heaven forbid your loved one is buried in the middle of a section; you would basically have to climb over 50 other dead people to get there! Anyways, we visited Jim’s grave along with the tombs of Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. This whole excursion took about an hour and a half, but we still had time until dinner so we decided to head over to the Musee d’Orsay. This museum is also famous in Paris, but I’m not sure why. In fact, I don’t really know how any museum becomes famous. Anyways, everyone told us to go visit so we did. We didn’t stay for more than a few hours because at this point, we were getting tired of being on our feet for the entire day. So…
Dinner! Oh the good a little food can do for a girl. We crashed at some posh restaurant around 5 and ordered up some drinks and nibbled on the bread. We decided that this was going to be our nice dinner for the weekend and I splurged on some salmon with rice and the most amazing sauce ever. That, partnered with some wine made for a delicious meal. After sitting and girl talking for hours, we headed to the River Sienne to catch our boat cruise for the night at 8:30PM. On the walk over there, at 8, we stopped and watched the Eiffel tower glitter in the distance. Every night at dusk, the tower lights up with flashing white bulbs for 5 minutes on the hour, every hour. It was so beautiful and kind of had the same effect as the Mona Lisa. It has been seen in pictures many times, but seeing it in person was so amazing and pretty. After the 5 minutes of sparkles, we got on the boat and went for an hour ride on the river. Now remember, all you blog readers, that this is the city of lights. Seeing all the sights lit up was a fun way to end the day on. Plus, it was a good time to relax, sit and chat.
Sunday, we started the day by going to the Royal Opera House in Paris. It was huge, gold and elaborate. There is no other way to describe it. The pictures didn’t come out too well, so you should look through their website and see what it was like.
After a few hours there, we made our way to the Moulin Rouge. It’s a strip club, so it wasn’t in a very glamorous part of town. We snapped pictures and headed to our next destination….
The Eiffel Tower! Our last tourist spot for the weekend, we waited in line to get through security, waited in line to get tickets, waited in line to get halfway up and FINALLY then got in line to go all the way up. It was beautiful! You could see the entire city and beyond, even though it was a tad bit chilly. I just stared out and admired the city I had spent the past 36 hours in and was happy. What a great trip! We rushed back, grabbed pastries from the shop next to our hotel and headed back to the train station, where we proceeded back to London.
And now, a whole 3 days later, I’m preparing for my 8-day trip to Rome, Florence and Venice. I have a to do list about a mile long and am constantly starting to worry about everything. Thank goodness I have Lauren and Hayley to keep me calm. The 3 of us intend to have the best 8 days of our lives… and of course, some good wine too.
On a complete separate note, some very exciting things have been happening at Retail Jeweller. I bet you all had thought I wasn’t even working anymore! What a silly thought that is. Well, our March issue came out and it is fabulous! We are now working on April (obviously) and I am even in charge of a section called 6 of the Best! Here is how it breaks down: We pick 2 trends in jewellery and then pick 6 of the best from that category (complicated, I know). So anyways, Fran (deputy editor) said that one of the trends would be the best wedding bands and that I could pick the other trend, so I went with turquoise jewellery. I’ve been busy contacting PR execs and gathering photos, information and prices. Once the issue comes out, Ill be posting the pictures and captions on here. My favorite piece from the 2 sections so far is this HUGE platinum wedding band that is 39g and has Alexander the Great’s family crest on it…in diamonds. Retail price (drum roll…..) is $10,000. Not too shabby. Just think, if that is what the GUY is wearing, think of what his wife gets?!
Until next time!
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