Same Phails, New Continent: "Paris is Always a Good Idea." -Audrey Hepburn

The day after the Harry Potter Red Carpet (aka friday), I headed to Paris with my friends Iris Park and Brian Schantz. It was amazing! We took the train from London St. Pancras to Paris Nord at 9am, and arrived at about 12:30pm (because of the time difference, it is technically a 2 1/2 hour train). We were starving when we first got there, so we headed right out for food. Best. Meal. Ever. We got bread + beer + salad + steak + fries + gravy + creme brulee, all for €11! It was amazing! We then headed to the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, which is the cemetery where Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried. It was so amazing and beautiful. We got really lucky because the sun was setting when we were leaving, so we got some amazing photos (as seen below).

From the cemetery, we walked, and walked, and walked. First, we found the River Seine, and then just followed it. Along the way we saw the Bastille, Notre Dame, St. Michel, Institut de France, then we go to the Louvre, where we got to go in for free! So we obviously took advantage of that! We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo..etc. After that we got dinner, I had salad, croque monsieur, and red wine! It was delish! From there we headed over to the Eiffel Tower, which is definitely most beautiful at night! The lights were amazing, especially when it began to flash, like it does every hour, on the hour. We took pictures, but they didn't really come out, so we decided to go back on Sunday during the day. Since we had been walking for over 4 hours and were 8 km from our hostel, we decided to get a cab.

The next day we went to Versailles. Despite the crappy weather, it was amazing!! We went to the Hall of Mirrors, and all the basic things at the castle, then we headed to Marie Antoinette's home. It was sooo cool! There was a farm, and gardens, and a Temple of Love, and all of these amazing things that made me fell like I was part of a Jane Austen novel. For dinner we went to a random restaurant near us. I got steak, but I tried duck and LOVED it!

Sunday, our last day there, we had A LOT left to do. We woke up early, had a solid breakfast, and started our journey. Here are the things we accomplished:
1. Opera House where Phantom of the Opera is based
2. Arc de Triomphe (which we climbed for great views of the city!)
3. went down Avenue des Champes Elyseees
4. Winston Churchill Statue
5. Musee d'Orsay, but it was realllyyy busy so we didn't go in :(
6. Lunch at a small cafe! (I had french fries and cider)
7. bought baguettes
8. Eiffel Tower (with baguette fight)
9. Statue of Liberty in Paris (much smaller)
10. Headed back to our hostel to get our things and get to Paris Nord for our train at 6:30pm.

It was such a busy, but successful and fun day! Here are just some (of the 600) pictures I took: