J'Adore Paris

Paris was AMAZING! Once again we had train difficulties, but this time it was definitely all my fault. I misread our ticket and instead of our train leaving at 6:20pm like I thought it was going to it left at 6:02. Yay dyslexia! UGH! It was awful.. And we realized this at like 6:05. I felt absolutely awful!! But thanks to some quick investigative work we realized that there was still a way for us to get there by like 8 the next morning. After sprinting to the next train that was leaving we began our journey to Paris which took us through Stutgartt (sp?), Plochigen (sp?), and Metz. Luckily we were able to get a couchette from Plochigen to Metz so we were able to get a little bit of sleep.We made it to Paris at 7:48 that morning and after checking into the hotel and showering we were still able to make it to the bike tour on time! The bike tour was fun though we didn't see quite as much as I thought we were going to. It was really cool though because our tour guide was a 20 year old guy from Atlanta who was just living in Paris for the summer. How cool!

After the bike tour we went to the Louvre. We spent a good 5 hours there and still only saw 2 floors. It was HUGE!! It was so incredibly cool seeing all of the paintings I learned about in Art History!
As we were leaving the Louvre guess who I ran into! Chelsie!!!!! She and Austen were in Paris for the weekend also and apparently she had been trying to get in touch with me on the internet but I didn't have internet, only a phone, but she didn't have a phone. Apparently God really wanted us to get to see each other while we were in Europe! Paris is a GIGANTIC city and the Louvre is a HUGE museum.. What are the chances!?
After the Louvre, we got some coffee and sandwiches and we went and sat with our aching feet in the fountain beside the big glass pyramids. It was a truly amazing experience! After our relaxing dinner we went to the Arc de Triomphe. However to get there we first had to J-walk across the Champs Elysse. Another cool experience. Once there we couldn't resist climbing it and we got to see a beautiful sunset from atop the Arc de Triomphe! Next we headed to the Eiffel Tower where we got to watch the the twinkling light show and we of course had to climb it too!
I definitely need to go back to Paris with the boy. It is a very coupley city and I found myself being a bit bitter and missing the boy!

The next day we headed to Versailles. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!! and GIGANTIC! We spent about 5 hours there also and we explored the Palace and the grounds. We ate lunch there and then took a nap by the big pond. It was perfect! After Versailles we headed back to Paris and went to Mass at Notre Dame. It was all in French but even though I couldn't understand a word of it, I definitely got the gist of it. It was a truly awesome experience. After mass we looked around the inside a bit and then decided that we needed to climb to the top of it as well. Another breathtaking view! After Notre Dame we ate dinner at Hard Rock and then ventured off to find he Moulin Rouge. It was actually really close to our hotel, so we went a took some pictures and then called it a night.
That next morning it was time to head back to Innsbruck. We got on the train at 10:30am and didn't get back to Innsbruck until 9:30pm. Needless to say we are sick of trains and need some sleep.

I think I'll sleep now!