Paris 2-5 Sep

After a pretty hectic last day packing my boxes and rucksack I took a night bus (and ferry) across to Paris to catch up with Christina and Juliette one last time (for now!) Was nice to go back and do some of the things that I didnt get a chance to when I was only here for the day in July

Sunday 2nd September

Arriving at 7am-ish I had enough time to find my way to Juliette´s and drop my pack off before heading back into town to meet up with Christina and Michelle for a coffee. We wandered through the markets (La Marche aux puces de la porte de Clignancourt) and up to La basilique du Sacre-Coeur to eat baguettes for lunch looking out at the view of the city from the top of this hill. We even had the chance to wander around inside the church - now Im not religious but this was a pretty amazing church inside! Really humbling and inspirational with every candle I walked past reminding me that everyone is wishing for something - a great start to my trip

Walking through Monmarte and on the Metro to Centre Pompidou

Being the first Sunday of the month all the museums in Paris were free, so we decided to go and check out Centre Pompidou - the modern art gallery. It was a piece of artwork outside (with exposed pipes on one side and a huge outdoor staircase on the other) even before we got inside!

Spent a few hours wandering around this place, pretty cool art inside (and nice views out over Paris from the top too!) A pretty interactive gallery with a great vibe, definitely worth checking out if you´re in the area and keen on modern art : )

Juliette headed off to meet some friends so Christina, Michelle and I went and did the touristy thing, bought wine (had to scrounge a bottle opener off someone), plastic cups, baguettes, cheese and tomoatoes and sat in Champ De Mars looking up at the Eiffel Tower getting more and more beautiful by the minute as it got darker all around us and we enjoyed a picnic dinner

It even sparkled for us for about ten minutes at 9pm- how romantic!

Monday 3rd September

Today, after my first lie-in in a while (so nice to sleep in a bed!) Juliette and I headed to the Lourve to check it all out, for the 9 euros entry we paid and the five hours we spent there it was most definitely worth it.

There was no way we were going to cover all the pieces in just one afternoon so instead we chose a couple that we really wanted to see and found amazing stuff along the way, here are a few of the most famous pieces, great that you can take photos (although I think its technically not allowed with the Mona Lisa... very sneaky...)

¨Mona Lisa¨ and ¨Psyche and Cupid¨ (my favourite piece)

¨The Winged Victory of Samothrance¨ and ¨Borghese Gladiator¨

¨Aphrodite¨(known as Venus de Milo) and ¨Seated Scribe¨

¨St Mary Magdalene¨(G.Erhart) and ¨Joan of Arc¨

There was even a section with art from the Americas, Africa and the Pacific (although none from Australia or NZ) these were a couple of my favourite pieces

The great thing about the Louvre was that there was so many different types of people all enjoying the amazing art together, great way to spend an afternoon!

After the Lourve it was time for some more classic french culture so we met up with a couple of Juliette´s friends for coffee and crepes - yum Baileys and Banana crepes for afternoon tea!

That night we caught up with some more friends for a birthday party. It was a great night actually hanging out with French people speaking French - I know that sounds weird after being in France for a couple of days now but with Juliette and Christina we either speak in English or Japanese, so it was just great to hang at her friends place; listen, eat, drink and chill with friends, great way to end a busy day!

Tuesday 4th September

For something completely different we headed to Disneyland Resort Paris on the Tuesday, it was perfect weather fot it (not too hot, not too cold) and we had a blast hanging out with Juliette´s brother Raphael and being little kids for the day! Yay for expired student cards that got us a 20 euro discount!!

We rode Space Mountain 4 times, saw 3D ¨Honey I shrunk the Audience¨, Star Trek Motion Master, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril and Big Thunder Mountain

And all this in the morning before checking out a 30 minute stage show of the Lion King , it was nothing compared to what I saw on the West End but pretty cool for Disneyland and something I hadn´t seen at the Tokyo one (otherwise all the rides were pretty much the same)

Because its celebrating its 15th anniversary this year we also were lucky enough to catch an amazing ¨Once upon a dream parade¨in the afternoon with the most amazing floats and costumes!

Because we had student cards we managed to get into both parks (there´s an additional small one called Disney Studio Parl) for 10 euros cheaper than just the one park pass, there weren´t a lot of rides there but we did get to do two cool ones ¨Crush´s Coaster¨based on Nemo and ¨Rock´n´Roll Coaster starring Aerosmith¨both indoor coasters and a lot of fun as bonus rides! All in all a pretty fun day out!

Wednesday 5th September

Leaving Juliette at home to study (for i-kyuu!) today I headed back into town to hit the last couple of touristy things on my list, I had seen Notre Dame before when I came for the day with Michaela to visit Adeline but this time I had a chance to go inside and up to the top!

Views out over Paris from the Chimera gallery (46m above ground) with the gargoyles. On this level we also got to climb through a small doorway like quasimodo into the South Tower Belfry with the cathedrals largest bell ¨Emmanuel¨(they´ve all been baptised) weighing 13 tons with a 500 kilo clapper!

View from the top to the West (Eiffel Tower and the Siene) and the North (Monmarte in the distance)

Views from the East (looking down the sparkling Siene - so beautiful!) and to the South (to Pantheon)

The courtyard of Hotel Dieu (the oldest hospital in Paris) If I ever get sick enough I definitely want to stay here!

From there I got a savoury crepe for lunch (chicken and cheese - yummy!) from one of the random caravan vendors and checked out the Catacombes - pretty freaky stuff! In 1785 huge hygiene problems posed by Paris´ overflowing cemeteries was solved by exuming the bones and storing them in three disused quarries. One, created in 1810 is called the Catacombes, descending 130 steps from street level I was able to walk through 1.6km of corridors stacked with the bones of millions of Parisians - very creppy but interesting!

Coming above ground again and back to life I checked out Jardin Du Luxemborg, 23 hectares of beautiful gardens was a great place to chill in the afternoon!

That afternoon I just chilled at Juliette´s place, watched part of a Japanese movie and packed getting ready to take by night train to Barcelona. I had a great time in Paris and loved staying with Juliette´s family, I saw a lot of awesome things in this four days in Paris but the best thing was just chilling at their house having dinner - merci!!