Paris

We arrived in Paris in the late afternoon. After retrieving our bags from baggage claim, we set off to find Jazz’s friend Mallory, who had flown into the same airport but was in a different terminal. Once we found her, we took the train into the city to find our hostel.

Our hostel was in the section of Paris known as the “Latin Quarter.” The area was filled with restaurants and street food. We were very close to the Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Love Lock Bridge. We were about an hour’s walk away from the Eiffel Tower. Once we checked into the hostel and put our stuff away, we headed out to explore the city. The first landmark we visited was the Louvre, however, we didn’t go inside it (although we 2 days later). We were all pretty tired from travelling, so we made it an early night.

DAY 2

We left early in the morning to go to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately the weather in Paris wasn’t as nice as the weather we have gotten used to in Rome, the cruise, and Prague. It was much colder and rained on and off every day.  The colder weather didn’t stop us from walking around. After visiting the Eiffel Tower, we took the metro back to grab a bite to eat. Then, we met up with a group to do a free walking tour. The tour was supposed to be about 3 hours, but we only stayed about an hour because the sky got extremely dark and it looked like it was about to storm badly.

Once we left the walking tour, we headed toward the Notre Dame. Then, we walked around some of the neighboring areas, and eventually made our way back to the hostel. All three of us fell asleep for about 2 hours—a much needed nap. The rest of the night consisted of dinner and going to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. We didn’t travel to the Eiffel Tower, but we watched it from a distance. Every hour the whole tower sparkles for 5 minutes, a very pretty light show.

DAY 3

 We took the train to the Palace of Versailles, which was a little outside the city. We arrived early in the morning and toured the Palace. By the time we finished, the rain clouds had rolled in, along with the rain. Because of the rain, we weren’t able to enjoy the beautiful gardens Versailles had to offer. We quickly walked out towards the gardens and got to see how sprawling they truly are.

We left Versailles and headed back into the city. We visited the Arch de Triumph and then headed back towards the hostel.  The rest of the afternoon consisted of resting at the hostel and walking around. In the evening we went into the Louvre, which was free for anyone under 26 on Friday nights.

Day 4

The catacombs were one of the last major sites we wanted to visit before leaving Paris. The line was very long when we arrived, and we decided not to wait. Next, we walked to the Luxembourg Gardens where we relaxed for a little while. After leaving the gardens, we walked around the Latin Quarter, which we hadn’t fully explored yet. We had a lot of time between checking out of our hostel and leaving for the airport. Our plane didn’t leave until 9:30 at night. The rest of the day we spent walking around and eating, before we went to the airport to leave for Rome.