France and Italy Trip — Day One

As I promised… :)

June 9th, 2011:
After about an eight hour plane ride from Newark, we arrived at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at about 8:00 am. I didn’t get hardly any sleep on the plane, so I was already feeling pretty tired, but we had a full day planned ahead of us. We were running a little late though; our tour guide, Paolo, had a delayed flight, but once he arrived about half an hour later, we loaded the bus and headed to the hotel.

Our hotel was located in a little square with a post office and a bunch of little boulangeries and patisseries. It was really cute. ^^ We were on our own for lunch, so we stopped into a little shop that sold some sandwiches and other little light snacks. It was my first opportunity to talk to a native French person (I thought it did pretty well! :)) and it was also the first time I tried French bread. :* Let me tell you, I never want to eat American bread again.

Our whole group then headed to the metro, which was just down the street and around the corner, and headed to Notre Dame Cathedral. It was absolutely beautiful.

Notre Dame Cathedral

For a small fee, you could climb to the top of the Cathedral and look out over the square, and ultimately Paris. It was pretty funny because as our teacher, Madame Scott, went to pay for tickets, they thought she was French and that we were French students, so we got a huge discount! :P We then began the trek up the 402 steps to the top. It was a winding staircase and I started to get dizzy, but it was totally worth it!

Veiw from top of Notre Dame

There were also tons of gargoyles that you could see up close; I though they were pretty cool so I took a bunch of pictures of those, too.

Gargoyles Gargoyles

Everyone’s legs were shaking after the climb back down. :P

After that, it was shopping time! I loved going into all the stores, even if they were just souvenir stores, and seeing all the different stuff they had. I didn’t really buy a lot the first day because I wanted to make sure I had enough for things I wanted later on in the trip, but I bought a Paris hoodie, and two miniature Eiffel Towers, one for me and one for one of my aunts.

By this time, me and Becky were on our own and away from the other group and we just kept saying over and over, “We’re in Paris!!” It was like we were in a dream; we just couldn’t believe it was actually happening! We just continued walking around and started drifting into the streets that weren’t very tourist-y, and was more like what Paris was like for someone that actually lived there.

Our whole group met up again at our meeting point and we headed off to dinner. I don’t exactly remember the name of the restaurant (I think it might’ve been ‘Hippo’, which is what I wrote down in my journal, but I don’t think that’s right…) and they served us Ratatouille and quiche.

Uh… Yeah… This was probably one of the only dinners that I didn’t like on the trip. Though I didn’t like it, I still liked the fact that it was an authentic French meal and it was something new to try. I didn’t want to come to France and not eat French food. That’d be lame. 8)

I was so exhausted by the time that we had gotten back to the hotel. We threw our luggage into the room, and I organized my things a little bit because I’m a freak, but then I just crashed. It was a good first day. :)

 

13 thoughts on “France and Italy Trip — Day One”

  1. Wow the photos look amazing, I’m so jealous you went to Paris! I would be chanting ‘We’re in Paris’ too if I were. I’ve never had French bread before, I want to try it now! If I talked to a native French, I would be probably stutter and forget every word in French. Lucky you got a discount haha!

  2. Eep! It’s been days since I’ve been on here :(! I blame your maintenance mode :P!

    When it comes to flights these days, I never expect everything to be on time. At least you didn’t have a jet lag and get delayed by a day ‘~’.

    French food is delicious (:! I’ve ate French food in a French restaurant here once :O! You’re lucky for getting a huge discount to see Paris :)! From the top XD! Well, you are technically a french student, right? But not from France XD!

    I cannot imagine how you and your friend were in Paris XD! The best thing is that you still got to enjoy your trip :D! You still got to try out what French Food really taste like :O! But still, even if it’s something you didn’t like, you got the texture of it :D!

    I’m glad that you had an adventurous first day :D! I wonder if you went to Disneyland Paris :O!

    There’s still always next time :)! Though.. I don’t really want to do a lot of work for nothing :/. It’s seriously not worth it.

