Paris: Day 2!

Okay, back to my Paris adventure! The second day I was in Paris, I woke up at 7:00 AM, showered and was out of my hotel room by 8:00 AM. "Why so early?", you might ask. Well, I wanted to see The Louvre while I was there and a friend of mine who had been to Paris before suggested that I get there about a half an hour before the opening so I could avoid a ridiculously long line. So, I arrived at The Louvre around 8:30 AM.

And it's a good thing I did, too, because right around 9:00 AM (the opening time), this was the line behind me. 

I got into the Museum and right away went to find the inverted pyramid, like in the movie "The Da Vinci Code"! 

And of course, you can't come to The Louvre, and not see the Mona Lisa! She was a popular little lady.

And a lot smaller than I thought she was gonna be.

I strolled through the museum for about an hour and a half. I have to be honest though, it wasn't really as cool as I thought it was gonna be for me. Not exactly my cup of tea. But it's still cool to be able to say that I've been there. While I was walking through the museum, I walked right into this...

The Rose Line! Again, just like in the movie "The Da Vince Code"! Ah so cool! Where was it pointing me to: the courtyard just outside. Heck yes I followed it! I was on a quest!

I found three rose line plates total. And for those few moments, I was a Knight Templar :) It was fake, and in no way am I even slightly a Knight Templar, but it was cool to pretend. 

After I left the museum, I decided to walk through the gardens because I had spotted something in the distance.

The Place de la Concorde! This was the place in the city that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI (and many others) were executed during the revolution and the Reign of Terror. I had to set foot at this historic place. And on the way there I got to enjoy a beautiful garden.

Finally made it!

This monument is located right next to the Seine River. And from where I was at I had a great view of the Eiffel Tower and the beautiful Point Alexandre III Bridge. 

Since I was by the river, I decided to hop on the Batobus. Basically it's just a water bus that takes you up and down the Seine. You can get off and on at any one of eight stops. It's just another fun way to get around the city. I hopped on around 11:30 AM and decided to hang out at the back of the boat. It was a gloomy, rainy day, but that didn't dampen my spirits. This is Paris! No dampened spirits allowed!

And I made a wish on the Seine River. Don't know if people do that or not, but I did :)

I rode the Batobus for about a half an hour, and right around noon, I hopped off at the Notre Dame stop. AMAZING!

I definitely went up into the bell towers, and toured the church! 

And that meant more steps...

But, again, SO worth it!

After exploring the Notre Dame, I decided to walk to the Concierge. Along the way, I ran into a few cool things. There were a lot of street vendors on the way. I tried on a beret, but looked absolutely ridiculous. So, I decided to get this hat instead. It had kind of a Frenchy feel to it and I thought it was cute so what the hell? Why not? 

I was so happy to find this bridge! I don't know if it has an exact name, but it's a love lock bridge. Basically, couple will come to the bridge and put a padlock or a ribbon on the bridge. It will have their names and the date written on it. This symbolizes that their love will last forever! So simple, but so beautiful!

I also ran into another crepes stand, and I HAD to get one :)

I got to the Concierge and did the tour through the museum. It showed us the conditions that the prisoners lived in and gave us a brief lesson on how the prison system was run back then. It also gave us a few history lessons of the trial of Marie Antoinette and other famous prisoners.

 This building is where Marie Antoinette's cell was located during her trial and the days leading up to her execution. A few hundred years back, the place where her cell was was converted into a chapel which served as a place where prisoners could spend their last meal and their last few hours of life. We could go into that very same chapel! Insane!

Okay ladies and gentleman, this is the point in my day, where my camera was running low on battery (yeah all the pics I've shown you so far have been from my camera phone). So, I decided to switch over to my digital camera. However, upon my return to my apartment in Vienna, I cannot for the life of me, find the cord to sync those photos to my computer. So, sorry ladies and gentlemen, but for the rest of the day, you're gonna have to go photo less, at least until I can get back to America and upload the rest to my facebook. My apologies!

At 2:41 PM, I got back onto the Batobus at the Notre Dame, and took that all the way back to the Eiffel Tower.

I hadn't really had anything else on my list of things to do for that day. So, I just decided to go on a walk and see where it took me. Around 3:45 PM, I ran into the Paris Aquarium and figured, why not? I walked around there for about an hour. After that, around 5:00 PM, I found the Paris Wax Museum. This was super cool because it didn't just have wax figures of celebrities. It had exhibits that depicted famous periods in French history such as famous French assassinations, the Renaissance, the Inquisition, the Black Plague, Joan of Arc, and Mozart playing for the royal family. Really interesting stuff. 

Right as I walked out of the Wax Museum, I ran into a gourmet chocolate store. Umm...yeah I went in! I got to try and few samples and I picked up a gourmet chocolate bar. It was delicious! Remember, no eating rules for this trip! 

I ended the day with an authentic French meal at a cute restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. 

