The City of Love, Light, and Rain: Paris!!

PARIS! But wait… first we have to get there! And for that we had a hassle of a flight to deal with. I don’t really like thinking back on it, but basically we had to pay for an overpriced cab to get to the airport outside of Barcelona, then actually fly, then wait in an hour line to take another hour bus from the airport to the main city of Paris, then try to figure out the metro to our hostel. See here’s the thing with booking some of the cheaper flights in Europe: their airports are an hour away from the actual city they say they’re flying in and out of. So it was annoying to deal with, but patience was key. There is nothing we could do about the situation and in the end we got where we wanted to be, so that’s what is important.

What also didn’t help is it was raining when we got there. Definitely “dampened” the mood… haha

Well anyways we got there and made it to our hostel. It was very conveniently located next to the two main train stations and 10 steps away from two different metro lines. The location made our travel throughout the city really easy.

That evening Sarah and I went to Notre-Dame! Almost everyone has heard of this famous cathedral, probably in large part of the movie “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.” I feel like in every city I visit I go to a cathedral or basilica, but they’re all so different and amazing.

  What I noticed right off the bat about the inside of Notre-Dame was the darkness; it added an element of mystery to the place. But on either side of the alter were the biggest and most beautiful circular stain glass windows. I was stunned to see them after the darkness of the church; it was an amazing contrast. When I remember all of the churches I’ve seen, what comes to mind for Notre-Dame is its eerie beauty.

We wouldn’t have expected what happened next, but we were so glad we were visiting the church when we did because mass started about 20 minutes into our visit. They had at least 5 priests helping to perform the mass. There was a female singer with such a powerful voice and the organ playing in the background. We both participated and sat in the pews for mass. Again, that was a once in a lifetime experience to be a part of mass at Notre-Dame. Something I had never seen before is they took out a pillow looking object, blessed it, and lit a huge amount of incense to burn behind it. I didn’t know what that was for, but it was interesting.

After Notre-Dame we walked just a little ways to the Louvre. The outside of it was flashy with its glass pyramids. That’s me leaning up against the smaller one! And when we came out of the Louvre at night, it transformed into a whole other splendor.

  We happened to be at the Louvre on the right day because it was free for everyone under 26. Since it was later in the evening, there wasn’t much of a wait to get in, nor was it too crowded inside. I really enjoyed going through the Louvre because it had a bunch of different types of art. You would need days to see it all, but we spent a little over an hour there and got to see sculptures, tons of paintings, ancient Egyptian art, and more.

I got a picture with none other than Mona Lisa herself!! A couple of others that are recognizable are the Venus de Milo (Aphrodite) and The Wedding Feast at Cana. The other is a cool Egyptian one I decided to throw in the mix as well!

When I had my fill of art, we walked outside to catch a metro back to our hostel. "The city of Love" is one of Paris' nicknames and we were about to see just one of the reasons why. We walked past Pont de l'Archeveche, in English meaning the Love Lock Bridge. It had thousands of locks on it. Some were just simple with initials, but others had little inscriptions of dates and full names. It was really cute. I found a lock with an A and L inside of a heart and it definitely made me miss my boyfriend, Alex, a lot more than I already do.

 

It was a long day with traveling, so we didn’t go out at night. We stayed at our hostel and they had a live music performance in the dining area. I got a nice juicy cheeseburger and just chilled out that night because we were getting up early in the morning.

Day 9:

Yet another day of rain… but oh well we weren’t going to let it stop us. We went to the Palace of Versailles!! I remember learning about it in history class growing up, so it was crazy we got to go there!

If you enter into the gardens of Versailles before 9am, then you can stay as long as you want inside for free. After 9am, well then you have to pay. We got there at 8:55 so perfect timing!! Even though it was raining, we did walk around for an hour to at least see the gardens.

I had my rain jacket on and Sarah had her umbrella, so we made the most of it! I kept laughing to myself because of how hard it was raining and we kept trekking on!

