Nous nous sommes perdues a Paris...

We (3 friends from Canisius and I) left Oviedo bright and early on Wednesday morning for a long weekend (plus a couple days) in Paris. We took that 5-hour bus ride to Madrid, where we caught our flight to Paris. In Europe, there are a handful of budget airlines that are very reasonably priced. There is a catch to this system, however, in that there are no assigned seats on the plane, which results in what is kind of an intense free-for-all for finding a decent seat and space in the overhead compartment.

When we arrived in Paris, we went around the terminal in circles for a little while, trying to figure out where we were supposed to go to get the train to our hostel. When we finally found where we were supposed to be, we bought what we thought were the appropriate tickets, but then we couldn’t get through the turnstile at the platform (we still had a lot to learn about trains in Paris at this point). So, I went up to the guy at the information desk, showed him my ticket, and asked him how to get on the train. In half French, half English, he explained to me that we had bought would only work within the city (go figure) and that the train that we wanted wasn’t available that night for some reason that I didn’t understand. Anyway, we ended up taking a taxi to the hostel.


We spent the next few days we ran all over the city sightseeing / asking for directions then wandering around in circles as we tried to follow them (Dear France, please label things!). We were feeling pretty lost and confused when we were first starting out, and then we turned around and saw this:

The Eiffel Tower. In real life.

It's great when the thing you're looking for is extremely tall and recognizable! When we found the Eiffel Tower, we climbed up to the second level, but we couldn't go to the very top because it was too windy.

Then we headed over to Notre Dame, which is the epic kind of place that makes you feel very very tiny. We also went to the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre, which is absolutely massive. We spent a few very overwhelming hours there, where we saw lots of Greek and Roman statues, the Mona Lisa, and all kinds of other art.

We visited Sacré Coeur, the basilica in Paris that is home to an amazing view of the city and the most assertive con-artists I've ever encountered. Then we went over to the Opera House, which is great whether you're a Phantom of the Opera fan or not.

And finally, we visited the palace & gardens of Versailles, which is about a half hour train ride outside the city. Like most of the places we visited, Versailles is unbelievably huge and elegant. It's overflowing with gold, art, giant chandeliers, and mirrors.

I could definitely have stayed in Paris a little while longer. There was so much to take in, and just as I was learning my way around and getting more comfortable speaking French, it was time to leave. I am very happy to be back in Oviedo though. Also, I realize I've just written around the same amount about one weekend in France as I have about one month in Oviedo. However, living in Oviedo has started to feel more like "real life" (or something like that), so I will be sure to write more about life here in the near future.