Paris

Bonjour Mes Amis!

The Louvre

This is the part of the trip where we start to do a lot of French things, like going to Paris. We were in Paris longer than any other city so far, 7 nights. This doesn't sound like the best way to save money; as most of you know Paris isn't the cheapest city in the world.  But thanks to that fantastic little thing called couchsurfing we've been able to do quite a few touristy things while we've been here, while spending quite a bit less than the average person visiting this crazy expensive city. Granted we did have to spend 2 nights in a hostel, every other night was spent with a fantastic host that continues to make the trip that much better. Our first two nights were spent with a host that was just an all around awesome person. Max shared a great passion for music that instantly made our stay awesome and we spent a ton of time getting to know each other, sharing common interests, and just having great conversation. The first night he took us out with some of his friends to a drum and bass gig at an underground club in Paris that was a ton of fun. We couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the city and it's people. We didn't do much sightseeing these first couple days as we were spending most of the weekend with our host and getting ourselves settled in, knowing full well that we'd have plenty of time to go out and see some sights over the next few days.

A new friend

After the second day we parted ways with Max, a new friend gained, and set out to what would be our hostel for the next two nights. The cheapest hostel we could find was between 25 and 30 euros per night, which was quite a bit more pricey than anywhere else we've stayed. The majority of these next two days were spent sightseeing, and we were able to knock out most of the typical sights; the Eiffel Tower (surprise, surprise) which was cool to see again since it was Alex's first time checking it out, the catacombs (super crazy and highly recommended), and a walking tour during a torrential downpour (which probably would have been more fun in the sun). The second day we attempted the impossible, and I'm proud to say that we did it. The Louvre and Versailles in the same day. I don't think I would recommend doing this but I will say that it's doable. We knew that the Louvre was one of the biggest and most famous museums in the world, but we didn't know that it was by far the biggest museum any of us would probably ever go to, and when our tour guide said that if you looked at each piece in the museum for 10 seconds it would take you 3 months to get through it, I don't think we understood. The Louvre is a big museum...like really big. But we did follow some advice and kind of planned out what we wanted to see before going in, which is definitely the best way to go, otherwise you'll be super overwhelmed and you'll definitely end up spending 8 hours there crying, getting lost, and probably never finding your way out, so I'm glad we avoided that scenario.

Gardens of Versailles (featuring a fountain renovation)

We easily spent over 3 hours at The Louvre and easily could have spent a few more. We saw most of the main masterpieces (including the famous painting of a woman) and were very satisfied. Immediately after that we had to start heading to Versailles, which is about 40 min outside Paris by train. We got to Versailles and checked out the palace and gardens, which is pretty much the only thing to see there, but that's good because if there was any more it would be A LOT. We were already feeling pretty sightseeing'd out from the Louvre, but this definitely took the rest out of us. We didn't go into the palace or else we may have collapsed by the end of the day, but it was nonetheless impressive from the outside. The gardens are a site to see by themselves, and as if we hadn't done enough walking that day, we definitely did enough by the time we were done walking through about 2% of those gardens. It's basically the Louvre of all gardens. It's beyond huge, and I'm really glad we made it there and got to see it. We didn't spend too much time there but enough to see most of the general sites in the area. After that, we had to make our way back to Paris to meet up with our next couchsurfing host, whom we found last minute, and we couldn't be happier with the result.

                         

The first thing we did with Jean-Jacques after we met up with him was play squash at the local athletic club that he goes to. I'm not going to say who won (he likes to rub it in) but either way, I was equally impressed with my ability to even stand on two feet after doing The Louvre and Versailles on the same day. It was so cool to play squash (and actually get real exercise) after probably a couple years of not even seeing a court, and we had a ton of fun. After that we were brought to his apartment and once again, had some great conversation and became great friends instantly. He hosted us for the next three nights and we could not have had a better experience. Jean-Jacques was one of the best hosts we've ever had and I don't think I'll forget that couchsurfing experience. When people go above and beyond for someone who they barely even know it's a pretty amazing thing. When people tell me that the French are rude or whenever they go to Paris everyone is so rude to them, I can't help but laugh. I've had quite the opposite experience BOTH times I've been to Paris and I've had some of the best personal connections with other cultures in this city. This has easily been my favorite part of Paris and meeting some of these people, hearing their stories, and sharing experiences with them has far outdone anything that The Louvre or the Eiffel Tower or Versailles could ever do. These experiences are what it's all about, and Alex and I both agree that this is our main goal when we go to these different places, far above any of the sightseeing that we could ever do. The Louvre will never hold enough artwork to provide for the incredible experience of meeting new people from different backgrounds in different parts of the world.

I think that's enough reflection for now, so until next time, au revoir!