Paris

After spending the first 20 minutes of the flight to Paris discussing how long the flight was, we realized we were already descending and the flight was only 30 minutes. They divided us into small groups to tour the city in the morning by ourselves, and then we were free to wonder in the afternoon. This worked out really well because I was able to meet people I wouldn't have otherwise hung out with. The first day we were here we saw the Arc de Defense, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dome, Eiffel Tower, and the Pantheon. In the evening we found this restaurant called (in English) The Fondue Refuge which is by far the sweetest restaurant I've ever been to in my life. For 15 euro we got all the meat and cheese fondue you could eat, plus a bottomless "baby-bottle" full of the most disgusting wine you have ever tasted. The place probably legitimately sat 12 people, and yet they had crammed nearly 50 of us in there. The waiter was great, and the experience unforgettable. From there one of the guys on the trip and I met two French girls and went to a Pub with them, before having to leave way to soon to catch the metro home (we were a 40 minute metro ride away from home, so I can only imagine how long of a walk it would have been).

Yesterday was spent touring in the morning (we went to Versailles) - wow! And then in the afternoon/evening/night we went to the Sacre Coeur which is an amazingly beautiful church on top of a hill overlooking the city of Paris. The city at night was so gorgeous. We ate dinner at a small cafe (very french, took us about 2.5 hours to eat; and that was fast by standards here) which was perfect. Then we met up with people and sat on the stairs leading up to the church (about 200 of them) overlooking Paris. It was fascinating because the world was represented there -- we heard french, english, italian, german, russain, spanish, chinese and others we didn't recognize. There were people with an amp playing mostly American music as well but it was like Eric Clapton and such so very cool.

This morning I went to mass at the Notre Dome (it was all in french but still a cool experience) and then climbed to the top -- way cool and well worth the 4.80 euro! I'm taking a 30 min break now before I head to the Museum D'Orsay and the Louvre this afternoon. Tonight we are going to dinner as a group (I don't know where though).

I am truly loving Paris...the city is so big it's hard to get bored because there is a ridiculous amount to see. I am so exhausted and yet I don't want to sleep because I want to see as much as I can! It's expensive, but the memories are worth it.