Summertime Adventures July, Part 2

PARIS!!!

For the third week of July we went to Paris with a group of friends so get prepared for the mother of all posts!  We all stayed in this adorable apartment in the Latin Quarter.  From the balcony you could just barely see the Eiffel Tower, we were literally next to the Church of Saint-Séverin (as you can see in the picture on the left), and were about three minutes walking from the Notre Dame.  Amazing!  The very first night we got there we walked around for a while to see a little of Paris at night.

 

On our first full day in Paris we did a lot of walking, no metro for us!  First we saw the d'Orsay Museum, which I personally loved because it has one of the most extensive collections of Impressionist paintings, my favorite style of painting.  After the museum we walked up the seine to see the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, a famous bridge that my boyfriend and his other civil engineering friends studied in class.  It was really cool how you could walk from the lower level to the upper to cross the river.  

After that we had lunch in the Tuileries Gardens and continued on to see the Luxor Obelisk, La Madeleine, the Vendôme Column of Napoleon, the Arc d'Triomphe, and finally the Eiffel Tower!  So much walking in one day! Even though I have studied the art and architecture of Paris in my history classes I was still surprised by everything and how quickly I fell in love with Paris. As for the Eiffel Tower, the line to take the elevator was very long--and more expensive--so we decided to walk up as far as we could; which is about half way before taking the elevator.  After we made it to the top we rested in the park below for a bit before our long walk home.  I'm glad we got the experience walking because you got to see great views of Paris.  We were exhausted but did manage to get some wine and delicious cheese, cheese being of course my absolute favorite food, for dinner!

  

Our second full day in Paris we spent the morning at the Louvre.  It was wonderful because I studied many of the artwork and sculptures in my art history classes so I was almost overly excited to see it in real life, especially the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.  It was all spectacular, though a bit overwhelming fighting all the photo taking tourists to even look at the pieces!  After the Louvre we walked some more around Paris and got to see the Opera before we headed to Les Invalides.  It was once a hospital but is now where the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte is and is also a arms museum.  The tomb of Napoleon was huge!!    My boyfriend and I went back a little earlier than everyone else because like clockwork my hip was hurting again, and we went to a cafe near the Notre Dame to have a snack and some Paris.  If it wasn't such a cliché, I would have felt almost Parisian sitting in a cafe in Paris, let alone with a view of Notre Dame!

The Queen's Chambers

The Hall of Mirrors

The Next Day we were at Versailles, it was just a quick train ride away and was luckily a beautiful day.  Once we got to Versailles we had to wait in a HUGE line, over an hour.  But during this time we at least got to take pictures of the front before we went in.  Once inside it was honestly a little bit of a let down for me, it was so crowded and so many rooms were closed off.  You were funneled through the rooms and because of amount roped off and the amount of people, there was not a lot of time to look at each room because everyone was essentially shoving you through!  Despite this it was very beautiful.  The best part for me though was the gardens, even though you had to pay extra because it was the summer.   And my absolute favorite part of the gardens AND Versailles was the hamlet behind the Petit Trianon that Marie Antoinette had built for herself.  It was beautiful and had a working farm complete with adorable farm animals.  My boyfriend and I visited it just the two of us, so we had some alone time walking around the different buildings and petting the farm animals--well I pet the farm animals while he shook his head at me!  When we finally returned from Versailles we visited the north of Paris to see Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge and have dinner.  

  

 The following Day Adrián and I took our own day trip to Giverny to see Monet's Garden, which is actually the main reason I really wanted to go to Paris!  Ever since I was little I loved Monet's paintings, so much that my Grandma said that for my high school graduation trip she would take me to his famous gardens.  Sadly she passed away  before I graduated and I was not able to take our trip.  This Paris trip was partly planned by our friends so I could go because they knew how important it was to me, it was very sweet.  And it was such an amazing feeling going because it was like I had my grandma with me.  Getting to Giverny is a bit Chaotic though.  You have to take the train in the North of Paris to Vernon

and from Vernon you have to take a bus to Giverny, unfortunately we missed our first train because of the long ticket line.  When we finally got to Giverny we had a picnic with some French cheese I had bought the other day along with a fresh baguette, chocolate, and jamón.  The cheese was absolutely delicious and it was probably one of my favorite meals in France!  Giverny was a tiny little village and was so absolutely beautiful, but for me it was nothing compared to Monet's Garden and the lily pond.  It was a dream come true, I was so happy I was practically in tears!  It was truly one of the most beautiful places I've seen, absolutely breathtaking and quite truthfully a dream come true!  If you're going to Paris I highly suggest this day trip, you won't be sorry.

On our final day literally before leaving we visited the Notre Dame.  In the morning we saw the inside but we had to come back later to climb to the bell towers.  The inside was beautiful; I love the Gothic styles and, thanks again to all my art history classes, I had previously learned about the symbolism in religious art and architecture and was able to explain it to my friends as well--which I proudly overheard a tour guide repeating everything I had just explained, winning!  As for going to the top of the Notre Dame we had to wait in line for about an hour and a half, but the view to me was worth it.  While waiting we got some shopping done and took a quick look at the Pompidou building.  

When we finally walked up more stairs we saw that it was worth the wait.  From the bottom looking up you couldn't see any of the gargoyles but from above you had a perfect view!  It was like a scene from the "Hunchback of Notre Dame."  You got to walk across the building to the famous bell tower from the novel to see the actual bell, then climb all the way to the top of the tower.  The views of Paris were beautiful and we were even able to see our apartment from the top!  After the Notre Dame we bought some sandwiches to eat along the Seine.  I even indulged in an éclair, not cliché right?

When we arrived in Santander it was actually the start of their annual parties celebrating the city called, Semana Grande.  All around the city bars set up 'casetas' or little wooden houses, at these houses you can try different tapas and drinks.  Usually there is a special where one tapa and a beer are 2.5 euros.  They also have some areas where tents are set up for different provinces in Spain.  I loved going to the Asturias one because I love the sidra, since we don't have anything like it at home.  

Also at the same time there is a feria or fun fair going on near the stadium.  It has a bunch of food, rides, and games where you can win prizes.  We went on a couple rides with our friends, tried a special coconut treat--where my boyfriend, not so humorously for him, chipped his tooth--, and he even won me some stuffed animals!  It was really fun and I loved trying the different tapas and foods from different parts of Spain.  

During this week it was one of our friend's birthdays and we decided to have a tapas party to celebrate where each person cooked one dish of tapas to eat for dinner.  My boyfriend and I decided to make American food, and cooked buffalo wings and then pancakes for dessert.  Everything was so delicious, I love Spanish food!