    I am happy that you have a strong point of view in affiliation. I wish I could just not be sympathetic about other people’s “feelings” if I “remove” them because they’re inactive. Though, I don’t like how people publicly announce “affie check” -yes affie check XD! Where they go to other people’s sites and ignore the updates/blog post and say, “You passed the affie check!” ‘~’.

    Nice :P! The thing I have to worry about now is that I will have to subscribe to premium download sites D:!

    Take care (:

  3. AWESOME PHOTOS! Paris looks so … cool. It’s so hot here I can’t find anywhere to escape the heat! My a/c isn’t working properly, and at work those cheap people don’t have strong enough a/c for it to be cool anyway.

    You had a tour guide? So I guess worries about not speaking French won’t be a problem there then. It just seems like an awesome adventure in every way, I’d love to see the beautiful sights. Of course if I go to another country I’d try the food, because otherwise you’re losing a major point!

    I hope to read more of your travel posts!

    Haha you wrote my best friend and my sister … was her sister haha. I don’t have a sister, I wish I did. You’re right it was some long overdue fun for me … I wish I could’ve had more, lol, in like a different location. Vacation much??

    Hmm out of the Harry Potters I think the last one was the best. I really hated movies 3-5 because they cut out so much.

    I’ve heard making a WordPress theme is time consuming. I really don’t have the time these days, I’m trying so hard not to go on permanent hiatus. I know I won’t … I can’t give up my online friends! =D

  4. I’m so glad I didn’t miss these trip posts. :)
    It is sounding so awesome! Are you really back in the US or are you secretly still over there? :P
    I think it should be a rule to get a piece of clothing from the place not just a knickknack.
    I would have wanted some ratatouille because of the movie. :)
    Ooooh I want to go to Paris too! (But then you probably knew that was coming.) :)

  5. Hahahaha aww you’re the first person out of 5 I seem to have gotten with my little trick there. But good luck to that couple you mentioned. It sounds like they want to have a child or something. I knew this girl once who kept trying to get pregnant but couldn’t. What the hell is wrong with people these days?

    That tour guide sounds like the exact opposite of me … I can barely speak one language fluently, I swear! I’m guessing Paris is a modern type city, I’d prob wanna go over too. I’m kind of sick of this small-town-ness, not sure if I’ve rambled to you because I complain about it all the time, haha.

    Wow everyone can seem to choose a favorite HP book except me. I love them all!

  6. Gah I always get jetlagged after a flight. x___x And it’s really hard for me to sleep, but if I don’t sleep I feel sick! D: And when I look at the food I feel like throwing up, even though it might not be that bad if I WASN’T on the plane..Gah I never want to go on a plane again. Once for a holiday in total I was on the plane for about 46 hours! Oh god.

    Lol I wish I could try French bread! <3 The bread in South Africa is actually AMAZINGLY good. 8D I love it so muchhhh. You should try it if you ever get to. ;D

    Wow that building looks AWESOME. I hope I get to go to Paris some time so I can see all those awesome things and places and eat yummy food. XD

    Aww so cute, mini eifel towers. c: Lol I love everything mini. Mini versions of everything are ADORABLE.

    Err..that good doesn't look that appetising but it doesn't look too bad! :'DD And yes, it would be a shame if you didn't have any authentic French food in FRANCE. XD

  7. You’re so lucky, to be able to go to France. ^^ All my friends went to Europe this year, but I’m too broke. And those are beautiful pictures you took of Notre Dame. Did you run into a hunchback while you were up there? ;]

    I’m thinking more and more of converting to WordPress, but it won’t be until I change layouts, which will be a few months yet. For now, though, I’m happy with FanUpdate. It’s really not bad, just not as, uh, fancy as WP.

    I liked Along for the Ride more than What Happened to Goodbye, and I really really liked Lock and Key. But my favorite of hers shall always be The Truth About Forever. Her books just get a little . . . redundant. I found What Happened to Goodbye really similar to Along for the Ride. Bad divorce, girl upset about it, needs a guy to help her find herself. If they weren’t so beautifully written, I don’t think I’d like them too much.