I tried my very best to order pasta with alfredo sauce. When it came out it was shrimp pasta. Lost in translation. Oh well. I picked out the shrimp and enjoyed the pasta. Heck no I wasn't eating any shrimp! Eww!

After dinner, it was around 8:30 PM. So, I started walking back to the Eiffel Tower because a friend of mine told me that at night, every hour on the hour, the tower would light up with about a three minute light show! I had to see this at least once. So, I went to the middle of a nearby bridge and enjoyed the breathtaking light show! It was simply amazing! I wish I could put up these pics :( Just gonna have to wait a month til I get back to the States. 

After the light show I headed back to my hotel (again speed walking) and went to bed early. I had another big day planned for my last day in Paris. I dedicated all of Day 3 to the Chateau Versailles! But, you're just gonna have to wait to hear about that :)

Day 3 Blog coming soon!

Kayla 

P.S. This "The Office" clip seems pretty perfect for where I'm at :)

Today's Adventure!

Okay ya'll, I know I said that I would be posting my Paris Day 2 post next, but I have to share with you what my day was like today.

Today we had scheduled the second match of the Austrian League semifinal match in Innsbruck. We left Vienna at 9:00 AM this morning. We were on the road for about two hours when all of a sudden the bus pulled over to the side of the highway. Umm...what's going on? Then we all see just a crazy amount of smoke coming from the back of the bus where the engine is. Oh no. This can't be good. Turns out our bus has broke down beyond repair. So for the next hour or two we were just chillin' on the side of the highway!

My teammates (from left): Conny (Austria), Lucia (Slovakia), Jenna (Washington), Svenja (Germany), and Jelena (Bosnia)

That doesn't look good.

My teammates just chillin'! We spent about twenty minutes of this time trying to get trucks to honk at us. We were pretty successful, too! At least we saw a lot of the truckers smiling! That made me happy :)

The cops came to rescue us because the bus company basically said that they wouldn't do anything for us. What kind of bus service are you?! The nice police officer said he would take a few trips and give us all a ride to the nearest rest stop.

So, we had some fun with it.

I decided this would make for a great early April Fools trick on my parents. I think it worked on my Dad :) Just kidding daddy!

And then for some unknown reason we had to PUSH the bus a little ways. Maybe just away from the oil spill? No idea. Is this really happening?

Jenna is baffled. 

And then super pumped that we get to ride in the back of a cop car.

I'm not a fugitive I swear!

But Jelena might be...

We spent the next two or three hours at the rest stop waiting for the next bus to come get us. We ended up having to forfeit our match tonight, so officially we are 1-1 in the Austria Semifinals. Good effort, gals. Can't win 'em all ;)

Kayla

P.S. Paris Day 2 post coming tomorrow!!!!!!

P.P.S. This might just be the perfect "The Office" clip for this post. Enjoy!

Paris: Day 1

Hello all! Many of you know that I recently took a trip to Paris! I had an absolute BLAST! But, I did so much and I have so many pictures that I've decided to split it up into three blog posts, one for each day I was there. So, with that being said, here is what I did on Day 1! :)

I woke up on Tuesday, March 6th at 4:40 AM, left for the airport around 5:00 AM, and my flight left Vienna at 7:05 AM.

During the flight it kind of hit me that this was the first time I was really traveling just for leisure. And not only was it my first time doing some serious traveling for something other than volleyball, I was doing it by myself. It was exhilarating just to think about. Such an adventure! 

The plane landed in Paris around 9:15 AM. At this point, I'm having trouble concealing my excitement. We were taxiing on the runway for like ten minutes and ANY tall structure I saw I'd freak out and be like "EIFFEL TOWER"! It could've been an abnormally tall light post and I would still get excited. Then I figured out that the tower was nowhere near the airport and I felt a little silly :) Anyways, I picked up my luggage and headed to find the train that will take me into the city. 

I hopped on the train around 10:00 AM. Of course, who hopped on right behind me? An accordion player. How perfect! Being serenaded with authentic French music by a French accordionist was the perfect opening act for my trip to Paris! The magic of the city was already upon me and I had only been there about 45 minutes!

First things first, I didn't want to haul around my luggage for the rest of the day. So, I went and found my hotel. It was too early to check in, but they let me leave my luggage there until I could get my room. My hotel was about a fifteen minute walk to the Eiffel Tower and was right next to a Metro Station. Pretty perfect! So, I dropped off my luggage quick and headed back to the Metro. 

The first thing I went to see was the Arc de Triomphe! I got there around noon. This is a monument that Napoleon had built to honor all of the soldiers that fought and died in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. 

Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with the eternal flame burning next to it. It burns in memory of all the dead who were never identified. 

Inside the actual structure of the Arc, there is a small museum. Of course, I had to go inside. But, in order to get to the museum, you had to climb A LOT of steps! Let's just say I got several good workouts in while I was in Paris. 