After a while it was time to get out of the rain and see the inside of the palace! The line was long. But Sarah and I were smart. I waited in the line to actually get inside the palace while she waited in line to buy the tickets for it. This cut our waiting time down by half so by the time I she had bought the tickets, I was almost at the front of the line and we were able to go right in!

We walked around with an audio guide to hear the history of the rooms we went into. It was nice doing it that way instead of trying to find signs to read because it was really crowded.

The palace is huge inside, and even the small portions we got to see (relative to the whole of the palace) took us a couple hours to walk through. And gosh it was gorgeous and so extravagant on the inside. Living up to its full potential, my favorite part was the famous Hall of Mirrors. From where I was standing, on my right were huge windows letting the light in. On my left, the other side had the same shape and sizes of the windows but were mirrors! Mirrors were hard to obtain at the time, but apparently Louis XIV had to have this luxury to be able to look at his own reflection. Talk about egotistic... anyways it was beautiful. There are paintings all along the ceilings with gold outlining the details of the frames and windows. The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were flawless and magnificent. It left me in awe.

Some other highlights were the King and Queen’s bedchambers. I found the sharp contrast between the two to be very interesting. The King’s is red and powerful while the Queen’s is soft and feminine.

We got to go through a bunch of other rooms, like the church inside the palace, the kids’ rooms, billiard/hangout rooms, dining area, and the peace room for negotiations. I just took my time taking it all in. I don’t know how we kept lucking out, but the weekend we were at Versailles also happened to be the time a section of the palace was open that is only open once a year! It was the biggest section in the History Galleries of Versailles called the Battles Gallery.

So let me explain what these paintings on the wall are. First one, “Napoleon Conquering (a country)”. Next one, “Napoleon Conquering (another country).” And the following one “Napoleon Conquering (yet another country).” I kid you not, there were hundreds of huge paintings (their sizes so large that just one painting would take up two walls in my bedroom) of Napoleon Conquering and making deals with other countries. And not to leave out the other kings and generals, there were quite a few of other people as well. But they were few and far between the Napoleon pictures. And if the paintings weren’t enough, there were also statues and paintings of just him.

 

It definitely made me laugh a little how he was everywhere, but I also understand how much he did conquer and make deals with a lot of countries. I forgot to mention, there was also a picture of the Victory of Yorktown since the French aided us in the American Revolution.

I’m so glad we got to see Versailles. It is about 45 minutes outside of the main city, but I loved it. It’s wild to me to imagine what life must have been like for the few privileged that got to live there. When I was in the Hall of Mirrors, I imagined it coming to life with beautiful ball gowns and dancing and parties. Must have been spectacular!

After the Palace of Versailles came the single handedly the most stressful part of our trip. We had noticed the night before that woah wait a second, the train tickets we had for our Sunday train home were for the wrong day… Monday. We had booked them weeks ago through the teller at the train station in Switzerland, but she gave us the wrong date. That was not going to work since we had finance at 9am on Monday. So we had looked up train tickets beforehand and found a few we thought would work for us to get home.

Well after waiting in line for 40 minutes, we get to the front and found out there were no reservations that would work with the eurorail passes we have. And the teller here looked for at least half an hour trying to find something for us. She said we could get a train ticket, but would have to pay full price since the trains weren’t compatible with our eurorail pass. The price of these tickets were a measly 125 euros… almost $200 US. I wanted to cry and honestly almost did. She looked at other routes that were affordable but we’d have to stay overnight and catch the train the following morning, which again wouldn’t work for us. She could see the desperation in our faces, and I could tell she felt bad. It was also more challenging with the language barrier. Finally… she found a route that would work for us. It was going to be a 11hour train ride, changing 4 times, but at least we were going to make it back to Riva by midnight.

I almost was going to pay that $200. I’m so glad it worked out for us though and the reservations for our route were only $2 with our eurorail pass. I guess I learned a lot about trying to handle my stress and triple checking our train reservations from now on. I was so relieved.

