Mes Vacances, Partie 1: Paris

Apologies for the lack of blog posts in the past week, but I wanted to make the most of my vacation. And what a vacation it was! It was great to have a break from classes and venture outside of Aix. I've decided to split the week into three separate posts to maximize the number of pictures I can share. Plus, more blog posts for you all to read! (You know, assuming people are reading this...)

I flew to Paris on Saturday with my friend Megan, and even with just one evening, we sure did a lot! We decided to walk around a bit just to explore, and we ended up walking 13 miles! But we saw nearly all the major points, and by night it was even more beautiful. Here are my favorite pictures from the evening:

We found La Madeleine! Totally by accident. 

 It was cloudy and there were cars, but La Place de la Concorde is always cool.

  

The cool thing was, we didn't have a map or a plan, we really just wandered around. And by doing that, we ended up crossing all these major points by accident! Well, except the Eiffel Tower. You can almost always see that. If you reach it by accident, you're blind. The coolest thing we stumbled across was at the end of the night, when we found a random firedancer performing in front of Notre Dame. He finished the show with fireworks instead of just flames. So cool!

I also have to say that, having been to Paris once before, the city is way cooler at night. So many lights, and definitely a different perspective!

After I spent the first evening with Megan and got lots of blisters, she headed off to Belgium, and I headed to the train station to find Atticus. Even though he failed to follow my very specific directions and for about half an hour I thought I had lost him in Paris (Mom and Dad: I think our story rivals yours!), I managed to find him. The first day, we mostly just explored the neighborhood we were staying in and Atticus got his first taste of French food! Then, of course we had to go to the Eiffel Tower. I'm serious, it is so much cooler at night. Especially when they make it sparkle on the hour! 

 The best hot chocolate I have tasted. Ever. 

 We found the bridge with the locks! There are a lot. It's crazy.

Some of you will recognize this as a throwback to the first time I went to Paris. I didn't have my I <3 Paris sweatshirt, but I tried to recreate the picture... It didn't really work.

Monday, we headed over for a quick look at Notre Dame, then we took the train up to Monmartre and Sacre Coeur. It was a beautiful day, so we bought a picnic, had lunch on the grassy hill, and spent the afternoon enjoying the sun. Dinner was a simple affair because we decided to opt for Vietnamese take-out instead of going out, but it was so delicious! Fun fact: take-out is almost always discounted by 10-15% in France. Even coffee to go! On the rare occasion that you can find it to go...

We took a train early Tuesday morning to our next destination... Stay tuned for the vacation installment in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer!