Now, another visitor comes to Paris!

Kelly arrived early in the morning so after I dropped Zach off I came back to the apartment and we took about a 3 hour nap, which felt amazing! After our nap it was about 1 pm so ready to do a little sightseeing.  Near Saint Germain-de-Pres we saw some amazing chocolate shops and had a delicious brunch with eggs, salad, orange juice, mini crepe, bacon,and Kelly had her first crepe!We went to Saint Michel and walked around for a while, took pictures of the fountain and then went to Ile-de-la-Cite where we went to Notre Dame. I have been about 6 or 7 times but it really still is amazing to see. After Notre Dame we went to the rest of the island and saw Palais de Justice which is really beautiful. It was kinda a cold day compared to what it had been so we didn't spend too much time outside. It was really relaxing just to walk around though and not rush around trying to see everything. That night we just stayed in since we were pretty tired..

Monday unfortunately I had class in the morning and afternoon but we were able to do some sightseeing in between my classes. We went to Champs Elysee and walked through the Grand and the Petit Palais and then down the boulevard to the Arch de Triomphe. We ate at Leon de Bruxelles,which is a chain of Belgian restaurants whose specialty is mussels and fries (my favorite.)

Kelly had the mussels au gratin, which has cheese and sauces on top and I had a bucket of mussels Ardenaise style yum! After walking for a bit I had to go to class unfortunately, but after class we went to dinner since it was 8 p.m. I wanted to take Kelly to an authentic French meal, so we did some research and found a palce called Chez Paul in the Bastille area. I had steak au poivre (steak with pepper sauce) while Kelly got her French on and ordered Steak Tartare and escargot(so proud :) Mine was delicious, definitely one of the best steaks I have had here in Paris, and she loved the escargot. On the way home, we stopped at the pastry shop and got some delicious delights for dessert.

On Tuesday I had to go to class in the morning and then we were off to go discover Paris. We went to see the Eiffel Tower first thing and we were able to take the elevator up. It was a sunny day with almost no clouds in the sky so luckily the view was really good. As usual the elevator to the top was really long but we were able to see all of Paris, and I got to be the tour guide and show her all the sights. We walked the Champs de Mars and through the Trocadero gardens. I’m guessing the Gendarmarie was on it that day because I didn’t see a single vendor trying to sell us souvenirs and such… it was kinda nice. 

 We then got some sandwichs at a local deli and then went to Champs Elysee again. We had walked a little bit on the Avenue on Monday, but Kelly wanted to go to the top which I had never done before. Its not as high as the Eiffel Tower but seeing all of the crazy avenues and watching Parisians drive was very entertaining. It also gives a great view of “La Grande Arche” of La Defense which is the business district of Paris, one of the places on my list to visit next! While we were walking towards Place de la Concorde to visit further down the avenue we stopped and watched these amazing street dancers.

I have seen them before near Sacre Coeur, and it is a group of about 6 dancers that put on a show! We took lots of pictures ;) and gave a tip especially since the only girl was from the USA.  We window shopped past Cartier, Louis Vitton, H & M and some other awesome stores. After walking on the Champs Elysee for a while we walked to see Rue Fauburg St. Honore, the most expensive street and Paris and one of the top in the world. We got to see the famous auction house of Sotheby’s, stores such as Chanel, Louboutin, Hermes and many more. It is so crazy how many designers are just on one street. After we walked to see the Grands and Petit Palais (built for the 1900 World Fair) along with the bridge Alexander 3.

The next day I had class in the morning, but luckily it was my last class of the week and then we continued our adventures. I was craving some Mexican food so I stopped by El-Nopal which is a tiny place near my school that has the best Mexican in Paris (I promise) and its not very expensive. Its not as good as the American version but it is still delicious, After, we went to see Les Invalides which included Napoleon's tomb, L'Eglise des Invalides, and the WWI-WWII museum. I went to see them when Zach was here, but it was pretty cool to see all of the military stuff again. I learn so much about French history everytime I have gone so now I feel more like an educated French student. Since it was a gorgeous day out, we met some of my friends for a picnic at Parc Monceau. It was fun for Kelly to meet some of my friends, drink some wine and play a couple games. For dinner we had to try the famous crepes and that is another thing that I am going to miss when I am back home in the US. We got nutella and banana which was delicious!

Thursday I had no class so we did a lot of sightseeing and exploring of Paris. We started out at the Louvre and I saw many things I didn't see last time. We saw all of big sights including the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Michelangelo, and lots of Egyptian and Greek artifacts. It was pretty crowded but it was awesome to not get lost and to explore some new parts of the museum. We were starving after we left so went to an delicious Italian restaurant for some pizza, pasta and bread. I had veal with a creamy lemon sauce and Kelly had a vegetarian pizza with lots of veggies and cheeses. Amazing! After lunch we went to see the French Senate and Luxembourg Gardens. Since it was such a beautiful day it was pretty packed but it was really nice to walk around the Garden. We still had to go to Montmarte, so we only spent about 30 minutes walking around the gardens before we were off. Once in Montmarte, we went to see the Moulin Rouge and the Red Light District of Paris and then we walked around Sacre Coeur/the artsy area of Montmarte.

