Paris, je t'aime

In September we had eagerly signed up for a student group tour of Paris through a Notre Dame grad, Andy Steves (Rick Steves’ son).  It seemed like a great idea at the time but as the trip drew near we were wondering if Andy would be as great of a tourguide as his famous Dad. 

Turns out he was great! 

Our flight left early as usually but the trip was easy.  We flew into Beauvais and took a bus into Paris.  Our hostel, St. Christopher’s, was near the Crimeè metro stop so we used the metro to get to the city center most of the time. 

In the afternoon, our tour began with the Eiffel Tower.  We had missed the morning tour of the latin quarter unfortunately due to our bus so we got food (nutella crepe, yum!) and hung out til we met up with the group for the tour of the Eiffel tower.  We had reservations so we skipped the mile long line and went up.  The tower was so much bigger than I expected and the elevators are really neat; they sort of go up and inside the tower.  The very top of the tower is closed so we could only get to the first level but that’s still pretty high up and we had a great time seeing the sights of Paris.

Our tour group then went to a great dinner at a place called Vangue.  I had the delicious duck and mashed potatoes, goat cheese and bread, chocolate cake, wine and we all got to try escargot.  It was so so good!

After dinner, we went on a night bike tour of Paris.  Our guide was great and we saw the military school and a famous church and lots of other sites.  The best part was trying not to get hit crossing the street.  Our guide told us to act like “a pod of killer whales” and stick together.  All of the bikes had names too, which was pretty funny.  My bike’s name was Mclovin’.

We rode our bikes to the Seine river and hopped on a boat for a night tour of Paris.  The city was so beautiful with all the lights.  Our boat floated past Notre Dame, some castles, the Charles bridge and more.    

boat tour!

The next day began with a visit to the Louvre.  We saw lots of famous paintings and sculptures including the Mona Lisa! 

Mona Lisa smiles?

After the Louvre, our guide Andy Steves took us to the L’arc de Triumph and then we had some free time to shop on the Champs Elysee.  It was raining and a bit chilly but it was still great to walk around and see the city. 

We then walked/ metroed to Monmartre to see the Basilica de Sacre Coeur, this huge white basilica that sits on top of monmartre.  As you walk to the church you have to walk through the racey area of Monmartre where the Moulin Rouge is.  It was kind of funny to be going to a church and walking by strip clubs!

That night we went to dinner at another great French place.  I had French Onion soup (it wasn’t made out of an instant packet!), potatoes with cheese and bacon, and apple tart.  It was so so good.

On Sunday we had some time before our flight so we went to mass at le cathedral de Notre Dame.  It was amazing to attend mass at the basilica our school is named after!

Domers at Dame

We still had time to spare so we went to “the most beautiful park in paris”, Buttes Charmot.  There’s this gorgeous cliff/ mountain that sits on a little lake in the center of the park and there’s also a lovely waterfall. 

We ended our trip with croque-monsieurs (ham and cheese sandwhiches) and hit the l’aeroport.

It was a wonderful Parisian adventure!

jumping!