This past weekend, we were fortunate enough to go on a trip to Paris. Most of the students here at the house had been looking forward to this trip since arriving in France, and I was no exception! Friday morning we woke very early so that we could leave the house
at 7am! Have you ever tried to get 18 people out of a house for a weekend at 7am? Trust me, it's difficult! Anyway, we were pretty close to schedule. We left the house while it was still dark, giving us the impression that it was the middle of the night, not a good impression when you are already tired and cold! We walked to the tram stop dragging our luggage behind us, it is about a 10 minute walk or roughly a half mile. This is not easy when your suitcase handle doesn't come up so I was pulling it by the strap. Anyway, after a crowded tram ride down town, we finally ended up at the train station got our tickets and went to the platform to board the train! This was very exciting as most of us had never been on a high speed bullet train before! We arrived in Paris at about 10:40am Friday 
morning. We wound our way through the train station and down to the metro to go to our stop then walked another few blocks to FIAP-Jean Monet, the youth center where we were going to stay. It was very nice. After some orientation and our packed lunches, we headed out to see the sites of Paris! We started with the most famous of course, the Eiffel Tower! We went to the lookout and took some pictures, bought some souvenirs from the street vendors and then went on our way. Next stop, Arc de Triomphe! The Arch made in honor of Napoleon's Military victories. We climbed up the stairs to the top and spent some time up there viewing the city. It was absolutely gorgeous! The weather was also very beautiful at this point! From the Arc, we headed down the Champs Elysee- the most famous shopping street in Paris, and also very expensive! Our time was tight for fitting everything in, so we headed on back down to the metro (which we rode MANY times!) and
arrived at our next stop got off and were headed to the next place when it started to pour! So, we ducked into a cafe to wait it out. I don't know if you know this or not, but in order to avoid rain in any place in France, you basically have to buy a drink or they will kick you back out. So, we had some hot drinks all around to warm us up!
Then we headed to St. Chapelle (cathedral with the most stained glass!), the Conciergerie which is where they kept prisoners like Marie Antoinette and Robespierre during the revolution. We also saw the outside of the court house of Paris. Everything was beautiful and historic. After that, most of us were beginning to drag, so we headed to the Louvre for dinner and touring. I had some Moroccan food which was very delicious! We had about 2.5 hours in the Louvre. We were able to see most of the famous works such as the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Raft of the Medusa and many others! I totally could have spent days in there! It's huge!
When we left the Louvre, it was raining once again but that didn't phase us to bad, we walked down to the Seine river to take a boat ride. It lasted about an hour up and down the river and we passed most of the most famous sites! I really enjoyed it except for how cold I was!!! After the boat ride we made our way back to FIAP and fell into bed exhausted! Our night was short as meeting time was at 8:50am the next morning.
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