Champ de Elysees

Champ de Elysses is like the Rodeo Drive of L.A. or the Waikiki Strip of Honolulu. Huge designer stores lie along the long street all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe. I didn't get a chance to walk along the entire row of shops but I did see a few familiar stores. First, this must be the HUGEST sephora in the entire world. Looking into the stores from the outside, it looks like it might be a mile long. No matter how big the store, it was filled with people to the point where I was bumping people every 5 seconds. I also got a chance to go into H&M where I bought a ton of stuff and got great deals except for the fact that the dollar is so week in France so it still ended up being expensive :( All in all, Champ de Elysees is a must see. If not to shop at stores like Louis Vuitton and Cartier, then to catch the amazing view of the Arc de Triomphe. Au Revoir!

Sightseeing

As a first time visitor to Paris, it is obvious that sight seeing is at the top of your list. So that is exactly what my mom, Aunty and I did this entire week!
Notre Dame de Paris:

Notre Dame Cathedral is massive. Its Gothic architecture makes it one of the most truly magnificent churches I've ever seen. It lies along the Seine river, as do most famous Paris attractions and is located in a lively area full of shops and restaurants. The line to go into the Notre Dame was quite long but it moved quickly. Notre Dame is unfortunately one of things that is infested with tourists so while there was a sermon going on, tons of cameras were flashing and there was a lot of noise.

 Along the inside of the cathedral, there are a number of little statues, stained glass windows, and informational posters to see. You can also say a prayer while blowing out one of the many candles that lie along the inner perimeter of the cathedral. Notre Dame is truly beautiful inside and out

                             

Musee de Louvre:
I was REALLY excited to go on see the Louvre museum because of a few of the famous art works it holds. But since we got there pretty late, all of the nintendo DS self audio guides were sold out so we basically walked around trying to guess what all the pieces of art where since all the descriptions were in French. But, it was still fascinating to see the different pieces of art and also overwhelming at the same time. I learned that the Louvre houses around 35,000 pieces of art and it would take you at least a month to be able to see all the different works. They weren't lying when they told us that because in a day I don't think we saw at least a tenth of the works there! But we were able to see the major works including the Mona Lisa (which is so overly crowded) and Venus De Milo's Aphrodite. I did end up really enjoying all of the statues, especially the ones of Greek background.

 

Seine River Tour:
I really love the intimacy of the Seine river. The Seine river runs through all of Paris and most of Paris's major attractions can be found along the river. We took an hour long river tour on a large boat and it was beautiful since we went at sunset. We got to see a lot of Paris from the river, including the Tour Eiffel, Musee de Louvre and the Notre Dame.

So far so good!

Hi All! This is my blog for my study abroad semester in Paris. So far it's day 5 of my trip here in Paris and I am IN LOVE already. You probably have heard that Paris is a beautiful city, but you never realize how beautiful it is until you've seen it for yourself. All the buildings look like they were built a hundred years ago, which tremendously adds to the life and culture of the city. The Tour Eiffel is breathtaking, especially at night. I went during the day first and I guess I didn't realize how huge it is? Lol but my mom and I waited in a VERY long line just to buy tickets to ride a cart up to the different levels. So my first piece of advice is, if you're planning on vacation-ing in Paris, buy all of your tickets a few weeks before you leave so you can by pass all the lines at all the different tourist attractions. We pretty much spent all day on the Eiffel tower. There are 3 different levels. The first level has a number of restaurants and a cafeteria so we were able to enjoy a nice lunch over looking the city. 

The second level is basically tourist shops but the very top of the tower is the most beautiful. You can over look the entire city for miles all around and it is truly breathtaking. There's also a champagne bar at the top, but it is super pricey so I unfortunately had to skip having a glass of champagne at the top of the Tour Eiffel.

I've only been here 5 days and I've met so many kind people. A lot of people warned me that the people in France would be very stuck up if you don't at least try to speak their language. So far, pretty much every single person I've been has been completely opposite of that. I've found that they are genuinely kind, helpful, happy people. Of course there are the occasional rude Parisians but of course you're going to find rude people everywhere you go. I could see why they would be stuck up with tourists because the only downfall I've found about the city is that there are SO many tourists. It reminds me a lot of San Francisco but 10 times worse. But I guess you can't expect people to not visit Paris? Haha I just wish I could enjoy the beautiful city without the infestation of tourists. That's why my plan for this semester to explore Paris and France to the extreme. Yeah I'm going to do all the touristy stuff, but I really want to see what living in Paris is truly like. And I'm sure I won't have a problem doing just that over these next 4 months :)