Paris

I'm still trying to catch up writing about all my trips! So here we go... I went to Paris on July 17-18. If you know me, then you won't be suprised that I missed my 6:30 am train on Saturday morning. Even though the next train at the same price didn't leave until 4 pm, I decided it was still worth it to go, and it was. I'm glad I got a glimpse of Paris, but wish I could have spent MUCH more time there to really get to see it. I met up with my friend from high school, Olivia and got to stay in her fancy schmancy hotel room for free (the room was a graduation gift from her brother-in-law). It was nice to catch up with my friend since I haven't really seen her in the last 4 years!

I mostly stuck around the area by the Louvre and the Tuleries Gardens, since it was close to our hotel and there was plenty to see in that area! On Sunday morning, we took another free walking tour through the same company that did the tour I took in Amsterdam. This time our guide was a funny Brittish guy (who kept subtly making fun of the French lol). The tour was really nice because I got to hear a lot of history and details that I never would have known or appreciated. It was also nice since I was there for such a short time, it was the best way to see all that I could in a short amount of time.

I don't speak any French, but another girl we were with does, so she could translate if we needed. I also found that simple phrases like bonjour, s'il vous plait, merci, pardon, and parlez-vous anglais? were very useful. In Belgium, pretty much EVERYONE speaks English, so I got used to everyone automatically speaking English with me and I stopped even bothering to ask. But some of my friends who have studied in France before told me it would be rude to jump right into English without saying something like "bonjour, parlez-vous anglais?" first. So I made sure to do that, and didn't have much of a problem, but at first I was a bit shocked that not as many people in Paris spoke as much English as they do in Belgium.

Olivia and I outside of the Louvre during the free walking tour, while the tour guide pointed out the orange stickers on some of the windows of the Louvre. Those windows are the ones that the firemen are allowed to break in case of a fire...

Sitting on Champ du Mars by the Eiffel tower after dinner, before having to catch my train home. I had to leave before it got dark enough to light up :(