The weekend started off with us leaving Friday morning and trekking through London to the Embankment tube station which is about a 45 minute walk...at 5:15 am. It was a little rough, but we made it with 10 minutes to spare! At 6:20 am our tour bus pulled up and we hopped on toward Dover!
When we reached Dover, it was amazing to actually see the White Cliffs in person...you always hear about the "white cliffs of Dover" but actually witnessing it was impressive. The bus drove onto the boat then, and we had an hour and a half ferry ride across the English Channel! Usually I hate boats, but this wasn't such a bad ride. It was short, and it was fun to think we were going to another country!
When we arrived in Calais, France, we still had to drive about 4 hours to Paris, but we finally arrived! We went straight to our hotel that we stayed at the first night, which was exceptionally nice due to a mix-up with the travel company, and then headed out on a bus tour and then river boat cruise of Paris! It was so exciting to finally see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame up close!
After the cruise on the Seine, we decided to go all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower! It was so scary, but the view was amazing! Definitely worth it. Then, as we exited the Tower, as soon as we stepped out of the elevator, the tower began to sparkle! Literally! I guess it does that ever hour at night, but the sight was spectacular and seemed like it was Paris welcoming us to the city. Here are some pictures:
Freaking out all the way at the top!
After that, we walked all the way back through Paris to our hotel which took much longer than we had planned. We were all tired and hungry and on the verge of cranky, but our hotel beds were so soft, we woke up the next day ready to go!
Saturday was a very busy day filled with a lot of famous sites in Paris. We started by going to Montmartre where the Sacre Coeur is. There were also a bunch of artists, and I bought a beautiful oil painting by an artist who did it right there the day before! It was an awesome market place. Here is the Sacre Coeur!
From there we made our way down some streets and saw Moulin Rouge! That was also extremely exciting to see:
After the trip to Montmartre, the bus made its way to Notre Dame where we were able to go inside and I was also able to eat an entire baguette for lunch. It was the most delicious bread I have ever had in my life and I'm pretty sure nothing in the US will compare!
From there we went on a half-day tour of the Palace of Versailles. We were able to see where Marie Antoinette lived, and saw the famous Hall of Mirrors. The palace was HUGE and the gardens outside are beautiful. Here are some pictures:
Palace on the outside!
Inside, the Hall of Mirrors.
Posing outside of the Palace Gardens.
That night was free for us to do whatever we wanted, and we decided to head back down to the Eiffel Tower to take pictures during the sunset. We walked back from the Eiffel Tower and ate at a French cafe for dinner which was delicious, and then went and saw the Arc de Triumph lit up at night. It was a fantastic way to end our last night in Paris. Here are some pictures:
Delicious "Croque Monsieur" which is the French version of Ham and Cheese with the cheese melted on the top!
Sunday we went to Louvre Museum where we saw the Mona Lisa and some other famous pieces of art, and then we were on our way back to London!
Overall it was a great weekend! Paris truly did seem like a magical place, and I'm so grateful I was able to spend some time there! It was my last trip out of the UK until I go home, and so it was a little bittersweet...I'm definitely going to come back to Europe as soon as possible in the future!
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