Bonjour!--Day 2

3 May 2010
Paris, France
via Madrid, Spain (6 May 2010)


Our first day in Paris consisted of following one of my guidebook's recommendations. We started off at the Louvre.







As unartistic people, we went to see the most famous thing (Mona Lisa) and admired the other things along the way. This was amusing to me, as the Mona Lisa is a very small painting that has it's very own wall in the middle of a big room.










There is GIANT painting on the wall across from it that is a painting of a marriage feast. The Mona Lisa was really crowded, so I wound up buying a postcard because my picture of it didn't come out too well.






and winged victory, which i think is kinda neat.








After the Louvre, we headed off to Notre Dame. On the way, we admired the view of the Seine from several spots along the river.

We also stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant (I know, I know, but we were hungry, and it was tasty!).




St. Michael fountain. Beautiful.





















Notre Dame was absolutely beautiful, of course. There was also a choir singing when we got there, which made it really nice.











the famous rose window at Notre Dame.









I really wanted to visit the Saint Chappelle after that, but the line was really, really long =/

Instead, we headed to the Champs Elysees which begins at this square with the oldest object in France in the center. The object is an Egyptian obelisk.











We hopped on the metro to the Arc du Triomphe to speed things up a bit.














From there we headed towards the Eiffel Tower. By chance, we took the wrong metro line which led us through another area of Paris. We happened by a 100 year old pharmacy. It was small and really pretty, and the pharmacist spoke English!













Aw. Sweden =) so far away. I miss you!







The Eiffel Tower is every bit as awesome as you might expect. We waited in line for a long time, but not too terribly long for tickets, then again to get on the lift. We went allllllllllllllll the way to the top which was an awesome and terrifying view. Eventually, we headed back down to the second level where there is an exhibit that tells about the construction and some facts about the Eiffel Tower. We then climbed down the stairs to the first level. This was FREEEEEZING. I don't recommend doing this unless it's warm outside.





After some issues with navigation, we made it back to Compiegne in time for dinner with Amy and Micael. We had soup and salad. We also had these little Belgian waffle-like desserts with nutella and whipped cream. Whipped cream was actually invented in France in a place called Chante. The French refer to whipped cream as Chante, not whipped cream.








Amy and I spent the rest of the evening talking over high school memories and catching up.