Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Paris

Before I can tell you about Paris I have to tell you a little about our flight getting there. The morning of the 29th we left to hop on a Ryan Air flight to London and then connect to Paris. We had about an hour and a half layover so all was good. Unfortunately our flight to London left about an hour late. When we exited our plane we of course had to go through customs and security again since we were in another country. The lines were SO long. Naturally I'm freaking out thinking we are going to miss our plane and that this totally sucks!! So let's make a list of what happens 1) Flight to London was delayed 2) I dropped my passport AND boarding pass while going through security and a 12 year old girl picked it up and gave it to me... I had no idea I even dropped it 3) I was wearing snow boots which I didn't have time to zip or buckle after security 4) we see a sign that says our gate number and says 10 minute walk 5) It was already 5 minutes past what time our flight was supposed to leave 6) We start sprinting through the airport with our 20 pound carry ons, jeans, long underwear, coats, 2 long sleeved shirts, sweater, and boots undone 7) We arrive at our gate sweating profusely to find that this flight had been delayed too.

Needless to say we were frustrated and thankful haha. I think it took us about 30 minutes to cool down from that short sprint simply because of the amount of clothing we had on. Anyways because of all the delays we arrived in Paris late that night and went to bed.

December 30th - Paris Disneyland
The next day we decided to go to Disney because when else would we go to Paris and actually go to Disneyland if not with each other. First of all it was FREEZING! The sky was overcast and misty all day and so it just made it feel so very cold! The first ride we rode was Space Mountain and let me tell you it was crazy! That thing went upside down, side ways, and it's faster than any of the other space mountains. This was the day I first started feeling sick so I felt a bit nauseous afterwards. I kept my eyes closed the entire time hahaha. The park was fun but definitely not as fun as America or Tokyo Disney's. It felt much smaller and there was less to do. That night we rode the Indiana Jones ride which was also quite different than the other ones. It's an outside roller coaster which is completely different. I think because I was feeling sick I just couldn't get warm and so after that outside roller coaster I was literally shivering uncontrollably. I couldn't stop shaking and as we were walking away I tripped and seriously face planted haha. I blame it on the shivering because there was nothing I tripped on. I just fell. And I fell on top of Ally yet somehow she managed to stay up. Also, as I was leaving I went to bathroom and I was the only one in there other than two grown women who went in the same stall together. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Here are a few pictures of the day.

Entrance to the Park
View of Castle in the morning


Castle at Night

As we were taking the subway home a subway car performer got up and started playing the guitar and singling la bamba. It was pretty awesome and made me forget about the sickness for a while.

December 31st
The next day I woke up feeling good and we headed out for a day in Paris. We started the morning off right by going to the Louvre. Ally and I had been before but the other's hadn't and I think they really enjoyed it. It was fun to just walk around and look at art work.
Money exchange at the Louvre = the blend of my lives at that moment (yen, euro, and dollar)

Outside the Louvre

After that we headed over Muse de Orsay. It's a smaller museum that we had heard good things about. They had a van Gogh exhibit there and he is my favorite artist so I really enjoyed that. By the time we finished that it was about 4 pm so we headed back to the hotel to put on more layers for New Years Eve. By 6 we were back on the train heading over to the Eiffel Tower. We found a small Italian restaurant to eat dinner at and had a great time. By the time we finished it was around 10 pm. We decided that it was just too cold to be outside for 2 more hours and plus I wasn't feeling great by that point so we went back to the hotel... we're pretty cool like that! To make a long story short we spent new years eve reading in bed and it was quite enjoyable.

New Years Eve Dinner

January 1st
We started off that morning heading over the Champs Elysees to get our shop on. I was feeling pretty terrible that morning so I was thinking I was going to head in after lunch time. At lunch Ally gave me some advil and I started feeling a little better after that. I decided to brave the flu and stay out the rest of the day. And I'm glad I did because if I had gone in I would have missed Kelsey getting kissed on the cheek by a subway car performer. It was quite the magical moment for her. I also would have missed being called Miley Cyrus by a street vendor.

After all that fun, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. We stood in line for 2 hours in the freezing cold. Then the top was closed because of the overcast. I think we all agreed that it was definitely not worth it. I decided not to put the picture of me on the eiffel tower up because I definitely look like I have the flu in that picture ha. After that we all went back to the hotel to warm up before dinner. I ended up staying in that night and going to bed at 8 because I felt so sick. I also woke up freezing at one point so I put on a bunch of layers including my coat and then woke up an hour later drenched in sweat haha. Poor Ally had to share a bed with me.
Eiffel Tower
Arch de Triumph
Eiffel tower from below

Next up - Barcelona, feeling sicker than ever, and then finally feeling better!

2 comments:

JENNY said...

I bet you got the flu from that 12 year old girl who gave you your passport back. haha.

It sounds like y'all had fun in Paris. Glad you braved the flu and went ahead with your plans for the most part.

Oh, and I'm totally with you on the new years eve thing. It's overrated. Who needs to stay up and out until 12am? Not me! I would much rather be in bed reading.

Anonymous said...

I want to hear more about your trip! Love you,
Mom