We started our trip by taking a tram to the train station, a train to Prague, a bus to Vaclav Havel Airport, a plane to France, and an Uber to our hostel. So much public transportation that made our little weekend possible. After a few delays and mishaps, we made it to the beautiful "City of Love", and immediately fell asleep because we were dead tired and had a fun filled weekend that awaited us when the sun rose.
The sun ended up setting its alarm too early, because our morning in Versailles seemed to jump out at us. Taking the RER (the metro system in France), we made it to the magnificent palace of Versailles. We approached the gilded gate that was once resurrected after the French Revolution and sat in awe at how massive the palace actually was. The Sun King (Louis XIV) went all out when he spent one half of France's GDP building a house for himself. We toured the staterooms and the king's rooms listening to good old Rick Steves telling us about the history of the palace as well as little tidbits about the art and decorations that surrounded us. Once we got tired at looking at all these priceless artifacts, we purchased tickets to look around the gardens. By far, the gardens were the most royal thing of the day. There were perfectly trimmed trees lining dancing fountains surrounded by the air filled with music. I felt like I was of nobility just walking through the gardens. We basked in the sun for a little bit before heading back in the the city. That night, we hiked across Paris to look at the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Minor Basilica. The church was phenomenal. It was placed perfectly on a hill with a marvelous view of Paris, as well as having a cozy, divine interior. When it was finally time to leave, we walked back to our Airbnb (situated approx. five minutes from the Eiffel Tower) and stopped to have a glass of wine and look at "le Tour d'Eiffel" light up for the night.
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| Usually we only take pictures of things, so we decided to get a real picture of us at the gardens of Versailles |
With another early sunrise, I got up and went to a little mass in French close to the city center. I met back up with the group and we started a free walking tour through the heart of Paris. We got to see famous landmarks such as Notre Dame, l'Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre. Our tour guide had been giving tours for many years so he was excellent at explaining the history behind certain buildings and illustrating stories that accompanied the places that we saw. After the tour, our group split off to go eat and go back to see certain things that we might have missed. I went back to see the interior of Notre Dame and see what all the hub was about. Personally, it wasn't my favorite church thus far, but the impeccable stained glass was unparalleled to anything that I have seen. Afterwards, I grabbed a croque-monsieur and we just walked around Paris and got to see what the city had to offer to us. We concluded the day with going to a little Italian restaurant that was the best place that I have been to in a long while. We were immediately greeted with a "bonjour" and a high five by our cute little Italian waiter. We saw that there were Rick Steves books as decorations and our waiter said that Mr. Steves had visited a few years ago and recommended the place in his books. Our calzone and real Italian wine hit the spot and was a great last meal to have in Paris. We bought a second bottle to go and went back up towards the Trocadero to once again sit and watch the sky fall behind the most famous landmark in the world.
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| L'Arc de Triomphe |
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| Le Louvre |
~"Travel fosters human understanding, and empathy for people whose lives are unlike your own; it opens your eyes to otherness, including other cultures and religions" -Nathan Lump~
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