Paris...Mainly in Pictures

Paris the City: Was amazing, duh. Gorgeous city, rich culture, best food in the world, easy-to-use metro and public transporation, unrivaled museums, decent weather. Only con: people were rude and, in my experiences, were strongly and very obviously anti-American.

Paris the Trip: Frustrating. I learned my lesson about traveling in big groups which is: don't do it, no matter how close you are with the people. At times it was very frustrating and the trip as a whole was just kind of weird and I wasn't feeling great but oh well. I honestly wish I could just go back and enjoy the city more instead of dealing with unhappy campers/other random roadblocks. I guess the positive of being the one person in charge/able to read a map/actually in POSSESSION of a map/who knew what they were doing was that I got to see everything I wanted. Seeing my friends was great though and we had the best guides, i.e. my friends studying abroad there.

The best way to go through the itinerary is through pictures so...:

--Thursday night: Went to the hotel and met my friends, then immediately walked to the Louvre, which is where this picture was taken. Went to dinner with my good friend Molly who took me to some delicious whole-in-the-wall only she would know about. The people sitting next to us were so rude and made fun of us the entire time for reasons I don't understand. Molly is fluent in French, but even after she told them she could understand them, they continued to mock us.

--Friday morning: Louvre...

There were a lot of artists, like the one below, in the Louvre working on reproductions of other works. I'm really curious to know how they receive permission to do this.

--Friday afternoon: Notre Dame, below

...which was followed by lunch in the St. Germaine area. We found this amazing crepe place that had both meal and dessert crepes. That morning, I had read an article on the NYTimes online about breakfast tacos in Austin so I was really in the mood for a good Torchy's, but this crepe place had breakfast crepes so my craving was satiated.

--Friday late afternoon: Passed Les Invalides, where Napolean in buried, and walked to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysees and Rue St. Honore, the super high-fashion area. Everyone in Paris is SO beautiful and they all look like Carine Roitfeld. If you want to be fashionable in Paris, all you need to do is wear all black. We did a LOT of walking on Friday.

--Saturday morning: Musee d'Orsay, which was my favorite museum. It was amazingly diverse and beautifully curated. The Louvre was simply too overwhelming for me. The Musee de L'Orangerie was also great, especially if you love Monet like I do.

--Saturday afternoon: Eiffel Tower...took the obligatory Hook 'Em pic.

...and then we followed that by going to Pierre Herme, the world's most famous macaron maker (not to be confused with macaroons, the Passover crap). It was simply incredible; however, this was not surprising. I had wanted to go to this place ever since it had been featured on "Gossip Girl" where Chuck flies all the way to Paris and back to bring Blair macarons from here. That's how you know it's good. There was literally a line winding all the way around the corner of the street.

--Saturday night: Was our big Texas reunion! We went to Nicole, Becca, and Lisa's apartment, which is literally the size of a shoebox (Nicole and Lisa share a bed, no joke) and then to dinner at a restaurant/club. In total, there were 9 UT Phis in Paris! Another group was in Barcelona that same weekend...so crazy.

Late Saturday night/Sunday morning: Went to the "6th Street of Paris" (forgot the name, but that's a direct quote from Nicole). Instead of the 3 am Kebabolicious or pizza, they have late-night crepe stands which we ate at...

Sunday morning: Went to bed at 3:30, had to wake up at 5:30 to catch a plane, and then had to study all day from my mid-terms. Exhausting but worth it :)