Hungry? part 1. City of Love

Remember when you were a kid and trying on your mom's dresses wondering what it would be like to be big enough to actually fit in them? Sometimes life feels like that.

Anyway, I'm surrounded by humans who do incredible things, one of them being my sister. She's kind of a big deal. Once upon a time she was doing what most humans do, having a normal person job when she just decided to up and live her dream. She moved to Europe, got recruited by a professional volleyball team in Hungary, and soon became one of the best volleyball players (the best in my opinion, but I've got a bias), on one of the best teams in Eastern Europe.

I'm really proud of her but I miss her a ton, and because they're kind of intense over there, they didn't give her enough time off to come home for Christmas. But, as part of her contract, they agreed to fly someone out for her, and as her significant other, the honor went to me. It was kind of crazy, one of the coolest things I've ever done, so here's my story:

 1. France

I was slightly worried about traveling to Hungary all on my own.... Last time Sarah came home she ended up with like 7 different layovers including a 12 hour layover in somewhere like Qatar (not that that would be a bad thing, but I have an aptitude for going into paroxysms when I'm in a strange place for long periods of time by myself). Anyway I was excited when I found out that my flight only had one layover. In Paris! It was perfect. I had 9 hours there from about 11am to 8pm, which would be just enough time to see the city. 

This was my first view of Paris. Grey skies, train tracks and those glorious rustic apartment buildings. It felt like Europe.

I took the train to the Notre Dame cathedral. It was beautiful, and tourist-filled . 

It was so strange, wandering around the streets in Paris. I guess my whole life I've imagined that someday I would go there (although I didn't officially add it to my bucket list until after I left), but I never imagined that I would experience it so quietly and on my own.

This is the store we used to shop in on my mission in Belgium. I was so happy to see it, I walked in and looked around just for old time's sake.

Just another gorgeous street corner church/castle thing. Why is there so much rich cultural beauty everywhere?

I'm pretty sure this also has some great significance, but there weren't as many tourists around, so it's probably less famous than the other buildings. I should have tried harder to learn about these sites. I'm guessing there was a princess who wanted to live next to the canal, so she built this castle:)

I thought this monument thing was really neat. It has like sphinx things on the bottom and an angel thing on the top.  There were a lot of people asking for money and spare change, and I was pretty tired from not sleeping much on the flight, so I'm pretty sure I gave away more euros than I planned.

See the Eiffel tower there in the distance? There was a train you could take from the Notre Dame cathedral to the Eiffel tower, but I had so much time on my hands, I thought it might be nice just to walk. I didn't realize how incredibly big it is and thus, what a long walk I had in front of me. 

I almost bought this useless door hangar thing just because it said our name on it. In Belgium they always asked if I was French. It was pretty interesting though, because on this street almost every store I passed was some kind of plant store or a pet or pet grooming store. I guess they're pretty fond of their pets.

I went inside this church. I think it's called the Saint Germain L'auxerrois. It's impressive to me, seeing these huge beautiful structures made to honor God that now stand so empty and solemn.

I guess this is how they decorate Christmas trees in Paris, with huge bows and ornaments. It seemed a little tacky, but had a lot of character.

This is my panorama of the inside of this famous palace. 

The Louvre. I thought about paying to go in, but I was so excited about getting to the Eiffel tower that I decided to move on.

King Louis XIV had a really nice horse.

The Triumphal Arch.

I sat next to a French guy on the plane who told me that the best place to get a croissant was PAUL. I think he was right because never have I enjoyed a croissant more than this one I ate outside the Louvre.

Next time I go to Paris I will ride on this Ferris wheel.

I think this sign means "no people with one leg shorter than the other".

A cool government building. By this time, I couldn't really see the Eiffel tower and I hoped it wasn't too far.

Not sure, but I think this is where they held the climate change meetings. It's cool because a bunch of my friends were sending around a petition to be read here. And then I was here!

This wall right around the corner was covered in green stuff--mosses, ivy of some sort. I'll have to take another plant class to know for sure.

My first view of the Eiffel tower.

Made It!!!

It's pretty incredibly huge. Bigger than it looks in this picture even.

Looking Up...

Looking out over Paris. There was a whole party going on in the upper level. They even had ice skating. How fun would that be? Ice skating on the Eiffel tower.

This is my friend Christian. I don't always take churros from strangers, but sometimes when I'm really hungry and haven't spoken to another human the whole day I give in. We climbed up the tower together. Turns out he's a swing dancer from Georgia, USA, and we ended up in the same place in line.

I feel like you shouldn't go to Paris without having some sort of crepe, but I was pretty hungry so I ordered this galette with goat cheese, bacon, spinach and apples. mmmm good.

So, I accidentally got on the wrong train back to the airport (some miscommunication with a French man), but fortunately, the flight to Hungary was late. I didn't know how I would find Sarah but she was there waiting for me at the airport:) Awesome