A Weekend in Paris- Julianne Edition.

Please excuse me for the absence, I've had tests and lots of stress school-wise this week. Which has all gone pretty well so far. Now that I've got a little time to relax, I get to chronicle my Parisian weekend with Julianne!

I met Julianne at the Gare du Nord, where she arrived early on Saturday morning. From there she got to immediately experience the joys of the Paris métro- a giant crowd with sometimes smelly and completely cranky morning riders. It really was a mess all the way to my stop, I should have expected that from a main line on a weekend morning. I did take her on my line though, so that her first view of the Eiffel Tower was the one that I have every morning. After the less than two second tour of my apartment, we went directly to the Eiffel Tower, to see it up close. We found these crazy bears at the Champs de Mars directly behind the tower while we hurried through the pouring rain to find shelter, and lunch.

International Bears in the Champs de Mars

 For lunch, I thought it would be best to go as French as possible, so we sat in a café looking out at the street to eat croque monsieurs with mustard and fries. T'was glorious, and just what we needed. With full stomachs and quite the agenda, we started at the Arc de Triomphe and walked all the way down the Champs-Élysées, through the Tuillierie Gardens, to the Louvre. I had intended on taking her in, but the crowd was ridiculous, so instead we went to Notre Dame.

L'Arc de Triomphe et le Champs-Élysées

 There we went inside and I'm pretty sure she didn't take her finger off the button of her camera the entire time. It's quite overwhelming.

Vaulted gothic interior of Notre Dame

 I thought I'd be daring and continue the whirlwind of sightseeing, so I dragged Julianne onto the métro for the ride over to Montmartre. There, I showed her Sacré-Coeur (my favorite) and pointed out the highlights in the area. We of course just had to stop for pastries and coffee. It's never not necessary. So we sat with our éclairs and espresso on the terrace of some patisserie on the hill and met some very nice Americans visiting for the day. It's always funny being overheard and then getting a tap on the shoulder from one of the surrounding tables, with searching eyes hoping to hear more English.

Éclairs and espresso

 Our morning and afternoon quickly turned to night and after a stop off at my apartment, to video chat with my family, we were back out on the town. In an attempt to fulfill all of our Paris hopes and dreams, we chose to sit outside a very classic café in the 7th to eat crème brulée and sip champagne while we watched the rain and the world around us. It was perfect, and just warm enough to be comfortably seated outside. While our little café stop was a bit of a splurge on our parts, it was worth it.

Paris by night

Champagne and crème brulée

 And after, we met up with my friends under the Eiffel Tower to show it to Julianne at night, sparkling and magnificent. She got to meet everyone, and we got to watch her reaction to the hourly sparkles.

The Eiffel Tower- with it's head in the clouds

 On Sunday, after croissants and café au lait, we decided to give Versailles a try. Ohhh. It was a draining and long day, but a must-see for Julianne. I thought the day there was worth the train ride and the wreaked feet (even though I was a little upset by the prices there). We saw the palace and the gardens, and even made it over to the Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette's hamlet.

The Hall of Mirrors 

Outside the Palace

I ended up getting us completely lost on the way back to the train station, which meant we didn't get back to Paris until well after 6pm. We were completely and utterly exhausted, so we had a relaxing night in my apartment and planned the next day. 

I had hoped to take Julianne to the Louvre in the morning, but it just didn't work out. So we wandered instead and Julianne said goodbye to the Eiffel Tower. I got her back to the train station in time and after lots of hugs I had to head to class. Our weekend was over much too fast, but Julianne said that not going to the Louvre gives her a good excuse for more trips here before she goes back home. Hopefully Paris will see her soon!