Frequent Flying: Paris

Paris was the last weekend trip I had planned and, just as I could see the end of my month in Belgium approaching, so too could I see the bottom of my bank account looming. I was desperate to find any and all possible ways to save money (flying Ryanair excluded, of course), which led me to accept an offer of transportation from one of our program coordinators, Gus. After hearing that a group of us was heading to Paris, he decided to go himself, and offered to drive me there. He said it would take five hours, tops, and that it would cost only 20 euro each way. Naturally, I jumped at this opportunity, as it seemed to be a great way to save about 50 euro. To make a long story short, by the end of our long, hot, five hour car ride (shared with four other people), I was about ready to pay just about anything just to get out of that car. True I saved 50 euro, but at what cost?

Anyway, once in Paris, I met up with my friends Michael and Brandon, who had flown in from London, where they were participating in a different MSU study abroad program. We met up with Brandon’s brother’s fiancé’s sister (it took me a little while to figure that out too), who lived in France, and was able to take us around the city and translate things for us (like menus). We saw the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe, and much more. Paris was a great city to experience, and the perfect way to wind down my study abroad trip.

Da Vinci Code.

Art.

This was beautiful.

Underneath an archway near the Louvre? To be honest, I don't exactly remember.

Arch near the Louvre. Also source of the above picture.

Statue.

Looking out of the Louvre's glass pyramid.

Inside the Louvre. You could spend a full week here and still not see all there is to see in this massive museum. Fun fact: I visited the Louvre with Michael on Saturday, and randomly saw almost everyone from the Brussels program who had also come to Paris. There were three separate groups of students who came from Brussels (not counting myself) and they all, independent of each other, decided to visit the Louvre at the same time on Saturday. Weird.

Trajan.

This is famous.

Seeking out the Mona Lisa.

I think I remember seeing this painting before in Mrs. Norris' AP European history class.

Now I can cross this off my bucket list. If the picture seems bad/blurry, its because I had to struggle with the population of a small country to get this close.

I wish the ceilings in my house were more like this.

The Coronation of Napoleon.

Reminds me of Les Mis.

Arc de Triomphe. Michael and I looked for a way to cross over for about ten minutes before we discovered that we had to go underground.

Underbelly of the Arc.

Beautiful.

Climbing up the inside of the Arc!

Fine, maybe 'Hangover' didn't translate very well, but then shouldn't this be in French? One of life's many mysteries.

A bust inside the Arc.

Here's a layout of the Arc. There's an entire museum inside that I had no idea existed.

On top of the Arc.

The river Seine.

The doors to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame.

The Eiffel Tower as seen from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Emerald avenues.

Inside Notre Dame.

I love stained glass windows.

More stained glass.

Inside Notre Dame.

The rear of Notre Dame.

Side of Notre Dame.

This was a great bookstore we stumbled upon right across the river from Notre Dame! The walls were covered floor to ceiling with books. I could have spent a day in here alone.