    Something about the water shuts off my mind so I can just get more ideas. I think that’s why I take such long showers. -lol-

    Thanks for the comment!

  8. Ha, I know a lot of people who were late with the whole Harry Potter phenomena, and in general I think as long as you loved the books then you stuck with Harry Potter until the very end.

    I think you are right; the movie was short for me though! It should have been like 4 hours long, I would have loved that. That way they would have been able to add everything from book, well almost everything. But the only thing I disliked was Voldemorts nasal laugh, and the fact that Fred’s death played a small role. All I saw of the Weasley family was a small glimpse of their mourning over Fred’s death. Oh well, I still give the movie a 10/5.
    I would love for J.K Rowling to either continue the story of the trio after the battle, or continue the series with a new trio which features Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s kids.
    —-
    I’ve been FREAKING waiting for this blog post! I totally remember when you talked about your trip back from Europe way back in June. Glad to see that photo-blog finally up! :D

    Ha, American-French bread isn’t as yummy as actual French bread, unless you get it from and actual French shop. Yum, you just got me thinking about buying French bread from our local French bakery and top it off with some Nutela and cream cheese. –craves with hunger-

    FUDGE, THAT IS BEAUTIFUL! Notre Dame is beautiful! Glad you got to see it in all its glory.

    Ha, the food doesn’t look as appetizing but I’m glad you got to eat a variety afterwards. Overall, I’m glad you enjoyed your trip to France! I would love to go myself one day seriously it’s my dream:D
    Hope to hear from you soon!(:

  9. (Reply to comment on my site)
    Thanks! Lol yes I have an obsession with cats. :P

    Yeah i know..To me it’s being kind of selfish since all the other people in his life will suffer and yeah. 8c I hate it when people commit suicide.

    Yus yus yus! The food is AWESOME. 8D It isn’t really one cuisine though, it’s like a ton of cuisines together. XD

    Cool! XD Well I’ve already planned to go to Japan when I’m older to see all the manga and anime merchandise. LOL. And my friend said she wants me to come with her to America in 10 years. 8D She said she was going to go this year but then she couldn’t so yeah..;c

  10. I was on vacation last week, so I am just now replying. XD

    And lol, yeah. The layout is done on Victoresque, but that is about it! Still working on content and other final touches. :D And you are welcome, of course! Yes, your layout is very simple, but simple can be very nice. And this IS nice! I noticed you tweaked it a bit too, and it looks even better. And you’re right, it is fitting for a blog.

    You’re welcome, and yes. Funerals are the toughest things to go through, no matter who it is that died. =/

    And awesome! I’m glad I could be of help in fixing the font issue. :P

    And ahhh. I’m not for sure how to fix the comments link issue, then. WordPress is the biggest pain in terms of figuring out where the problem is because of the million template pages, lol.

    The PHP code looks right, though. D:

    It looks like for your comments header, it is something like ” 7 Comments to France and Italy Trip Day One ” as an example. Find out which page you have that comments header at and change the opening h2 tag to ” ”

    That’s the only way I can think of. If it doesn’t work, then maybe you can try finding a tutorial online.

    and I am soo jealous of you visiting France and Italy! :P I saw your pictures on Facebook and they were awesome! I would love to visit Notre Dame Cathedral… it’s beautiful. I just love cathedrals in general… SO MUCH. And gargoyles!! :D

  11. Ahhh. My last comment took out the html tags. |D Let me re-post that one paragraph about the comments link:

    It looks like for your comments header, it is something like ” h2 7 Comments to France and Italy Trip Day One /h2 ” as an example. Find out which page you have that comments header at and change the opening h2 tag to ” h2 id=”#comments” ”

    Of course… the h2 tags are supposed to have the greater-than/less-than signs on them. XD

  12. One day I’m going to go to France! Though Paris is one of the places to go, I wanna go to the country side.

    Thanks for posting this! ;D

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