My First Visitors in Rome!

The day after I left Paris, Mr. Arthur, Morgan, and Abby came to Rome! Morgan's aunt lives in Rome so they stayed at her flat while they were here. She lives on the fifth floor of a building on the other side of the Vatican and her flat is amazing! It's even more spacious than the Arthur's flat in Paris and it had phenomenal views!! I wish I could have lived there for the semester! This is the view of Castel Sant'Angelo from her balcony:

Mr. Arthur, Morgan, and Abby were only in Rome for two days but while they were here, I showed them as much of Rome as I could (when I wasn't in class of course)! I took them to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Gianicolo, and my favorite panini place!

After a long day of sightseeing, my roommate Rachel and I took them out to Scholars, an Irish pub here in Rome! 

Left to right: Me, Rachel, Morgan, Abby

Castel Sant'Angelo in the background!

I was sad to see Morgan go but it was great spending time with her in both Paris and Rome! I also loved acting like a tour guide and showing them the highlights of the eternal city, which I am more than happy to call home for the semester. I can't wait until my other friends who are studying in Europe come to visit!

Parisian Nightlife

Aside from seeing all the famous and beautiful sights in Paris, I also got the chance to experience the nightlife! As I'm sure you can imagine, Paris by night is very different from Paris during the day. If it hadn't been for the Arthur's family friend Rawaa, who lives in Paris, the nightlife scene would have been extremely overwhelming but she took us out and showed us where to go!

Left to right: Chad, Abby, Me, Morgan, Rawaa

Kong!

The best and most expensive tequila shot I have ever had...when in Paris!

My first night out in Paris was a blast! Rawaa was so fun to hang out with and it turned out we had a lot in common! She is also one of the most impressive 25-year olds I have ever met; she already has a Masters degree, is almost done with her PhD in Economics, and is also simultaneously getting a second bachelor's degree from the London School of Economics while living in Paris. When she nonchalantly told us that, I was at a loss for words! I was also impressed because she took time out of her busy schedule to take us out not only one, but two nights! 

 The girls at Le Magnifique! Poor Chad was stuck taking all the pictures...

After going to Le Magnifique, a chill cocktail bar with tables and music, we decided to go to a club so we could dance and experience a different side of Parisian nightlife. Rawaa had never been to VIP Room because it is very elite and very difficult to get into but we figured we would give it a try. We got to the entrance of the club and two old, unattractive bouncers stared us up and down for about 30 seconds each before giving us the okay to go inside. Never have I ever felt so violated and honored at the same time...we laughed about it for a while when we went inside and then enjoyed the rest of our night feeling rather good about ourselves!

VIP Room! The theme of the club was winter/ski resort!

The only club I had been to before this one was a club in Rome the week before and the club in Rome was nothing like this...it was much more mellow. At different points throughout the night, snow, confetti, and balloons all fell from the ceiling. It was absolutely insane but so much fun!

Rawaa and I dancing on the spin platform in the middle of the dance floor!

I absolutely fell in love with the City of Lights and I definitely want to go back this semester! I had a great time and it was so nice to see Morgan and to be in Paris with the Arthurs, who know the city so well! I definitely would not have had the same experiences if I had gone on my own!

Morgan and I on the balcony before I left!

Morgan, Abby, and Mr. Arthur ended up coming to Rome after I left Paris so I was able to spend even more time with them and show them a bit of Rome after they showed me so much of Paris! I'll post about it soon! But until then...

Au Revoir!

C'est la vie in Paris: Part Deux

After visiting the coolest department store I have ever seen, we walked over to the Palais Garner. The Opera House was built in 1875 and is one of the most famous opera houses in the world. The opera house was the inspiration and setting of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera! It was absolutely beautiful! I would have loved to see an actual opera there!

After stopping at the Opera House, we made our way to the Louvre. Words cannot express how excited I was; all I could think about on the way there was that I was finally going to see one of the most famous museums in the world! Aside from the enormous collection of famous artwork inside, the Louvre Palace itself is a work of art.

The Palace began as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II and it was extended multiple times to form the present palace. The Palace opened as a museum in 1793 after the National Assembly decided that the nation's masterpieces should be displayed for all to see. When the museum first opened, it only had 573 pieces and now, it has over 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art at any given time. I only saw a tiny fraction of the works of art in the few hours that I was there but I could honestly spend a week there; each collection was so impressive! Here are a few of my favorite masterpieces that I saw:

Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa! Obviously.

Napoleon III's apartments!

Venus de Milo

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Michelangelo's Captive

Canova's Amor and Psyche

I absolutely loved the Louvre and I wish I could have spent more time there!

The next day we went back to the Eiffel Tower to see it during the day. The Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889 as the entrance arc to the 1889 World's Fair and has since become a global cultural icon of France as well as one of the most recognizable icons in the world. It is 1,050 feet tall and gets on average 7 million visitors each year! 

