France

October 25th, 2014

France! First of all, France isn't as dirty as everyone makes it seem. I mean, yeah it's not the cleanest place on this planet, but it's also not the dirtiest. As for the smell.. It's not constant but every so often there is a pungent smell of I don't even know what. Just imagine the smell of the dirtiest public bathroom you've ever been in and multiply it by ten. 

Notre Dame

Our day started with a 2 hour train ride to Paris. The train wasn't the best experience that I've ever had, however I would choose it over flying (when it's cheaper) every single time. Once we got to the train station, that's when the fun started. Note: don't be alarmed if you see soldiers carrying huge guns walking around, apparently it's normal.We bought our 5 day travel card and tried to make our way to the hotel. If you're intimidated by the tube in London, let me tell you something: compared to the metro in France, the tube is child's play. I have never in my life witnessed so many people in such a small box. I really wish I had taken a picture of it so that I could show you. Once we made it to the street, we found our hotel and took an hour to regroup. 

Once we had freshened up and stuff, we decided we would go to the Notre Dame (the metro was less scary on the way there), it is absolutely beautiful. We didn't

Locks on the Bridge

actually go inside because there were 15 million people in front of it, and there was some kind of ritual happening. After taking some pictures we decided to walk down the road a little bit and that's when we discovered the lock bridge. It was one of the coolest things we did in Paris, being able to look at all of the locks and wonder about all the stories behind them. While we were there, a couple who had just gotten married put a lock on the bridge, and another couple asked Meighan to take a picture while they were putting their lock on. It was the cutest.

After that, we did some shopping in the little souvenir stores along the roads and found a subway. And, that's how our first day ended; sat on our bed eating subs. 

October 26th, 2014

L'Arc de Triomphe

By our second day, we had figured out the metro system, so travelling was fairly easy. We started off our day at L'Arc de Triomphe, which was absolutely beautiful (and huge). We were able to stand under the Arc, which was absolutely breathtaking. We sat down for a few minutes, just to take it all in and to pay our respects, then we were on way again.

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower. What can I say? It was a dream come true. I still cannot believe that little ol' me from little ol' Shearstown was stood underneath the Eiffel Tower. It was a very emotional moment because even though I always dreamt of it, I never imagined that it would actually happen. There were a lot of people around, so we didn't actually go up in the Eiffel Tower because we wanted to spend the day seeing the rest of Paris and not standing in a lineup. 

We went on a river cruise, which was a great way to see most of Paris. We could hop off at any port next to the major attractions,

Part of the River Cruise

so we decided to hop off at the Louvre. It was lunchtime, and we were hungry. One small problem; try finding a restaurant or a place to eat near the Louvre. There are restaurants literally everywhere, except there. There was one little café on the whole stretch, we ended up paying an arm and a leg for a meal. The Louvre, was kind of boring, not going to lie. It was cool to be there an all, but after we saw the Mona Lisa and looked around for a bit, we were more than ready to leave.

We went back to the Eiffel Tower (because why not?) and bought a crêpe. It was absolutely delicious and everything I had ever imagined. We were absolutely exhausted, so we stayed long enough to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night (omg), before heading back to our hotel.

October 27th, 2014

Selfie with the Castle

Disneyland Paris! So exciting; there are so many great things at Disney. We went to the park that's very similar to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando the first day. The first ride we went on was Space Mountain: Mission 2, it was so different from the ride in Orlando and it was absolutely amazing. There are so many different things about Disneyland Paris, such as the size of the park; both parks were separated by a five minute walk. There's also the fact that the castle in the park in Sleeping Beauty's castle, not Cinderella's. It was the most beautiful day, sunny and warm; I almost forgot that it was the end of October. We had a lot of fun, got our picture took with Mickey Mouse, even caught the end of the parade (which now features Frozen :D), but by the end of the day we were absolutely exhausted and more than happy to go

My polaroids <3

back to our hotel.

When we got back to our hotel, I FINALLY was able to download 1989. I listened to it all and absolutely died because it's perfect. Mom texted me to tell me she had bought the hard copy for me, and send me a picture of my polaroids, let's just say it was the perfect ending to a lovely day! 

October 28th

Walt Disney Studios

Day 2 of Disney. So because it was so hot the previous day and I had been so warm in my jeans, I decided to wear just a thin sweater and some leggings. BIG MISTAKE. It was absolutely freezing and misty all day. We went to Walt Disney Studios (the other park), where we got in the lineup for the Tower of Terror. After about 30 minutes, they told us the ride wasn't working and we could come back later; we we completely rotted. We were convinced that this was about to be the crappiest day ever. But thankfully it wasn't. Other than being cold, we had the most brilliant time. We were even able to get on the Tower of Terror later that day, and the coolest roller coaster ever, Crush's coaster (Finding Nemo). 

Once it started to get dark, we were getting hungry and wanted to go home. So we decided to look for something to eat. Guess what we found? McDonalds (yaaaasss). So now, I have had a Big Mac meal in five different countries. While, the Canadian Big Mac is the best, the Big Mac in France was a very close second. 

After we ate, we went back to our hotel and packed up for our early train back this morning.