Paris is Always a Good Idea

Audrey Hepburn is a goddess. Seriously, if I could be anyone in the world, past or present, it would probably be Audrey Hepburn. She once said, "Paris is always a good idea" and after going there this weekend, I couldn't agree more. It is possibly the prettiest city I have ever been too. As far as living for any extended period of time, I think I would pick London over Paris, but Paris is such a fun place to visit.

First of all, the Eiffel Tower is even more beautiful in person than it is in pictures- even those pictures they make giant posters out of. It's especially beautiful at night and when it lights up and sparkles once an hour. I haven't yet counted, but I probably have over 50 pictures of the eiffel tower alone.

Eiffel Tower!!

At the Top

Then you have the museums! Such good art museums. Granted, I only had time to go to two but they were both incredible. We went to the louvre, which is obviously great. I got to see the Mona Lisa and the Three Graces and Napolean's apartments not to mention lots of old Egyptian art among so many other things. We also went to Musee D'Orsay, which even though small, I probably loved even more. It was lke impressionist heaven. It had works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh, etc EVERYWHERE. It was only two floors and we got there an hour before close, but if we had time I could have stayed there forever. I'm not going to pretend I know a whole lot about art but I really do enjoy it, and between visiting all these museums and my current art history class I am learning a lot more.

The Louvre

I also got to see all the big monuments of Paris that you always hear about like Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and Sacre Couer. And Moulin Rouge and Cafe des Deux Moulins (from Amelie). And Luxembourg Gardens and the grave of Oscar Wilde. Ah, so much in 3 1/2 days. It was insane. Sadly, my beautiful green boots have given in for good I think. So worth it though.

Moulin Rouge

I'm basically Amelie

And lastly, on the day I left, we went to Versailles. We toured the state apartments, the gardens, and Marie Antoinette's house. It was beautiful and sunny and warm thank goodness! Well it was warm part of the time at least.

One issue with Paris is that my French is horrible. Ok if I'm honest that's more of an issue with my rather than an issue with Paris but whatever. I mean, I took 2 semesters of French at GW and still feel like I can't even carry on a basic introductory conversation. I really should have studied up. I am studying French non-stop before I leave for the French Riviera in a week and a half. Hopefully it will all come rushing back to me.

Communication issues aside, Paris pretty much lived up to my expectations- beautiful, plenty of stuff to do, yummy food, and history everywhere you look.

PS: This was my first REAL hostel experience. And by real hostel experience I mean where you stay in a bunk room with random people you don't know. I must admit, hostels are actually great. I am a big fan- the people were nice, the place was cute, the bathroom was clean, and i you lean really far you can see the Eiffel Tower from our window.

Bienvienidos A Miami

Hey! Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. This weekend I went to Madrid not Miami so don't get confused haha, Miami was just the name of our hostel. It was actually my first trip of the semester outside the UK, the first of many.

View from hostel room balcony

Let me just say that I was so excited to go to Spain. I made the horrific decision of skipping our AP Spanish trip to Spain in high school so I could finish a yearbook deadline (per usual) and have been dying to go ever since. And honestly even though we were only there for 3 days, we covered pretty much the whole city. My now hideous feet are the proof. They are full of blisters and probably bruises from walking miles and miles each day in either 4 year old boots or cheap primarck flats, neither of which were made for walking. My post-Spain exhaustion is also proof because I think we got an average of 3 hours a sleep per night. Nonetheless, I am glad in the long run for all of that walking and lack of sleep because that will be my only time in Madrid for a long time if not ever so I wanted to experience as much as possible.

Instead of telling you every little boring detail of what I did and where I went and what I ate, I'll try and make this post a bit more interesting by giving you my overall impressions of Madrid with a few little anecdotes along the way.

(1) The weather in Madrid is far superior to the weather in London. And while the weather channel predicted rain all weekend we lucked out and had only one day of rain and the other two were beautiful and sunny and warm.

(2) Madrid has beautiful parks, which were made even more enjoyable considering impression #1

Parque de Oeste in the beautiful sunshine

(3) All wine should be made into sangria. I think Spain agrees.

MMM Sangria!!!

(4) My high school Spanish is really rusty. Trying to communicate was embarrassing. I would ask someone something then they would respond and I would have no idea what they said.

(5) The architecture is beautiful and everything is colorful.

Beautiful buildings at the Plaza de Oriente near Palacio Real

(6) The Museums are huge and while they usually cost money they also have times when they are open for free so look into it ahead of time.

Picasso at Reina Sofia

(7) Chocolate is best eaten by the spoonful.

The chocolate portion of chocolate y churros a favorite Spanish snack/dessert. Too bad I'm allergic to churros

Yep, those were my biggest takeaway points from Madrid. I am heading to Barcelona in about 2 1/2 weeks so I am excited to compare the 2 and experience even more of Spanish culture that we didn't have time for. Bull fights and flamenco dancing anyone??