Weekend in Paris

This weekend I visited my friend Alex in Paris! I may have taken too many pictures of the Eiffel Tower though...lol. I can’t help that it is always the first thing I think of when I think of Paris, and the weather was great for taking pictures! 

Friday, I took two trains to Paris from Roanne. I took a 45 minute train to Vichy, then from there I took a 3 hour train to Paris. I got assigned a window seat so I was pretty happy! During the long train ride, a man even came through with a snack and drink cart; I felt as if I was on an airplane. 

Pretty sky on the way to Paris

I arrived in Paris in the evening, and my friend Alex met me at the station. We walked around Paris some and then went to eat dinner. The restaurant was on a hill, so there was a pretty good view of the city from there. The restaurant was really nice, and what was interesting was that there were not any paper menus. Alex told me that this restaurant changes their menu practically daily based on what they buy, therefore, they just write it on a huge chalk board so they can easily change it. For dinner, I had chicken stuffed with mushrooms and mashed potatoes. For dessert, I had cheesecake.

Yummy chicken stuffed with mushrooms and mashed potatoes

After dinner, we walked around some more and I saw Notre Dame!

Notre Dame

On Saturday, we walked a lot around Paris. Alex showed me his university. Next, we walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg and the Jardin de Tuileries. 

Jardin de Luxembourg

Jardin de Tuileries- There are a few palm trees

Then, we walked up to the Eiffel Tower. The sky was really clear and the sun was really bright, so I got some interesting photos. Get ready to see a little Eiffel Tower photo shoot haha.

After seeing the Eiffel Tower, we explored the Christmas Markets in the area. As we were walking around the market, and guess who we ran into?! French Santa! So, I got a picture with him of course ;). 

Hangin' with French Santa in Paris!

Next, we went by some huge stores in Paris (Galeries Lafayette and Printemps) to see their Christmas window displays. Each year, the stores create displays that have moving animal puppets! The displays are probably geared toward children, but I think adults can appreciate them as well! I sure did!

Random kid who looked at me as I took a picture instead of looking at her mom haha

Moving puppet teddy bear display

Then, we decided to enter the Galeries Lafayette which is a huge 7 story shop! There were really nice decorations inside, and there were so many people shopping. 

Galeries Lafayette

We went up all the way to the 7th floor which is a rooftop terrace. There was a nice view of Paris from there!

Lovely Paris

After we finally got out of the store, we made our way to Montmartre, where we saw Sacré Coeur and walked through a Christmas Market. We had some Vin Chaud (hot wine) and enjoyed the lights and atmosphere. There were artists drawing people, and  there were people just taking in the sights by taking endless photos. 

Sacré Coeur

Montmartre

Later, we went to meet up with two international friends, Sven and Alex, who we met at UGA. It was nice to catch up and enjoy a meal together. After dinner, we walked the Champs Élysées which is probably the most famous road in Paris. The entire road was lined with lights and there was a huge Christmas Market along the road as well. We also watched some street dancers break dance!

Some lights on the Champs Élysées

At the end of the road, we reached the Arc de Triumph. It was nice to see it at night.

Arc de Triumph

On Sunday, we went to Versailles! It was my first time there so I was excited! Also, I spoke French with Alex the whole time I was there, which was great practice for me. I found that Versailles was very pretty. There was so much gold. The hall of mirrors was really cool as well. 

Versailles

Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors)

After the visit of the inside, we walked around the gardens. The gardens were nice, but unfortunately, some parts of the gardens were closed. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed seeing the gardens, but I bet they are even prettier in the spring/summer time. 

Gardens in Versailles

Once we saw all there was to see at Versailles, we went to Paris for lunch. I had salmon and rice which was really good. I also had these cream puffs (choux maison) which were good as well. They weren’t as sweet as I was expecting, but they were still yummy. 

Here I am with my dessert! yum!

After a nice lunch, we decided to go back to the Eiffel Tower! We waited about 45 minutes in line before we got to take the elevator to the top. It seems to always be crowded at the Eiffel Tower. Once at the second level, we had a good view of the city!

Alex and I on the second level of the Eiffel Tower

We also took the next elevator to the top level, and the view was nice as well. It was very windy and cold up there though, so we didn’t stay on that level too long.

View of Paris from the top

Tribute to the life of Nelson Mandela

After the Eiffel Tower visit, we went home and had some dinner. We had a quiche with some salad. Afterwards, I got to practice some more french with Alex’s family which was nice. 

On Monday morning, I took two trains back to Roanne. I thought that my ride would be a lot shorter on the way back, but I was wrong. It all started off well though. This time, I took the TGV from Paris to Lyon, which was only about 2 hours. This train ride went pretty fast, there was also a bar on this train which was interesting. I got off at Lyon quickly because I only had 15 minutes to change trains. Usually, I can quickly find my train and the correct platform. This time, my train was nowhere on the train departure schedule...I was really confused. I decided to go ask the information desk, and they told me that the next train to Roanne would be in 2 hours... At first, I had no idea what I was going to do for 2 hours, but then I quickly realized that the huge mall (La Part Dieu) is right across from the station! So, I ended up having a nice time touring the mall (it was my first time there) and checking out the Christmas Decorations. I also got some Christmas shopping done for my family which was great! This train delay turned out to be a good thing after all! :)

Inside La Part Dieu

Finally, at around 4pm, I made it back to Roanne! This particular train from Lyon seemed to have a lot more stops than usual so it took about an hour and 35 minutes. Currently, I am pretty exhausted, but I had a great weekend in Paris thanks to Alex and his family!

On to my last week of work before two weeks of vacation,

Magdalena