I'd like to see Paris before I die. Philadelphia will do.

That is the mantra I should have lived for. I disliked Paris. Never need to go back, have no desire to go back, wasn't that keen to go anyway. But anyway, I guess it was alright. Paris really is a city for lovers. It was rather romantic and maybe that is what turned me off to the whole city..you know me...maybe it was the bus ride. Maybe it was the reek of urine, maybe it was the chaos after the order of England. I am not sure.

We took the night bus into Paris and got there at 5 am. It was odd to try and communicate that early in the morning in a language that I don't speak. I wanted to slip into Spanish all the time. Of course, since I got home, I now want to answer merci to everyone. Go figure. We trekked to the hostel only to find that we couldn't check in until two. They let us crash in the chill room and we slept for a couple of hours. Okay that sets up all the pics below the cut.

This is what that I took to Paris. That little back pack. Of course that made it easier to carry around with me.

At the Louvre. We didn't actually go in as I am not an art fan. But this appeased my mom enough, at least for now.

Ah this was kinda fun to see.

This is my favorite picture that I took in Paris.

Um, this is my first bee sting. I got it on a bus tour. It hurt like snot and I hope the bee died a painful death. This is right after it happened, yes I took pictures before I sought medical attention. My whole arm ended up in rash and swollen, did I mention painful death?

The view from our hostel room. We ended checking in at three and crashed for the rest of the day. I think we went and got pizza too but for the most part it was was just a catch up on sleep day. We did call home to wish our father's happy Father's Day. I have to admit this was the first day that I was homesick and I was grateful that we had a room to ourselves. The hostel was fantastic and I would stay there again.

The next day I was feeling slightly more chipper and though Paris still stank of urine I liked it a bit more than before. Notre Dome was fantastic.

We saw all the big sites that day and realized we could have done Paris in a day rather than three and been perfectly happy.


The Sacre Coeur was my favorite part. Other than the men grabbing at me and calling me baby and sexy. That just made me angry. We had some great crepes (the food in Paris was fantastic) and then we walked around the church and the Montmarte which was fantastic.



I read six books on the trip most I read in Paris as there were days we would sit in the park for hours and read. One day I saw a couple snogging rather intensley, this lead to groping, which lead to some other things that I didn't think you should be doing when a seven year old is playing in the fountain next to you. That was a bit odd but we saw it more than once.
We took a boat trip which was okay, the London one was better. But the best part is that we got to see the Effiel tower at night.


Our last day we went to Versailles. This is the one thing I always wanted to see in France. So it was nice to go. I rode a bike for the first time in 15 years and realized how much I enjoyed it. The fact that I almost hit a small child who cut in front of me just made it more of an adventure.

We got there in time for the fountain show which was great.

Halfway there on the bike trip. The only way to see the Park and the gardens.

On the stair case at Reinette's house. It was so cool.

The gardens!

The hall of mirrors. The palace was packed and we didn't get to see it very well but this was so cool.
After we went to the d'Orsay which was great. The only reason we went was that we both like the impressionists. We really only looked at the fifth floor. But it was fun to see the paintings I actually liked.


Then we started our Pastry tour of Paris and ate our way through every bakery that we could find. Ah the food was fantastic. As we ate dinner this fine man came up and showed us why Paris stank.

And this was my reaction


So we left Paris that night and I did not sleep all that night. I caught about four hours when we got to London then it was off to the airport where we got upgraded to first class. I don't know how it happened, but it did. That was fantastic too. I felt so well taken care of and just adored. The final night of the trip we stayed at Amy's house. she is fantastic and I wish I had more time with her.

Well that brings the end of my journey. i loved it. I would go to England again in a heart beat and I have plenty of pictures if you want to see more.