I am here ↓

Even after you go through the museum, the tour lets you go all the way to the top of the Arc! 

Heck yes I was going to the top! And when I got there, I literally had my breath taken away! My first view of the entire city of Paris! I was awestruck!

I played around in photoshop with a few different colors :)

This was my first real view of the Eiffel Tower! Amazing! I'm absolutely inspired at this point in time!

The Arc de Triomphe sits right at the end of the Champs Elysees, one of the major shopping streets in Paris. This is also the street France's soldiers would march down to celebrate a victory! 

Got to the top. Now I have to get back down! The spiral staircases were super cool! My legs shaking from climbing so many stairs was not as cool :)

I got out of the Arc around 1:00 PM. I started walking down the Champs Elysees and did a little shopping. Not much though because I still wanted to be able to see some other sites that day. I still hadn't eaten either, so I decided to stop for lunch. Now, I know that since I've been in Austria, I've been eating the healthiest I have my entire life (see last post). But, I decided that for this trip, there would be no eating rules. Even though I gave up chocolate and candy and pop, all of that was out the window for these three days. So, where did I go for lunch? McDonald's :) This McDonald's was like a state of the art McDonald's (if that's even possible). It had an Easy Order machine. Basically you order and pay at this machine and then take your ticket to the counter and pick up your food. Brilliant!

They even had employees going through the line to take people's order! Well played, McDonald's. 

Okay after I got done eating, I decided to go back to the hotel, check in, and take a quick shower before I continued on with my day. By the time I left the hotel it was 3:30 PM. Next stop: THE EIFFEL TOWER! Since it was so close, I decided to walk there. 

Getting closer!

Finally made it! I've been looking forward to this for a very long time! 

This thing is HUGE! I mean, absolutely gargantuan! Definitely has to be one of the highlights of my trip!

And of course, I HAD to climb it. You can't come to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower and not go up! But, it was so much scarier than I thought it would be! The worst part was when I was actually climbing the stairs to the top, I could see the stairs in front of me, but because the tower is see through, to the left and right of the stairs, I could see straight down to the ground! 

Amazing. And this is only the first floor! 

So, keep climbing those steps!

Yeah, all 669 of them. 

Not only did I have shaky legs from the stairs, I had shaky legs from the height! But it was simply amazing!

The sun was just getting ready to set over Paris. And guess what, folks. We haven't even made it to the top yet!

But, I was freaking out on the second floor. So, I decided that this would be plenty high for me!

I stayed up here for about ten minutes, took in the city, took in the inspiration, and took a few pictures :)

The building with the golden dome is where Napoleon's grave is.

Okay, one more from the top...Needless to say, I got really good at taking pictures of myself :)

I pretty much ran down the steps of the tower because it was just as scary descending the steps as it was climbing them. I figured I would just get it over with.

I decided to go for a little walk around the base of the tower to see what I would find. Looky what I ran into!

Crepes was a must! Remember people! No eating rules for this trip :) Mmmmm my cinnamon and powdered sugar crepe was delicious!

By this time, it was around 5:00 PM. While I was walking I ran into the Paris aquarium. I figured why not and decided to check it out. But, it was closed. So, I looked back to my list of things I wanted to do while I was here. I decided to head to The Concierge. But, I would have to get there fast, as it would be closing soon. I didn't make it in time. But, that's okay. Lot's of time left for this trip. Near the Concierge, there was a cute little sidewalk cafe that I decided to stop at and have dinner. 

Had a cool view of the Justice Building from my table. And this was an excellent spot for some people watching! After dinner, I headed to the nearest Metro station. There were no bad parts of this trip, but the Metro system was kind of sketchy. The stations were dirty and creepy and the trains were small and always crowded. But, oh well. I dealt with it. 

For my first night in Paris, I bought myself a ticket to see "Mamma Mia!".

I was so excited for this. I headed to the theater early to make sure I could pick up my ticket and to give myself extra time to get lost on the way there. I didn't, thank God. So, I had some time there to hang out and check out the theater. Pretty cool. And I got a really good seat for the amount of money I paid. 

Yes, it was in French. But, that didn't really bother me. Of course, there were a few times where I wasn't really sure what was happening. All I have ever seen is the movie, and we all know how movies most of the time stray from the plot line a bit. But, regardless of the few times I was a bit lost, it was AWESOME! All the leads were fabulous actors and had amazing voices, and the rest of the cast was amazing, as well! I was pretty much mind blown. I wish I could have this cast on CD in English. They were great! I love musical theater!!! 

I headed back to my hotel after the show. This was kind of creepy being alone walking the streets of Paris. Needless to say, I was power walking back to my room :) I got back around 11:30 PM and after some internet surfing, I was asleep and dreaming of what Day 2 would bring me! 

Thus endeth Day 1! Day 2 blog coming soon! Sending all my love to you! <3

Kayla 

P.S. Almost forgot your "The Office" clip! Here ya go! Enjoy!