So with our emotions all over the place, we decided to treat ourselves before going to the Eiffel tower. We got delicious and warm banana Nutella crepes!! Just look at the wonderfulness of it!

 

Haha I had it all over my face and on my nose. There was a local a few feet away from me laughing at me and pointed on his own face to indicate where I had chocolate on mine. It was definitely a good way to lighten up the mood.

 

It was still raining… :/ but this did have an advantage for us! It meant there was literally no line to get into the Eiffel Tower! Instead of taking the elevator up to the top, I had wanted to walk the stairs. Just made it more real to me. The stairs go up very high as well to the second platform and apparently the view from the second platform and top are almost identical.

Even though my feet were soaked, I enjoyed the climb to the top. There were stops along the way with tid bits of history and the planning/designing of the Eiffel Tower. Sarah and I reached the first platform and hung out there for a bit before finishing our ascent. 

Not sure how many stairs I climbed but we made it to the top (of the 2nd platform!) 

This picture shows how close I got to the tippy top! I hung out there for a while, going to each of the four sides of the tower and soaking it in. From up there I could see Notre-Dame, Arc de Triomphe, the Seine River, and a lot of the other big landmarks. Even though it was a rainy day, the visibility was still pretty clear thankfully :) It was a great way to see a panoramic view of the city!

When I think of Paris, I think of the Eiffel Tower. It is one of the most, if not the most iconic sights in the city. I just couldn't believe I got a chance to be up there. It was incredible.

As we were leaving the Eiffel Tower, something magical happened. Once it's dark out, the Eiffel Tower is lit up and every hour on the hour for 10 minutes the tower twinkles. Just thousands of little lights on the tower flash on and off, creating the most majestic scene. It felt so unreal, like I was in a dream. 

At this point we were ready to go back to our hostel. After braving the day in the rain, I was ready for a nice, warm shower and a good dinner. I had a filling chicken wrap and again there was a band playing live music in our hostel. So another chill night, but we were so tired from the day.

Day 10:

Our final day!! And although we did have a long train ride ahead of us, we weren’t leaving until 1:15 in the afternoon. We wanted to take advantage of the morning because this was the only day we had in Paris that had plenty of sunshine and warmth. Oh it changed the whole atmosphere of it without the rain. I feel like it was God saying I know the train situation was stressful and it was raining before, but everything is okay now.

We went to see the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the famous Champs-Élysées street to get to the tuileries garden. It was the perfect morning activity. Walking down Champs-Élysées we passed by really high-end stores like Louis Vuiton (and they had golden dinosaurs in their display windows), Tiffany Co, and a bunch of others.

 

When we arrived at the tuileries, there were peaceful gardens and fountains. Notice in the picture the bright, amazing sunshine! Another nickname for Paris is the City of Light and although the sun isn't the reason that nickname was started, it was the light at the end of the tunnel.

I went and sat by one of these fountains for a solid amount of time, reflecting on everything. Not just about the trip, but myself, my family, and those back home important to me. It’s hard being away from everyone and I do miss them a lot. But I learned so much about myself during this trip. I can feel myself gaining confidence in my abilities and gaining independence. I realize more and more my time here in Europe isn’t just about the amazing places I get to see.

Paris specifically had its ups and downs, but by far the ups out weighed the downs :) The city is beautiful (especially with sunshine haha!) I was very glad we went to it and made the most of our trip. Even being there only a few days we saw a lot of it.

Thinking back throughout the whole 10 day trip, there were some different traveling styles to think about. I had to learn the perfect balance between going out vs. staying in for the night. Seeing a bunch of sights vs. relaxing and taking in the city. I definitely prefer taking my time seeing 2 or 3 sights in a day rather than rushing around to see 5 sights in a day. I really had a great time, and saw places I never dreamed I'd get to see growing up. 

And as a side note, that 11 hour train ride really wasn't bad at all. I was asleep for at least 5 hours of it, so really it only seemed like a normal train we take on weekends. It all worked out.

Barcelona, Spain... or is it Catalonia?

