Weekend In Paris

Bonjour! This past weekend I took a train ride with 85 of my closest friends to Paris. The train ride, the food, the architecture and the Eiffel Tower of course were all highlights of the trip! But more exciting than that was the fact that I turned over a new leaf, I said goodbye to 22 and hello to 23. Yeah folks, I spent my 23rd birthday in Paris. I never thought I would be doing that. It was awesome.

As you know Paris is hands down my favorite city in the world. I love the beauty of it, the way the light hits the buildings, or how you could literally walk around the city with your eyes closed and still be able to find a patisserie. Mmmmmmmmm yum. If you were to spot me in Paris this is what you would see, a girl with her mouth open gawking at the roof lines (probably with my neck tilted upwards towards the sky) and a camera in hand.

We arrived in Paris on Friday evening. All 85 of us students with our luggage in tow headed to our hotels where we were assigned roommates and a very plush comfortable bed. My back I believe sang the hallelujah chorus. :D After that it was off to a boat tour on the Seine. I would have you know that when that boat came around the bend in the river and there she was lady Eiffel glimmering in all her golden glory 2 tears fell down my face. I wish I could say this is the only time this happened to me, but no it's not. Every time I visit Paris, I cry.

After that my friends and I headed out to find crepes and then made our way back to our hotel. I ordered in french for my LEMON AND SUGAR crepe and proceeded to skip down the streets of Paris blissfully enjoying myself.

The next morning, MY BIRTHDAY! They crammed 85 of us onto buses for a morning tour of Paris. Awesome. Best part being when we joined that 12 ring circus of cars in the round-a-bout by the arch de Triomphe. It was about a 3 hour tour of Paris stopping here and there and everywhere. Ending up at the Louvre where our school let us have the rest of our day to do whatever. We explored the Louvre and then somehow I ended up being the tour guide for a group of people and took them all over Paris. We stopped at the Lock Bridge, at Notre Dame, got a bite to eat at a cafe. We were determined to find macaroons because that was what I wanted for my birthday cake. Unfortunately when you are really wanting to find something it cannot be found anywhere and thusly we were wandering around Paris for an hour or so trying to track down macaroons. Then the sky decided to open up and down came pouring rain, then hail, then wind and all of a sudden, a RAINBOW!! It was so exciting I almost shed another tear. Fortunately we found a macaroon shop or I would have cried for a different reason. I bought 3 macaroons and then we decided to head back to the hotel to change for the evening...I mean it was my birthday, I gotta look special on my birthday!!

CREPE 

The Louvre

My friend Kelsey willingly did my makeup and I did her hair. Then 4 of us girls headed to a small italian restaurant by request of myself. We ordered food and then dessert and I got a glass of prosecco. I sipped it slowly as to enjoy every moment of my birthday. It was a memorable day :) I returned to my hotel, skyped my family who sang to me multiple times, watched me eat my macaroons, and I opened my cards from my family too.

This is how 23 feels.

The last day in Paris was just spent wandering around some more. More food was eaten and more pictures taken. My friends went on the Eiffel Tower while I wandered around the city taking pictures and just having a moment with me and Paris. I returned to the Eiffel Tower, found an empty bench and sat down to wait while my friends finished up on the tower. I think that was the highlight of the trip. While I was sitting there, the Eiffel Tower to my left and the sunshine on my back I just took in all that was around me. It was great. I watched little children scream and jump over puddles, even understood what they were saying in French which was super cool!

Heaven.

We had a few hours left before we headed back to London so my friends and I spent the rest of the day wandering, eating and shopping. All in all it was a wonderful trip and I was so happy to get to be back in Paris even for a few days.

23 is a pretty cool age to be. I feel wiser.  23 WOWEEE SO OLD.