Day two in Paris was a LONG day! We were on our feet from 8:30 am until 11:30 pm and completely exhausted by the end but we had such a fun time!
Our day started out with cake, chocolate croissants, cheese, meat, baguettes, and hot chocolate for breakfast. I love French breakfast!
Our first site we visited was Notre Dame. It was very dark and kind of dirty. It was not very impressive inside, although, the outside was stunning! I wanted to go see the bells but we couldn't figure out how to see them and we didn't speak French so we walked around the inside and then left.
We went for a little walk down next to the Seine river. The walkway was flooded so we walked along the barrier and tried not to fall in.
Our next site was Sainte-Chapelle (pronounced san sha-pel). We walked into the bottom floor and it didn't look that great but then we walked upstairs and saw the most beautiful stained glass windows I have ever seen! The windows cover every wall and depicted scenes from Genesis until the resurrection of Christ. They were inspiring!
Our third stop was at La Conciergerie (I don't know how to pronounce this one). This is where Marie Antoinette was held as a prisoner until her execution and where many aristocrats were kept until they were sent to the guillotine. It made me want to watch one of my favorite movies, The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Everyone was jealous of the amazing Croque Monsieur I got for lunch on the first day and so they all wanted it for lunch the second day. We found a cute little place right next to the Seine that had even better sandwiches than the one I got! Delicious!
Our next stop was my new most favorite place... Versailles (ver-sigh)! This is the most elaborate palace ever built. Louis XIV built this in the Rococo style and every room you walk into literally takes your breath away. I took pictures of every single room but my favorites were the Hall of Mirrors and the Queen's Bedroom.
I could have spent an entire DAY inside of the palace but we literally just walked straight through and it took us an hour without audio guides. I feel like there's so much history that I could learn there so I'd like to go back someday. After spending a brief time inside, we headed out into the gardens. You remember how I compared English gardens to American gardens? Well English gardens have NOTHING on French gardens. The grounds at Versailles cover around 100 acres. There are fountains everywhere, trees that are perfectly manicured, ponds and a lake. It is stunning! We spent about three hours outside in 80 degree weather (SO hot) and it was beautiful.
Originally, I wanted to rent bikes to ride around the grounds. Instead, because it was so hot, we walked down to the lake and bought sorbet and lied in the grass under the shadow of a giant tree. This was another FAVORITE moment! Our feet were hurting and it was burning hot but the sorbet was the very BEST sorbet I've ever had. We're all still craving it right now. Kayley, Jaden, and I got raspberry and Katherine and Amanda got pineapple. If you ever go to Versailles you have to get this sorbet!
We also wanted to do an activity instead of riding bikes that didn't include walking. Our options were paying lots of money to ride ponies or to split up the cost to row a boat on the lake. We chose to row, row, row the boat! Except... I couldn't really row and so Kayley had to do it for me. We all got a little sun and just relaxed on the lake. It was BEAUTIFUL!
We toured Marie Antoinette's houses in a rush and without much passion or interest. After some great conversations we dragged our tired bodies back to the train station. We then headed back into Paris and tried to find some dinner. We found a little hole in the wall place where we could get a panini, crepe, and soda for five Euros. Sold!
We ended our night at the Musee d'Orsay (don't know how to pronounce this one). It is a beautiful collection of impressionist art including works by Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, and other people. Once again, I don't really know "how to appreciate" art but I still liked the museum. It was so hard because we had been standing all day and been to so many places that we were all kind of burnt out. That picture shows how I was feeling at that point!
We all wanted to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle one last time. It would've been too hard to take the metro there (because the Paris metro is not organized at all- especially compared to the London underground). So we decided to try and speed walk across the city at sunset to get there in half an hour. That really didn't work! Amanda and Jaden ran a mile to catch the sparkle at the very end but Katherine and I stayed together and tried not to get lost. We had a great talk on our way there but we didn't make it in time. We saw the tower sparkle from a far way off and got to the park in front of the tower as it ended. We then laid on the grass because we were super tired, took some pictures for people who wanted kissing pictures in front of the tower, and then relocated with the other girls to go home.
We were exhausted, our feet killed, we were dehydrated (Paris has a serious lack of drinking fountains as well as places that sell water bottles), but so happy! It was a great day in Paris!
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