Adventures in Vienna: Paris, Je T'aime

I just spent the most amazing weekend in Paris with my friend Hanna! We left Friday, right from class around 1230, caught a flight at 330, and came back Monday morning on a 7:15 flight (got up at 3:45 to catch that one...fun times) Here's an overview of the trip...yes, overview...I know it's quite long but just bear with me friends:)

It was an awesome trip from the start-our flight went right over the mountains and it was gorgeous. There were clouds and then so many snowy mountain tops too. But anyways, we got to CDG, and figured out the metro. When we got to our metro station we had no clue how to get to the actual hostel. One really nice man came up to us and asked if we were lost, and he gave us perfect directions. He had a cross on his jacket so we're pretty sure he was a priest, or something. But that was such a nice, friendly way to start our trip.

Saturday morning we got up, had fresh croissants for breakfast at the hostel, and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Paris is about 10 degrees warmer than Vienna, so it was about 50 out and the sun was shining. The minute we saw the Eiffel tower from the metro we were excited...not to mention there was an accordian playing busking on the metro, so it was doubley Parisian. When we got to the tower, we took tons of crazy pictures, then headed off to find Notre Dame. We ended up getting sidetracked by some cute shops, and went shopping for a little. We also got lunch at a cute cafe with a really nice waiter...Croque Madames...french food is so good. After that we found the Notre Dame (you can't really miss it..) and walked around inside. From the outside it's beautiful, but if you ever go inside it's even more amazing. The stained glass in there is incredible, and there was a choir that was singing so it was really cool with that soundtrack too.

Next, we were off to find the Berthillon, a shop famous for its sorbets and ice creams. It was on a cute little street on the Ile, and we both got strawberry sorbet-it tasted almost like the actual fruit. We walked to La Seine and ate our ice cream in the sunshine on the river...it was kind of awesome. Then we fed some ducks our cones, but left before too many pigeons swarmed to us. We kept walking, and ended up on a market street, where we were taking pictures of more cute Parisian things. One older guy laughed at us for taking so many random pictures. Then, we got lost around a cute (what other adjective would I use?) church area...we walked back to the main market street and came across the same guy from the market. He asked us how we were liking Paris, and told us to enjoy our stay-then he handed us a bouquet of flowers to share. Totally made our day!
We continued to walk around, passing the Centre Pompidou. We got a bit lost because we were just walking around without any direction, so we figured it out with the metro, and went back to the hostel after the day was done.

Sunday was the day of perfect timing. The first Sunday of the month almost all museums are free in Paris..including Le Louvre. So we woke up early and got in line. The line was supposed to take 1 hour but ended up only being about 30 min, so we got in to the museum for free...saw Winged Victory, a real Sphinx, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Michelangelo sculptures...so beautiful. This is the part where my camera decides it's about to die. And as soon as we stepped in the Mona Lisa room, Hanna's camera also died. I saved the rest of my battery for quick strategic photos during the rest of the day.
We exitted the Louvre and walked through Jardins des Tuileries-amazing area, that place must be awesome in the spring. There's a giant fountain, creperies, running paths. It's awesome. We sat and ate lunch there then went to the hostel quickly. After resting, we went to Champs Elysees and walked toward L'arc de Triomphe. At the Arc we met Hanna's friend who is studying abroad in Paris, and together we walked back down Champs Elysees and went to the Eiffel tower. The plan was to go up to the tower for sunset.
We stood in line for about 30-45 min, and decided it would be best to go to the second level. By then the wind was picking up and we were already freezing, so we thought the third level would be a dumb idea, plus there was a delay on the second level so we'd be freezing and impatient..not good. We went up to the second level just in time to see the sun set. We walked around the shops inside, and there's also a little spot where you can look down at the ground from the center of the tower..scary but epic and awesome. My fear of heights is almost nonexistent these days :)
We walked back onto the deck of the tower to watch the sunset literally just as the tower lit up the first time that night. And when I say lit up..I mean it actually sparkled. They put on the sparkling lights only once every hour. It sounds not that exciting that it lit up and we saw it, so what, but it was a surprisingly awesome natural high and probably one of those moments I won't ever forget.

After decided we needed to leave because we were insanely cold, we took the elevator back down and went to a nearby cafe. We got quick dinner, and ran back to the Eiffel Tower to meet my friend Natasha, who's also studying in Paris. We met under the tower, and her family was also there, so it was great to see more Americans. We took tons of pictures..some of course to send to our flute studio at home, and then had to go back to the hostel to figure out traveling the next day.

Then there was mass panic after realizing the metro closes at 1am so we had no way to the airport. We asked the front desk staff who said they'd help us call a taxi in the morning. Sooo we got up at 3:45 am, called a cab, and went to CDG. We were there by 4:30 (it was a shorter ride than we thought) and had to wait outside the gates until they actually opened the airport around 5:30. Around 6 we were through security, and I was getting my coffee fix (yes...I have a coffee fix now) at a cafe. Soon enough we were on the flight home...super relieved that we had actually gotten to the airport okay and that our tickets had gone through (we thought for a hot sec that our online booking hadn't worked). We sat by a really friendly Parisian woman, who was flying to Vienna and back in the same day for a business meeting. Her English was great so she talked to us the whole flight about everything Paris, about the Montreux festival and Juan les Pins, America, the economy, politics, movies...it was awesome. There is nothing like meeting a local.

When the plane finally landed around 9:30 we raced out of the airport, caught a train back, hopped on the Ubahn and went home. Hanna went right to class at 11 (props). We were soo tired the rest of the day, but it was soo worth it. This was by far the best trip I've taken yet...if you're reading this and you haven't been to Paris, just go. You won't regret it. Also, it was a great way to review French:) Unfortunately, Professor Summesburger has done her job and now has me using German as my default language, so it was really hard to remember French. By the time it was coming back it was our last day there. ..my gosh I miss that language. It's so pretty and the words are a reasonable length, unlike German. But oh well. I got a lot of looks in Paris because they're not used to blondes, and here in Vienna I can usually pass for an Austrian (which is nice).

But here are some pics! enjoy:)

Plane ride there..