On an almost spontaneous decision, with a few clicks of a mouse, five of my American friends and I travelled to Paris last weekend! Over three seemingly endless days we walked up 34867 steps (I promise I'm not exaggerating!!), saw countless incredible sights & met many unfriendly glares. I really don't want to perpetuate an outdated stereotype, or generalise French people, but they did not seem to enjoy hearing the English language at all!
Our travelling crew consisted of myself, Hannah (the roomie), Sydney, Kaitlyn, Maeve & Devyn.
We chose to rent an apartment through airbnb because it was our cheapest option, & it proved to be the best possible choice! We stayed at the top of Montmartre just around the corner from the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur. Over the three days we visited most of tourist attractions, only missing out on the catacombs, a ticket to the top of the Eiffel Tower & the Louvre, but we didn't let any missed opportunities disappoint us! We definitely made the most of our time & didn't brush our teeth in two straight lines & go to bed like the good little girls in Madeleine!
We spent most of the second day in Versailles, which was mind-blowing. The entire area of the palace grounds must be the size of Ingham for sure!
Okay, I just looked it up...
Ingham: 33.14 km2
Versailles: 26.18 km2!!
And like the fascinated, mature, students we are, every time we thought we had found Marie-Antoinette's palace (& when we eventually did find it) we yelled, "Off with their HEAD!"
Sometime soon we're planning on having a French movie night in one of our flats because we spent the whole three days singing Red & Black from Les Miserables in manly voices at each other. Also, most of the girls haven't seen Moulin Rouge OR Chocolat! I still don't know how they've survived so far?!
The main thing that struck me about Paris (sorry, it's not a positive thing) was how dirty everything was. Yes, I've been to Europe before, & I'm living in London which, historically, has a pretty bad rep, but I was horrified! Every time we entered a Metro station my brain was yelling "Yep, that's illegal in Australia. I'm pretty sure that is too... THAT is definitely illegal. Why isn't that light working? Where is security?"
I don't even want to think about the diseases that could potentially be cultivating away on the Metro trains or the organisms growing the piles of decade old dust in the corners of the stairs...
I don't want to ramble, it was a fabulous weekend, as one might expect! Here is my Paris vlog!!
Beware: Slightly inebriated & very overtired girls ahead (& maybe a few choice words here & there...)!
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