Lindsay Speaks: Paris

As many of you may know, I have always wanted to go to Paris. But I never thought that I would go at such an early age! Paris was everything I envisioned, except that I thought the Eiffel Tower was going to be perfect, and it was the ugliest shade of brown I had ever seen. But let’s not dwell on that. Here’s what I loved in Paris:

·     The Arc de’Triumphe was MASSIVE! In reality it was much smaller than the Eiffel Tower, but because it was so solid and the Eiffel Tower was so delicate, it seemed a thousand times bigger and ended up being one of my favorite monuments. As we left, I kissed it.

·     The Eiffel Tower. Despite its color, I found it to be amazing. We climbed as high as we could, and then took the elevator to the very top, and I thought I was going to fall off. My dad would have died. Note: The café there has the worst food ever (the Quiche Lorraine was like ham and egg Jell-O and the Croque Monsiuer had white goo on it), so make sure you get a reservation for the good restaurant, or bring your own food.

·     The food. I loved the quiches (except the one above. Now I make sure to always poke my quiche before I eat to check for firmness), the bread (I had just a plain baguette for lunch today and it was amazing), the pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants). 

More later... our plane is landing!

The view of the Eiffel Tower as we ate crepes for breakfast 

Avery and I climbing up over 600 steps to the second level 

Taking a rest from the lookout spot

The views of Paris were amazing!

I wish we could live here

A more modern part of the city

At the cafe there was a pink tinted window, so I took this picture for Sophie 

Beautiful, delicious food at Maison Angelina

Avery and I eating our Parisian desserts

At first, Notre Dame was a disappointment because in the Disney movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" the cathedral seemed absolutely gigantic. But as we got more views of the side and got to know it better I began to really love it

There was a display inside depicting how the people built the cathedral in the 1100's 

They were holding a mass as we walked through so we had to be silent 

My mom looking at the candles

Each candle has a picture of the Virgin Mary

Amazing carvings on the outside

The Arc d'Triomphe!!

I kissed the Arc; Lucy only wanted to lean on it.

I came away from Paris really wishing that my family spoke French so that we could be living in France instead. My mom told me to put France in my heart like a little treasure, and that I should learn about it, take French in school if I want, and find a way to return some day. Maybe a semester abroad when I'm in college!