Paris

Hannah and I arrived in Paris around 6 p.m. on April 2nd. We were immediately overwhelmed by the amazing weather (relative to freezing cold Scandinavia), and the beauty of the city. Over the course of the next 12 hours, however, we quickly discovered that for every part enchanting, there were equal parts shady.

Our hostel had a balcony and a lovely view. 

Our first couple of hours in Paris were sheer bliss, we wandered around the hostel neighborhood—Montmartre. We got nutella & banana crepes. Hannah said, "We should get some wine and celebrate, freakin, New Years." So we bought a baguette, boucheron cheese, and wine, and had a picnic on the floor of our hostel room.

Wandering at sundown, the Moulin Rouge on the right

Close up

By the time we had gotten to this monument, Hannah and I had already witnessed a mini-scuffle on a crowded street, and had also been verbally harassed and briefly followed.

The picnic (first of many)

Hannah noted, "this wine may or may not have won a renoir award."

Our makeshift sound system, don't ask, the acoustics were just way better.

When Maeve and Christine finally arrived later that evening, we had planned to go "out". These plans fell through and instead we ended up walking with Maeve's friend Kit back to our neighborhood.

The girls getting sassy whilst waiting for their crepes.

 On our walk back, we saw a man running (really) fast in our direction and then past us, and when we got to the corner of the block, we saw someone else (presumably his partner in crime) getting arrested. Sketchy moment number four of the day. By the time we got back it was pretty late, so Christine, Hannah and I went to bed and Maeve and Kit wandered some more and then almost got mugged (sketchy moment number five). Paris quickly began to resemble a movie about crime in New York City in the 80s. 

The following day we saw so much. Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower as seen from the metro!

Since there were now four of us, we were presented with many more opportunities to take touristy photos.

Maeve and I on the Avenue De New York

Eventually, we were all starving and decided to stop at a quaint little (not painfully expensive) restaurant in a fairly (okay, really) bourgie neighborhood. We all decided to get the Croque Madame (a Croque Monsieur with a fried egg on top) which is basically a ham sandwich with a ton of melted cheese on top. At first it was delicious, but by the end of our meal we all felt like our arteries were going to explode.

Le Croque Madame

After our 2000 calorie lunch, we headed towards the Louvre.

It was a long walk, but at last we saw the iconic glass pyramid.

The inside of the Louvre blew my mind. Not in the good way. It was packed to the brim with people, making it difficult to look at and appreciate the art. I felt like i was in a bizarre social experiment. It seemed as though this giant museum, with all of these famous paintings, was a complete satire of art culture.

Here is a glipse of the madness at the Louvre—a mob in front of the Mona Lisa. Everyone had their cameras out, obv!

Maeve looking through a window at the Louvre

A view from the Louvre—everything was so bright and vivid, this photo looks more like a painting to me.

Maeve and Hannah resting/recovering from the chaos.

Rainbows were a frequent sight in Paris

After a coffee break, we walked to Notre Dame

Ta da!

More scenic/surreal views of Paris on the way back to our hostel

The following (last) day that we were all in Paris together was much more relaxed. We did a lot of wandering around Montmartre.

Here is one of many moments where we were deciding which arbitrary street to walk down... so many options. (photo cred to Christine)

Downhill

Eventually we reached the Sacré Cœur, pretty soon after we got to it, there was some monsoon-rain for about half an hour—we hid inside.

The view of Paris from outside the Sacré Cœur

Shmaif and I, Paris in the background! (photo cred to Christine, again!)

We took a nice break midday to nap and such after our walk.

On our last evening, we went to Maeve's friend Kit's house for dinner.

After very few hours of sleep, Maeve, Christine and I were off to Berlin the next morning!

Here I am sleeping at the airport, au revoir, Paris!