Day 5 (continued):

Our train ride to Barcelona was a quick 3 hour ride because we took one of the fast trains that could go up to 186 mph! And it was actually quite interesting ride as well. Sarah accidently dropped my sunglasses on me while she was shuffling luggage around and I was sound asleep. I startled awake and apparently had the most terrifying look on my face and was asking so seriously if we passed our train stop, what was going on, was I okay, etc all rapid fire style. Everyone was so confused and got scared because of my reaction. Afterwards they said it was one of the biggest overreactions they had ever seen haha.

Then something even weirder happened. Sarah went to the bathroom and came back out with a mixture of concern and laughter… but she was making a scene she was being so loud! Her first words “The toilet exploded on me!” and oh man it did! The blue liquid inside of the toilet was all over her legs, destroyed her shoes, and was all over the floor and toilet seat in the bathroom. And she tried to get it off, but it was essentially died into her skin for a day or so. Never seen anything like that happen before, it was so funny I was crying and she laughed it off too!

We arrived in Barcelona around 9 that night and went straight to our hostel to check in. We got in, dropped our luggage off, had a quick bite to eat, and then passed out. An early night with relaxation was what our bodies really needed.

Day 6:

 This day was very interesting. It was our first full day in Barcelona and it was raining for most of the morning and into part of the afternoon :/ Also, something we had not planned is we happened to be there on the day of La Independenzia de Catolina, which is a holiday in Barcelona and throughout Catolina (I’ll explain it in just a bit.)

So since it was a big holiday that meant every store was closed. We walked around for most of that morning, but it was hard to find stuff to do. It was a little offsetting, but nothing we could do about it.

 But… this day happened to be the best possible day to be in Barcelona! September 11^th has a whole different meaning here, it is la Diada Nacional de Cataluña .We heard there was a big “political rally” as it was translated to us, so we headed towards the main square called Plaça de Cataluña to check it out. 

There started out being a only handful of people around so we stood in the middle of it waiting for whatever was supposed to happen. Within a half our or so, it got more and more crowded, until it was packed with people all wearing the Catalan flag on their backs like a cape. And we found our selves right in the middle of it… literally right in the middle.

 

I had at the time mistakenly thought it was going to be much like a 4^th of July celebration in USA because everyone was talking about la Independencia de Cataluña and screaming chants of it… expect here in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, they were still fighting for their independence from Spain. They do not consider themselves part of Spain. They consider themselves Catalans and have been fighting for their own nation for decades. They speak their own language, have their own culture, have their own history and traditions.

A choir of students and instruments proudly blared their national anthem as everyone held up their flags. At one point during the demonstration, a recorded video of the speech by Pablo Casals called "I am a Catalan" played. When it did, I looked up and saw people around me getting emotional and crying. It made me get emotional to see the passion everyone had. I imagined this video being played to young children throughout their school years and every year at these political rallies. I was so moved. (And to anyone reading my blog, I highly recommend watching this video online. So much can be learned from just this one speech.)

It was one of those rare once and a lifetime experiences. I’ve been to plenty of Virginia Tech football games and felt a part of the immense amount of pride we have, but this was nothing like it. I have never seen a group of people have that much pride in their homeland and striving for that big of collective a goal. The hundreds of thousands people of Catalonia joined hands to form a human chain 250 miles long, from the border of neighboring France to the region of Valencia. It is their call for Madrid to recognize Catalan Independence.

Even though at the time I didn’t understand all that was going on, I could not have been more grateful to be apart of it. They fight peacefully in their struggle for independence. I hope as more people learn about their situation and pressure continues to be put on Spain, that Catalonia will find itself to be an independent nation.

After the main demonstrations, we left the area to see a bit more of the city. What was awesome about the day is there were live concerts all around the city since it was a special day! Jenny and I stopped by one of them for a bit, then took a walk to Barcelona’s most famous central park called Parc de la Ciutadella. There was a section with a lake people were boating in and also a beautiful, elaborate cascade fountain we spent some time at. 

