Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Bonjour Paris


Bonjour Paris!

Another first for me this past weekend: Paris. Galway and the rest of Ireland except maybe Dublin are slow, small, and quaint. Pretty much the opposite of Paris. I flew in Friday night, and hopped on the bus into the city. Korey, my friend from home studying in Versaillies for the entire school year was waiting for me. I couldn’t have been happier to see one of my best friends in one of the prettiest cities ever. We took a metro back to her house in Versailles to change then met up with her friends for the night. I’ve realized pretty much anywhere you go, the nightlife has the same concept. Dress nice, drink, and dance. I’d say it’s a pretty universal concept. The next morning, after a few hours of sleep we picked up her friends again and went into the city.

Saturday we hit up all the main Paris attractions. The Louve, The Eiffel Tower, the Pompidou, Notre Dame, and everything in between. Seeing Notre Dame at night, from the back side was probably one of the prettiest things I’ve seen. Every building, monument, store front, apartment, had so much character. I’d never seen an entire city look so beautiful. I fell in love with wrought iron railings and the soft pastel colors of the buildings. Each direction I looked I would see something more georgeous than the last. Ireland is pretty in a natural rustic way. The green grass, the stone walls, the small houses with thatched roofs. Paris was completely different. It was pretty in a delicate, soft way. Hard to explain, I know I’m not doing it justice. It just seemed so surreal that I was actually in Paris for the weekend, looking at all these famous landmarks.

Sunday was more of the same, going into the Louve, the Eiffel Tower and seeing the Arc de Triomphe. We even waited around long enough to see the Eiffel Tower light up and twinkle once it got dark.




Kids playing with these little boats in a fountain by the Louve


Monday Korey had to go to school so I hung around Versailles by myself, going to the Palace. I went back into the city, had a nice café outside, and went in the Pompediau, to the very top to see the panaranic view. You could see all of Paris. I just looked out the windows, taking in the view and trying to remember every detail of what I saw. It is a view I don’t ever want to forget.

Eventually it was time for my flight, and a few hours later I was back to little old Galway.

You know me, I can’t have a post without talking about food. I thought I had had good bakery before, but I had never been to Paris. These bakeries are glorious, filled with tarts, baguettes, éclairs, brioche, macaroons, ham and cheese sandwiches, everything. And I tried just about everything there was to try. My favorite being the brioche I got from a bakery in Versailles. I enjoyed my breakfast on a bench in the Gardens of the Palace of Versailles. I was happy.


Brioche #1

Notre Dame
Eiffel Tower during the day
Notre Dame at night

Now I’m off to Scotland. The traveling never stops when you’re in Europe.

Au vior.

2 comments:

  1. love your bangs and the blue scarf in that second picture. looks like you had a lovely time in paris!

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  2. Jenny-great pics. Glad you and Kor had fun and covered a lot of ground. I agree with you about the beauty around every corner. Hard to imagine how long ago this work was done. Did you enjoy the palace? I was so excited for you girls to reconnect and glad you were able to make it happen! Enjoy your travels!

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