Arc de Triomphe!
Basilica de Le Sacré Coeur, situaded on the highest hill overlooing Paris!
Eiffel Tower!
View from the Eiffel Tower!
Ice Skating on the Eiffel Tower!! A dream come true!
Notre Dame!! on the island in the Seine river!!
The warm and glowing interior :)
Pretty and reverent lighting!
Exterior of Notre Dame! Big!
The inverted pyramid at the Louvre and I aka the blade and the chalice! This according to the Da Vinci Code guards over the Holy Grail!
Louvre entrance!
Mona and I...just posing a picture!
The outer pyramid!
More of the Louvre!
Bonjour! Greetings to all! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New year's. Well, after spending some great time with my family in Spain, I met up with my friend Bre in Paris, France. Despite being kinda overwhelming and absolutely filled with tourists...it was GREAT!! I mean it is Paris after all. We went to the Monmatre area of Paris where the Sacre Coeur basilica is and Moulin Rouge!!! The Sacre Coeur basilica is located on the highest hill of Paris and it offered great views of the city! From there, we went to see the huge Arc de Triomphe in the Place d'etoile at the end of the Champs-Elysee avenue! It was really pretty especially since the entire area was just glittering with all the christmas decorations! After seeing the arc we strolled along the avenue admiring all the shops. We were pretty tired after this so we heading back to our hostel. The next day, we headed straight for the Eiffel tower and got in line. Since we got there early we waited only about an hour. We climbed the stairs to the second level, this was actually really scary for me climbing up the stairs since you could always see the ground below. We finally got up and too a look at the views and my socks were completely blown away!!! You could see the entire city of Paris and other sights like the river Seine, Louvre, Notre Dame and Ile de la Cite. After snapping a ton on photos, we decided to go ice skating which was for free!!! Now I have done a lot of neat things in my life but to be ice skating to holiday music when you are up in the Eiffel tower is just downright exhilarating! So we skated along the rink while being able to see the entire city of Paris...soooo cool. After we skated, we went inside the museum and learned a little about the tower. It was built in the 1800s for an exhibition by Gustave Eiffel. The locals of Paris thought the tower was pretty ugly and it was suppose to be teared down but it never was. It now functions as an giant efficient radio tower and is an enduring symbol of Paris. After the tower, we went to the Ile de la Cite, the island in the Seine where the great Notre Dame Cathedral stands. As we were walking along the beautiful river Seine admiring the beautiful buildings and bridges, we could see it in the distance with all the birds flying around it! Immediately, I thought of the Hunchback of Notre Dame movie (one of my childhood favorites) and the gargolyes!! lol We got inside the church and this is one the most BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES EVERRRR!!! Without doubt it 1000% exceeded my expectations and it is soooo different from the Spanish and Italian churches that I have seen. It is also so big and the interior just glows with its dim yet warm light. The outside of the church is also very fascinating because of the gargoyles, spires, flying buttresses and of course the famous bells.
The last day in Paris, we went to the famous Louvre museum. The first thing we saw was the inverted pyramids, also known as the "blade and the chalice" that guards over the holy grail. Yes the holy grail is somewhere under the Louvre...according to Dan Brown, author of the Da Vinci Code lol. This was really a cool moment for me since this is a big scene in the Da Vinci Code, one of my favorite books of all time. Finally we were in the museum after waiting in line and we were making our way to the Mona Lisa. It is locateed in a wing with the other Italian art. It was sooo crowded in the room where the Mona Lisa is. The actual portrait is not that big but I was able to get a good view of it. It was really cool being able to see her and her powerful gaze in person. It was a little surreal! After getting a picture with her, we went to see other art. We saw the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Spinx, Ramses II and even saw the real Code of Hammurabi!!! Very cool!! After, we went into the basement of the Louvre or the "old dungeons". The Louvre use to be a castle long before it expanded into a palace before becoming a museum. It was cool to learn about its past history. Well, this was the last of my adventures in Paris. Amsterdam adventures coming soon!
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