Us at fondue

 It was pretty busy with people so it was fun! After spending some time on Butte Montmarte we went to Les Refuge de Fondue with a big group of friends for some baby bottle wine, fondue and fun. We were there for almost 3 hours, and then we went to the Neo Club for an event that our school was holding...I had to show Kelly some of the amazing club life in Paris! It was a lot of fun with some really cheap drink specials and being able to hang out with a lot of people from ABS. We were out until about 4 am which is pretty normal in Paris but we were really tired. It was a really busy day/night.

Waking up on Friday after 2 hours of sleep was not a fun experience but I was excited for Geneva. Since I don’t have a European credit card with “un puce” microchip and no help from some snotty French train employees we unfortunately missed our train and had to pay extra to make it on the next one.

In front of the UN

The train ride was about 3 hours long and traversing though France was a sightseeing adventure in itself. I couldn’t take the best pictures since we were moving so fast but I took a couple. Once we made it to Geneva we took a taxi to our hotel which turned out to be in France! I didn’t know that Geneva is so close to France, but the reason our hotel was so cheap is because it was pretty far away from the city center.We checked in and then took a bus into the center of Geneva. For some reason we could not find any help from a tourism side, no maps,no signs directing where to go from the train station. We were starving, tired and a little hung over so we went to eat some lunch at some Italian place we found. Switzerland still uses the Swiss Franc which was strange having to exchange my money, since most of Europe luckily uses the euro. Geneva is known as one of the most expensive cities in the world, and I can testify to that now!

A glass of wine at a normal restaurant was about 7 francs, or 9/10 dollars! We tried to keep our trip as cheap as possible however. I looked at a map at one of the bus stops and saw that the touristy part of Geneva is surrounding the lake so we just started walking towards there.  It was beautiful, parks and old houses surrounded by the Alps in the background. The presence of the lake reminded me of Stockholm, and in the middle of the lake is the tallest fountain in the world. I took some amazing pictures of the lake, city and mountains behind it.  

We finally saw some street signs for the old town ( in Geneva they speak both French and German so I was able to communicate pretty well) and followed those. We saw this really cool clock thing made out of flowers that actually worked, and statues of famous Genevans surrounded by beautiful parks/gardens.  One of main things that Switzerland is famous for is the Swiss chocolate so we got a couple bars and they were literally some of the most amazing things I have ever eaten! There was a chocolate shop probably ever couple blocks so we were in heaven. We went to visit the old town of Geneva which was really cute and found a church when John Calvin who started the Calvin religion preached. Adjoining the church was a beautiful 14^th century chapel that was strangely but ornately decorated. We finished our walk around the old town and really needed to use the restaurant so we snuck in a McDonalds to use it but turns out you have to buy something in order to get the bathroom code on my receipt. I bought a regular Coke fountain drink and it was 2.5 francs, about 3 dollars….there is no real dollar menu in Switzerland.

 After doing some window shopping at some of the expensive looking shops we wanted to try and find the UN. After walking around for what we thought was towards the UN, we asked some nice lady who told us it was about an hour walk but that we could take a bus there. There is no metro in Geneva but there is a really efficient bus system so we were able to get there in about 10 minutes. It was pretty cool to see all of the different flags of all of the countries around the world and knowing how important the UN is to the world today. There was a really neat monument in front that was a chair was only 3 legs, the fourth was destroyed about halfway down the trunk. It was supposed to represent mine victims around the world. We took lots of pictures and then went to try and find dinner. We found a Chinese place close to the UN so we split some Sweet and Sour Chicken and then decided it was time to make it a night. However we walked by the Red Cross Museum, but unfortunately it was already closed by the time that we made it there. We  were able to take a bus to the hotel and we went to sleep relatively early after the late night on Thursday.

Saturday morning was the last full day that Kelly was there so after arriving back in Paris we went to Versailles along with my roommate Adrianna.  It was great to be able to see Versailles again after seeing it with my family. The Hall of Mirrors, the kings bedroom, and so many other that are included in the palace. It is so crazy how all of the land and the gardens belonged to a handful of people during the reign of the kings. It was a gorgeous day and so after exploring the chateau, we met up with some of my friends that we having a picnic on the gardens. We spent a couple hours there,and we dined on some wine, cheese and ice cream. Some of my friends even rented a rowboat on the lake which was pretty cool. That night we were pretty tired so we decided just to stay in and hang out. It was an amazing trip and I was so glad that Kelly was able to come visit me!