Paris 25-29th June

View from the plane window

After all the stress of exams (the pressure of doing four A-Levels rather than three really hit me!) I had a few days to relax and then had to pack - we were heading off to Paris! The total cost of flights and accommodation was less than £200 - can't remember exactly how much, but it was a pretty good deal considering we were staying in our own apartment! So, the four of us - me, Emma, Sarah and Holly - flew to Paris on the Monday morning and came back Friday evening. We stayed in London with a family friend of Emma's on the Sunday evening as our flight was pretty early in the morning! So early that Holly had a little fainting mishap.. Oh dear.

Our shopping trolley

The Moulin Rouge is surrounded by sex shops

The whole trip was amazing. It was the first time I had been away with just friends rather than with parents or anything school/college organised, which was really fun! It was only the second time I had flown, but I knew what was coming so didn't freak out this time - haha... I have uploaded some of my photos from the week, I tried to be selective but it was hard! There are some more pictures, especially ones that Emma took on the evening that we all stayed in, so I might upload a few more after this post...

We went to Carrefour to get our shopping for the week, and were very successful in buying all the cheap things! I swear they all taste the same anyway...

Apartment ii

Apartment i

The next few photos are of the apartment we stayed in. It was actually owned by a couple who lived there for most of the year, but rented it out to people when they were away. It was a completely gorgeous little place, in a beautiful location right by the Sacre-Coeur! It had a bedroom with a double bed, and another fold-out sofa bed for two people to sleep on. I shared a bed with Holly all week and Sarah with Emma. We took it in turns to go between the bed and the sofa. The sofa thing was hilarious though, it was so squeaky that whenever you rolled over in the night you woke each other up.

Apartment iv

Apartment iii

Notre Dame

The days were pretty jam-packed - we had come up with a rough itinerary before we went as we didn't want to forget to do something and get back to england being gutted we'd missed it! The first day we spent walking round Montmartre (where we were staying), following a little tour in Emma's guidebook. We spent another day on 'The Islands' - visiting Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, the Conciergerie, Shakespeare & Company bookshop, and the Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation. We were really lucky, as most places in Paris were free to EU citizens under 26 years old - so we got to visit a lot of places we otherwise might not have just by taking our passports with us! 

Locks on a bridge over the Seine

We spent another day visiting the Arc de Triomphe, walking down Champs-Elysees (pretty impressive!), seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, and just wandering around taking in the sights. I believe that that day might have actually been the one where we went up the Eiffel Tower in the evening.. a pretty big adventure. We walked up to the second floor of the tower, which didn't actually turn out to be as tiring as we thought it would. The view from the top was incredible, and I faced my fear of going in a lift! We could have stayed up there for ages - but we did have to think of the Metro home, as we weren't staying in the centre of Paris and relied on this. Unfortunately, we missed the last metro home! 

Graffiti reading 'Regarde le ciel' - 'look at the sky''

Canal St. Martin at night

Initially, we decided to get a taxi home, knowing that it was a long walk back, we only had a small map, and were four young girls alone in Paris at midnight. The taxis were few and far between though, and so we had to man up and face the walk home! It took what felt like hours. Me and Emma took the lead with a map, and refused to let Sarah and Holly look at where we were, knowing they wouldn't like how far we still had to walk to get to the apartment... On the way back, we picked up an American guy and a Japanese guy, as well as a couple from Uruguay who were all heading in the same direction as us! It was such a surreal experience, heading through the streets of Paris at 2am with random people we knew we'd never see again.. Our feet ached (we had just climbed up and down the Eiffel Tower!) and we couldn't wait to be in bed. BUT when we finally got home, we stayed up talking till 5am. I have no idea why - I mean, it was awesome, but we had plans to be up and out early to visit Versailles the next day! So stupid of us. 

Emma photographing cat graffiti

Sarah & Emma in the sofa bed

Versailles was beautiful, and so impressive. The little town there was also great, had a few cafe's, ice cream places etc, as well as some awesome little quirky shops. We got up late the day we went (due to having stayed up till 5 the night before), which meant that after navigating the transport system, we didn't get as much time as the Palace as we would have liked. We saw a lot though, like Marie Antoinette's bedroom - I had no idea that kings and queens rarely shared a room in history - and even the little door in the corner of the room used as an escape route! A lot of the wallpaper and furnishings were the same as they were at the time she was living there, which was pretty mind-blowing, thinking that she herself looked up at the same walls we were staring at. The afternoon was good, but I would recommend leaving a bit more time to visit it than we did, although you don't need an entire day unless you want to examine everything in detail. Also, lower your expectations for the Hall of Mirrors!

Le tour d'Eiffel

The Walking Bus

On our last day, we had left a few bits and bobs to fill up the morning, as our flight was at 7pm, meaning we didn't have the whole afternoon (just getting to the airport takes about 45 minutes). I really wanted to visit the Catacombes: underground passages lined with skulls used when France's cemeteries got too full and also a meeting place for rebels during the Nazi occupation of France. However, we hadn't realised how much of a popular attraction it would be, as it wasn't even in the centre of Paris, but when we arrived, the queue stretched for miles! We decided that we wouldn't wait for hours seeing as it was our last morning, so it was pretty gutting, but we didn't get to visit the Catacombes. Fortunately, I have the whole rest of my life to do so! At this point, we split off. Holly wanted to go and see a hotel which had been in Sex and the City, and I wanted to visit the Cimitiere du Pere-Lachaise, where Oscar Wilde is buried. Emma came with me and Sarah went with Holly - it was sad parting ways on the Metro even though it was only for a few hours! The cemetery was cool, so many graves. It was a maze inside though, lucky Emma was with me with her decent sense of direction or I could have been lost in there for days... After the cemetery, we met Holly and Sarah back at our apartment, finished the last little bit of packing, and then headed off to Gare du Nord to go to the airport. The flight home was fine - felt weird leaving Paris at 7pm and arriving in Bristol at 7.15 though! 

Pompidou

Paris was amazing. I had never been that enthralled by it, and probably wouldn't have suggested going myself, but I am so glad I did. Those 5 days flew by, but we crammed so much in, and the four of us got on really well (on the whole - living that close to people when you're tired and in a foreign country can sometimes take its toll!). By the end of the week we had seen pretty much everything we wanted to see, as well as tons that we hadn't even planned to, we were pro's at navigating the Metro system, and had used a surprising amount of our A-Level French skills, although discussing our opinions on nuclear power never came in handy... An awesome experience.