June 13th-17th: Paris, France

We stayed in a rickety hotel in Montmartre, complete with stains on the carpets, uneven floorboards, and cracked porcelain on the communal toilet. The location was great, however. Montmartre is a zesty neighborhood with lots of cafes, bars and restaurants to choose from. We of course saw most of the main tourist sites: the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Basilique de Sacre Coeur, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, the Notre Dame cathedral, the Moulin Rouge, Luxembourg Park, and Versailles.

The best decision we made in Paris was made on our first day. We took a trek up to the Basilique de Sacre Coeur and found ourselves surrounded by a group of men from Senegal and other African countries. One in particular approached me, and another approached Jeff. They began making small talk, and asked us to hold out fingers. They tied embroidery string to them and began making bracelets, continuing to make conversation with us. We had told them from the beginning that we had no money to give away and they said that it was no problem. But of course, at the end of making the bracelets and trying them to our wrists, they asked for a small donation. They were actually pretty cool bracelets and nice people so we gave them a couple euro. They pressed us for a bit more, but we honestly didn’t have any more coins, so they were content. Later on in the day, and every day after that when we passed through the area below the Basilique (as well as many other various areas around Paris), we had a “free pass”, and the men would thank us for supporting Africa, tell us that they liked the United States, and tell us to have a great day and to take it easy. Oh, and also for Jeff to not let me out of his sight.


The location where we got our bracelets

On our busiest day, we went down to the Eiffel Tower, picked up some quiches and other bakery things, and had a picnic on the lawn in front of the monument. We decided to go up the tower later on that night so we could get a sparkly nighttime view of the city. We continued on to see the Arc de Triomphe and cruised down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre. We saw as much of what the museum had to offer as we could, until our feet were dragging. We ran off to dinner in the student part of town and had the worst waiter you could ever imagine. He blatantly ignored us about four times while he passed our table, assisting other patrons. And because of him, we were late getting to the Eiffel Tower and missed their last time slot to ascend to the top. Grrr.











Versailles was amazing and is impossible to describe. Every room is a feast for the eyes. The palace exemplifies opulence. Furthermore, the gardens are so extensive that they rent golf carts to get around. Sadly, we weren’t able to make it to Marie Antoinette’s personal cottage before its closing time. We did, however, enjoy an ice cream on the bank of the main man-made lake. Absolutely beautiful.


Tradition mixing with innovation