In the area surrounding the Eiffel Tower, people were handing out free roses to promote world peace and to bring people together! They each had a note attached to them which read:

I am not sure how these people were managing to give out hundreds of roses for free but it created such a uplifting and feel-good atmosphere in the crowds of people near the Eiffel Tower. It's amazing what one small gesture such as a rose can have on a group of people and I am so glad that I got to witness it! 

We each got a rose!

After going to the Eiffel Tower and strolling down the Champs de Elysees again, we went to the Arc de Triomphe, one of the most famous monuments in Paris that stands in the center of the Place Charles de Gaulle. It honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolution. 

And of course a trip to Paris wouldn't be complete without a picture of me in a beret...

I think I can totally pull it off ;)

To be continued...

C'est la vie in Paris: Part Un

This post is long overdue seeing as I went to Paris three weeks ago...but I finally have some down time to write about and catch up on all of my adventures!

I experienced a bit of culture shock when I first arrived in Paris. Since I understand and can speak Italian, I am used to being able to communicate with people here but since I do not understand French and can only speak a few words of it, Paris was extremely overwhelming at first. However, I quickly adjusted, bought a ticket for the metro, and made my way into central Paris. My friend Morgan was visiting Paris with her friend Abby during their mid-year break from Princeton and Morgan's parents, who live in Paris, graciously hosted me along with Morgan's brother's friend Chad, who had traveled to Germany the previous week for work.

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, my wonderful hosts!

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur's flat was amazing; I felt like I was staying in a five star hotel. It was located on the fifth floor of a corner building overlooking a large and grand intersection. The flat was extremely spacious and it had a balcony that wrapped around the entire flat with views of Paris in every direction, including a view of the famous Saint Augustin Church.

The view from the balcony!

Saint Augustin Church

Part of the balcony surrounding the flat (it had three sides)!

Aside from the culture and the language, Paris is very different than Rome. Instead of having numerous small, narrow streets, Paris has large, grand boulevards that were built when Georges-Eugene Haussmann redesigned Paris in the 1860s. The boulevards lead to each of the major sites in Paris and they all come together in Place de la Concorde, the largest and most impressive piazza in all of Paris. One of the most famous boulevards in Paris is the Champs Des Elysees, which has all the high-end designers and other popular stores. On my first night in Paris, we walked to Place de la Concorde, strolled down the Champs Des Elysees, went out for an authentic Parisian dinner (where I ate duck confit, soo good) , and then went to the Eiffel Tower to see the dazzling light show. It was a great introduction to Paris!

One of the boulevards in Paris

Ferris wheel in Place de la Concorde!

Center of Place de la Concorde!

The whole gang! From left to right: Chad, Me, Morgan, Abby

The Eiffel Tower by night!

Eiffel Tower light show! Mr. Arthur didn't tell us about it ahead of time so it was extra special!

The whole gang once again!

The next day, we had a rather full day of sightseeing. We began the day by going up the Montparnasse Tower, the second-tallest building in Paris (second only to the Eiffel Tower). It was unfortunately a little foggy so we could not see the Eiffel Tower and the rest of Paris that well but I still was able to take some decent pictures!

Eiffel Tower!

You can't really see it too well but the Eiffel Tower is back there!

After going to the top of the Tower, we went to Notre Dame Cathedral, which is a World Heritage Site. The Cathedral was extremely impressive and absolutely beautiful! It is also celebrating its 850th anniversary. The architecture of the Notre Dame Cathedral is very different than the architecture of most of the churches in Rome in that the style is Gothic. The Notre Dame Cathedral is distinguished by five towers and flying buttresses, which line the top of the outside of the Cathedral.

850th Anniversary!

A closer view of the doors and detail on the front of the Cathedral

Flying buttresses on the side of the Cathedral

The back of the Cathedral, which is just as impressive as the front!

The nave of the Cathedral

 A small model of Notre Dame Cathedral located in one of the side altars

In honor of the 850th anniversary of the Notre Dame Cathedral, a large box has been installed in the back of the Cathedral. Visitors to the Cathedral are able to write their own message of peace and place it in the box. The messages are written in various languages by people of all ages. The box is already filled with thousand of messages and I wrote one of my own and put it in.

Most people who enter the Cathedral go to the box and write a message of peace

There were so many messages and they were written in all different languages!

After saying a prayer and spending some time taking in the beauty of the Cathedral, we stopped at a nearby French bistro for lunch where I tried foie gras (duck liver) for the first time. I was a little hesitant to order it but it is one of France's specialties so I decided that I had to try it. It definitely has a strange texture and flavor but I really liked it! After we finished lunch, our next stop was the Galleries Lafayette, the biggest and most beautiful department store I have ever seen. The decor was so intricate and beautiful, I honestly could have spent days in there but alas, there were too many other sites that I wanted to see in Paris.

The dome alone was absolutely beautiful!

And so was the rest of the store!

To be continued...