Great trip!

A few weeks ago Sean and I took a trip to Paris. We figured it would be a good time to go before I couldn't walk or fly anymore. We left on a Tuesday evening from Portland to Newark then to Paris. It was a little tricky leaving from Portland because we were delayed about three hours so we were very nervous that we wouldn't make our connection in Newark. Luckily, we got into Newark just as our plane was boarding so we made it. After breathing a sigh of relief once on the plane, out flight was fairly uneventful and we arrived in Paris around 12:30 pm on Wednesday. We bought our train tickets to get into the city and got to our hotel around 3 or so. That afternoon we went to the Louvre since I knew it was open late on Wednesdays.
It was really cool. It is an amazingly huge museum with lots of stuff you've seen in movies and in books, but to see it in person is really cool. Even the Mona Lisa, which, even behind glass, has such a quality to it, you can't help but stare at it for a while. That night we had a crappy dinner as some bistro near our hotel.

Our hotel was great. It was near the Arc de Triomphe. It was nice to see the Arc every day on our way to the metro. The next day we went to Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. It was a great day and we did lots of walking. Notre Dame was beautiful. I think it was my favorite thing we saw while we were there. It has such an amazing history and such beautiful architecture. Notre Dame has wonderful stained glass windows, cool gargoyles and a huge bell called "Emmanuel," (the one that Quasimodo rang in the story) and it weighs something ridiculous like 3 tons.

The Eiffel tower was also a cool building with amazing architecture. You get great views of the city from the tower and you get to be 900 feet high.








The next day we went to Versailles. It too was spectacular. The space of it is huge and the paintings and architecture of it are beautiful. We saw the Hall of Mirrors, the doors which Marie Antoinette escaped through to safety for one night, her Hamlet with a mill and farm. The gardens are extravagant, there are statues everywhere.

The next day we went up to Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre. Another beautiful church and area, although there were a lot of annoying street vendors. We also saw Moulin Rouge and ate at a nice little cafe for brunch.

All in all, we saw a lot of great stuff, walked a lot and had a nice relaxing trip (except for the start of the trip when we were delayed). The food, honestly, wasn't that great. We went out to one nice dinner, but mostly, we just ate bistro food. We also finally made it up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe - on the third try. Each other time we tried to go there, it was closed, and finally on the last night, we made it. I liked going up the top of the Eiffel tower, but going to the Arc at night, was really worth it. I would highly recommend it if you ever go. We had a great time!