We all met up later and had dinner together. The place we went happened to have cheap dinner deals only for Wednesday nights! Again we lucked out! I got three yummy little sandwiches (part of their tapas menu!) and a big glass of sangria.

Our hostel had a pub crawl set up for those who stayed there and we decided to go out with them! It’s just easier than trying to figure out what to do at night in a city we don’t know. Our first stop was a bar called The Black Sheep and then to a club called Razzmatazz. It definitely was a crazy, fun night and we all had a good time!

Day 7:

Today we had two main sites we wanted to see: La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell. First we traveled by metro to La Sagrada Familia. Boy, it was a long wait to get in. But we took turns grabbing lunch at a shop nearby, so the wait really wasn’t too bad. And it was definitely worth it. 

Officially a basilica, the church has been under construction for more than 130 years. It began in 1882 and the expected completion date isn’t until 2041. The church was Antoní Gaudí’s project; meaning extravagant and colorful designs would be throughout the whole church.

Just trying to fit the outside of the church in a picture was a struggle… it was huge and intimidating. By far the biggest one we’ve seen. And the construction going on in the background is pretty evident in my pictures.

  

  

Once we got inside, it was breathtaking. I was truly in a place of beauty. Expansive, high ceilings with columns were staggered all throughout the inside. Gaudí made sure when he was designing to have plenty of windows for light and color. The stain glass was so artistically and masterfully blended from color to color. What I thought was interesting about this church was evident symmetry with the column structures and window spaces, but none of them were mirror copies with the other side. So looking at two windows directly across from each other, the stained glass might be fadings of red, orange, and yellow on one side, while the other side was green, blue, and purple. And the glass didn’t form any pictures, just beautiful colors. We easily spent an hour or two in there, and my neck started hurting from looking up at the columns, ceilings, and high windows haha.

Afterwards, we went to Park Güell! Another famous design of Gaudí, this park had so many different and wonderful elements to it. We walked through paths and different plant life; it was very relaxing.  

Our first stop was to the top of all the paths in order to reach a beautiful overlook of the city. I sat there for a while just looking out at it all.

 

We then walked to the bottom of a park… and I felt like I had entered candy land. There were buildings with some of the weirdest structures and bright tiles on them and the pathways. It was so bizarre haha but really cool at the same time!

We had wanted to go to the beach after Park Güell, but unfortunately we had run out of time… so what did we do with the time we had?! Got churros and chocolate!!!! Oh my gosh, they were so divine. Melt in your mouth perfection!

 

Before going back to our hostel, Sarah and I did some shopping along the famous Las Ramblas! Full of people and noise, this day was so much livelier than the day before and we both got a few things :)

We went back to our hostel then to get ready for the night. Our first stop of the night was the Magic Fountain Show!! I had looked up earlier what to do in Barcelona and online it said the Magic Fountains was a must see. Luckily we were there on a Thursday night so we could see them!

They were much like the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas as far as timing the fountains with music, but was different is this show included colors. They had showings every half an hour that were basically back to back. The one we saw all of was with pop American music, so it was awesome we could sing along and were really into it! We caught a little bit of the next showing as well, and it was some classic oldies music from America!

 

We had wanted to go to a Flamenco show that night as well, but it just didn’t work out for us… but we did have some great plans for the night. We met up with our whole group again from Riva!! There were about 20 of us that all got to meet up in Barcelona for the night! We went to this bar called Il Gatto Nero (The Black Cat... it had pictures of cats all throughout the inside.) Something that sets this bar apart from others, it has over 200 different shots! It was funny to look on the wall and read some of their names, like Finding Nemo, Osama Bin Laden, and so many other random titles. That was again a really fun night because we were all together and were able to tell one another about our travels thus far! 

Barcelona was a very eye opening experience. I learned so much about the city and its culture, things I had never even heard about before. The sights we saw were amazing and overall I really enjoyed my time here! It is an overwhelming big city, but we saw what we could and had a fun time :)