I would have to say that the last three days in Paris were my favorite. I feel as though I made the most out of everyday but there was something different about the last three days. Everyday I woke up in Paris, I still couldn’t believe that I was there but the last three days it really set in that I was in Paris.
Wednesday was our first free day and I was extremely excited about it. For the first time, I ended up waking up later because I hadn’t been getting enough sleep. Hannah, Austin, and I decided that we wanted to go out and get an early lunch. We decided to go to the place that we went to for the welcome dinner, Bistro des Champs. We all decided to get the three cheese pasta and of course bread. This entire trip I hadn’t had any pasta so it was amazing. It was similar to alfredo sauce and mac and cheese. Then for dessert we all got a chocolate mousse which was fantastic.
After we ate we went shopping because we hadn’t really bought anything yet so I bought a bunch of souvenirs for my family and friends.
We decided to go back to the Arc de Champion and take pictures again. There was a crowd watching dancers and knowing about pickpocketing we watched for people trying to do it but we didn’t see anything. There was more construction around the Arc due to the Olympics starting. To the left side of the Arc, we saw Olympic seating but weren’t sure what event it would be for.
Before leaving the metro station area George V, we walked into a Nike store. It was the nicest Nike store I had ever been to. It was very bougy and surprisingly way more expensive than in the United States.
Hannah and I had really wanted to go to an Olympic store so we looked one up online and found out it was at the Westfield Paris Mall. We got off at the biggest metro station Chatelet and saw Gelato so we had to get some. Then, we went to the Olympic store and we bought the same t-shirt that had the Olympic rings on it.
We ended up going back to our hotel and we got ready for dinner to meet up with Sarah, Izzi, and Matt. They found a great place to eat so we met them at Le Petit Bouillon Pharamond which was at the Chatelet metro stop. I ended up getting beef stew which I had never had before and it ended up being pretty good.
Before coming to Paris I knew that I had always wanted to take pictures in front of the Louvre Pyramid. The day we went to the Louvre it was rainy and wasn’t a great day to take pictures so we ended up going after dinner. I was very happy that we were able to go back to the Louvre and take good pictures because it was a nice day.
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The next morning we woke up really early to go to Disneyland Paris. Disney is one of my favorite places and I would never think I would ever be able to experience going to Disney in Paris. Hannah, Austin, and I took the RER straight to Disney. On the ride there we looked up the rides that they had on the Disneyland Paris app. The ride we were most excited about was Big Thunder Mountain so we decided that when we got there we were going to run to get on the ride because we didn’t know how long the lines were going to be.
When we arrived, we walked in and the kid in all of us was coming out. Hannah and I were jumping up and down and when we saw the castle we were so happy. We admired the castle for a minute and then ran to Big Thunder Mountain as planned. When we got to the ride, the wait was 15 minutes and it ended up being more fun then the one in Florida. We said that if there wasn’t a long wait we would go on it again. We walked out and saw the wait time and it was a 20 minute wait. We ended up going on that ride 3 times that day.
We found another roller coaster at the complete other side of the park and it was called Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain. We went on the ride and it was easily the best ride at the park. We were shocked because everytime we tried to go on the ride the wait time was under 30 minutes. We ended up going on the ride 6 times because it was so fun.
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One of the funniest things that happened that day was when we went on the Star Tours ride. We were waiting in line and just as the worker lined us up we realized that it might all be in french. We convinced ourselves that they would put subtitles in English but they didn’t. We laughed so hard because we didn’t even think about it beforehand. Even though we didn’t understand anything it was really cool to listen to C3PO and others talk in french.
Before leaving we shopped a little bit and then we admired the castle. I was so happy I was able to experience Disney from a different parks perspective.
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In my opinion, the last day was the best day of the entire trip. Hannah and I woke up and we rushed down to breakfast because it was about to close in 15 minutes. We were extremely sad that morning when we were getting ready because the trip was officially over. We took the metro with Matt, Austin, Izzi, Sarah, and Alexa for the last time to Musee Rodin. This museum displayed much of his work and other sculptures from Greece, Rome, and the Middle East. I thought it was very interesting and the garden outside was gorgeous. I really enjoyed talking as a group about our favorite parts of the trip and how our perspective on Paris changed.
After the museum Austin, Hannah, and I went to Iolanda for lunch near the Eiffel Tower. We sat down and had french onion soup and bread. It was the best onion soup I had ever had. Hannah and I had already been to this restaurant and we told Austin that the Eiffel Tower was around the corner. He got up, walked around the corner and saw it and was shocked that it was right there.
We walked to the Eiffel Tower after eating and got tickets to go up to the top floor. We were all pretty nervous because of how high we were going up. When getting to the top floor and looking at the view we were amazed. We spent at least 2 hours just taking in the view. As we were looking from the top we were able to see places that we had been to, such as the Louvre, the Parthenon, Notre Dame, and the Luxembourg Gardens. It was such an amazing experience to be able to see the city and the places that we had visited in our time that we were in Paris.
Then, we went straight to the farewell dinner and I had the best time. It was really nice being altogether for the last time and being able to talk about our experiences.
After the dinner, Hannah and I went back to the Eiffel Tower to watch it sparkle for the last time. We put our phones down, took in the beauty of it, and talked about our favorite parts of the trip. When you hear someone talk about Paris, they talk about the basics like the Eiffel Tower, baguettes, and cheese. In all honesty, even though these are the things everyone talks about they talk about for a reason. Especially the Eiffel Tower because it is truly an amazing thing. I really loved being able to turn a corner and see the different views of the Eiffel Tower from the places you would least expect to see it.
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Being able to take the metro with my friends everyday was one of my favorite parts of the whole day. Even at first when we had no idea where we were going to the end of the trip where we were recognizing stops that we had gone to or knowing our way back was a fun experience. While in Paris I learned a lot about their culture, way of living, history, how to take the metro, and knowing that it was normal to see people walking around with baguettes.