Adventures in Paris - Part 1

More than a dozen baguettes, a few macarons, and at least six pain au chocolats later I have returned from amazing long weekend in Paris! For everyone in my study abroad program, this past weekend marked our first opportunity to travel outside of the UK during our stay (the other part of the group went to Rome - we'll definitely be comparing notes for future excursions!). We saw so many incredible sights over such a short period of time and I all I can say is that the City of Love will always have a special place in my heart...Because I took so many pictures I'll have to break this up into a few posts!

A 7 am flight out of Heathrow meant that we had to order a MiniCab to pick us up from our flats at 4 in the morning on Thursday. I have to admit that Nicole and I didn't actually go to sleep at all because we were up late writing an essay for macro - yes, I am actually doing school work here :) - packing, and just because of our pure excitement. Luckily I was able to get some sleep on the flight, although I missed out on the free chocolate croissant they were serving for breakfast on the plane. After arriving in Paris we took our bags and dropped them off at the Airbnb apartment we had rented for the weekend and celebrated our arrival in France with croque monsieurs for lunch! And then we set off for a full day of sightseeing - the first stop was, of course, to see the Eiffel Tower. 

After that, we walked down the Champs-Élysées, a road lined with glamorous, high-end retail stores, including the original Louis Vuitton! It was a beautiful day, but just as we were crossing the road in front of the Arc de Triomphe it started to downpour and hail out of nowhere! We all just started laughing and ran across the street - not even painful icy rain was going to kill our happiness that we were in Paris! As quickly as it had started the storm passed and we headed to Ladurée for some delicious macarons. 

Not even rain or hail could bring me down

As cute as they are delicious!

Didn't last much longer after this...

As we were walking down the street we came across a set of ornate black and gold gates in front of a beautiful garden...it turned out to be Abercrombie!! Of course we had to go inside, which was just as incredible as the outside - although I have to say that the classically painted murals and statues of shirtless guys were a bit much for me. 

Reminded me of Buckingham Palace

Only in Paris would A&F look this nice

We continued our walking tour of Paris (led by my friend Susie who studied there two summers ago) by visiting La Madeleine, a huge, beautiful Catholic church filled with amazing artwork. All of the old churches I have seen in Europe have been so incredible...they're starting to be some of my favorite places to visit.

Sat for a while in awe of this church (and my life right now) 

View from the steps of the church 

After the church, we walked over to the Paris Opera House, also known as the Palais Garnier. The architecture of this building, like pretty much all of the architecture in this area of France was stunning and decorated with beautiful gold accents. 

Andrew was brave enough to travel with just us girls for the weekend...

Our last stop for the day was the flagship location of the French department store called Galeries Lafayette. For me, walking into that store was like walking into a dream - everywhere you looked were designer clothes, bags, shoes, and jewelry as far as the eye could see. The ceiling featured stained glass domes that illuminated the entire (huge!!!) building in a glowing light. Susie told us that she had been there over the summer and that if we wanted to see the best part we had to follow her. So we took about seven escalators and arrived at the top floor of the store. Usually you can go out onto the rooftop terrace but it was closed because of the rain, which we didn't know until we got up there. Although we were a little disappointed the view from the windows was still so amazing. We were getting ready to go back downstairs when the man attending the door told us we had ten minutes and sneakily let us go out! The view of the city was INSANE. We were on the roof just as the sun was setting and it was just so incredibly beautiful to see almost all of Paris from above. 

The ceiling of the store...unreal

This is what going to Paris on zero hours of sleep looks like :)

V for Villanova!

City of Love

After an incredibly long day of sightseeing we headed back to the flat for the night. We found a bakery right down the road - which we quickly became regulars to - and had a dinner of just baguettes (It was hands down the best bread I have ever eaten). We were all asleep by 9pm...

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon...Au revoir for now!