I officially have one week left here in Spain. Unfortunately I also have five exams to worry about this week, but I'm not going to let that slow me down! I spent my second to last weekend in Paris. Me and Sondee flew out Friday afternoon and arrived in Paris that evening. We took a train into the city and then my friend Amanda met us and helped us find our hostel. Our hostel was....interesting. The rooms didn't come with sheets but you could pay to rent them (which we immediately did). After we found our room and dropped off our things we went to the Latin quarter to get dinner. We found a crepe/sandwich stand. I had a delicious panini and Sondee had a crepe. Then we took our dinners down to the river and sat and ate. It was a beautiful night, but much chillier than in Madrid. We walked along the river a little and then walked over to the Louvre to see it all lit up at night. Then we found the metro and went back to the hostel to get some rest. Saturday morning we got up bright and early and tried to find breakfast. Apparently our hostel didn't provide breakfast even though it advertises that it does. We walked all around but nothing was open. Apparently the French don't get up super early on Saturday mornings. We ended up eating at McDonalds which was kind of a let down. Then we found a grocery store and bought picnic supplies. We took a train to Versailles and spent all day exploring the palace and the gardens. We ate our picnic lunch (bread, wine, and cheese) in the gardens and planned to go to a garden show, but it started raining. We got pretty wet but we decided to stick it out and see the rest of the things we wanted to see. I mean, how often are you in Paris? When we had seen what we wanted to see, we took the train back into the city and headed to the Eiffel tower. We took lots of pictures and then waited in line to go up to the top. Last time I was in Paris, we didn't go up the Eiffel tower so I was really excited. It was a lot of waiting but definitely worth it. As we waited, the weather changed and the sky got nice and blue so we could see everything from the top. Then we met up with Amanda again to have some dinner and crepes for dessert. We went to a nice little restaurant for dinner and then went to Amanda's favorite crepe stand. I got a nutella crepe and it was AMAZING! Then we strolled around a bit and saw some break dancers on the street. We left Amanda and went back to the hostel to sleep. The next morning we got up super early again to get to the Louve when it opened. We found a bakery nearby and got some breakfast. It turns out the line is very short on Sunday morning so we didn't have to wait at all. We went to buy tickets and discovered that our European ID's get us in for free! We saw all the important things and then left. We had to take a bus to the airport because we were flying out of an airport that is REALLY far from the city. The bus company says to get there 3 hours before your flight so we did. We got on a bus and were on the way to the airport when the bus slowed down and then eventually stopped. It was dead. The accelerator didn't work. They sent another bus but I was slightly frantic. I had an exam today and really didn't want to be stuck in Paris. The bus came in time though and we made our flight. I was absolutely exhausted when I got home. This traveling stuff is hard work! Today I had my first exam. Now I just have to make it through 3 others and a final paper and I'm home free! I am going to try to cram as much fun and culture into this last week as possible. I'm sure it will fly by.
