once upon a dream.

I'm gonna hear how much you missed me...

Oh, what a weekend!! We departed for the city of love on Thursday night with VERY little sleep in our system. Needless to say, we didn't have any problems sleeping through the Ryanair flight. Unfortunately, Ryanair had a new surprise for us this time around.. a song! Apparently they have created their very own song for advertisement purposes, and it's hideous! I'm not looking forward to hearing that one on every flight from now on.. oh well! :) The Oklahoma friends were actually on our flight to and from Paris with us. It was totally unplanned, but it was funny to see them on the plane!

When we landed in France, we had to take a bus from the airport into the actual city of Paris. Again, I slept on the bus. By the time we finally got to the hotel, we were all pretty dead, but we dropped our things off and headed in search of food. There wasn't a lot open in our little neighborhood that late at night, and the guy working the desk of the hotel spoke NO English, so he couldn't help us much. We finally settled on a doner kebab place. I've seen these things advertised all over Spain, but I have refrained from eating one because the huge pile of random pieces of animal that they have compiled into one huge piece of meat kind of grosses me out. Still, we went for it. I did NOT have lamb like Abril ordered; instead, I opted for chicken. It looked safer. It turns out that it was basically a chicken pita. It wasn't bad, but I don't think I'll be eating one again anytime soon. Here's where the fun happened, though. As we were sitting down to eat, we saw a couple walk in. Emily and I both commented on how familiar they looked. Then, we heard them speaking English. I kept staring at them throughout dinner because I could have sworn I had seen them before. Finally, when were getting ready to leave the girl asked us where we were from, and when we said Missouri, she said, "Me too." She then asked where we went to school. We said MSU, and she said she went there too! As it turns out, they both go to MSU, and they are studying abroad in London but, like us, decided to escape to Paris for the weekend. Here's the best part: we've met them before!! The guy is rooming with a guy who we know from our old dorm, and we actually spent a great deal of time in their room when we were in London. It was crazy -- we saw MSU people in some random, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the middle of Paris! It's a small world!

We went to bed right after dinner that night, and on Friday Emily and I separated from Abril and Janet. They headed for a tour of the city while we went to Disneyland!! Yeah, that's right! Eurodisney! We had to take a train to get there, and it was a double decker. Spiffy. We had bought our train tickets out of a machine and jumped right on. Well, when we got to Disneyland, we found that we had to slide our tickets to get out, but for some reason our tickets were not working. We finally found a conductor who explained to us in broken English that we had bought metro tickets, not train. The train tickets were like 6 euros more than the metro ones, and you couldn't buy them out of a machine! Fortunately, the conductor felt bad for us and realized we had just made a mistake, and he let us slip through the gates without having to pay any extra. Nice! :)

When we exited the train station, we were instantly surrounded with the wonders of Disney.

I felt like I had been there before. It was EXACTLY like Disneyland in California! The places are mapped out exactly like, and they contain the same rides, although I think California may be a tad bigger. It was kind of fun; I knew my way around without having to use the map much! :)

Inside Disneyland, we did all of the traditional Disney stuff: rides, food, pictures with characters, and shopping. The picture on the left is of us on the train roller coaster. It was sooo much fun! Of course, Space Mountain still holds my heart. You can never get tired of that one! As we were waiting in line, I was reminded of the time at Disney World with the family when it rained, and we got to ride Space Mountain over and over and over without having to wait in line because everyone abandoned the park! Oh, good times! It's impossible to be unhappy in Disneyland. Disneyland Paris was especially joyful because it felt like we were back in America. The streets, the signs, etc.. it was just like the good ole US of A! I gotta admit that it was kind of nice to have a break from Europe for a day. I think we picked a pretty perfect day to go to Disneyland, too. It was not crowded AT ALL! The longest we had to wait in line for a ride was 20 minutes; that's incredible!



Of course, no trip to a Disney park would be complete without a parade! We took a break in the late afternoon to line up on the street and watch the floats and characters go by. I love Disney parades. They are so creative and pretty! The picture on the left is of the Lion King float that strolled down Mainstreet U.S.A.! It always makes me smile to watch the little kiddos who are all dressed up in costumes wave to their favorite characters. I must admit, though, that this parade didn't compare to the one in California's Disneyland at all! Still, it was fun. It was kind of neat, too, because Disneyland Paris is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, so they put a lot of emphasis into that. Since we spent all day at Disneyland, we were there when the sun began to set, and there was another anniversary celebration: "Candlebration"! Mickey, Minnie, and the gang all strolled out of Sleeping Beauty's Castle and sang and danced in order to celebrate. They also lit the castle up. Emily and I had pretty good seats for it, too! It was a lot of fun. I was a little sad to leave Disneyland on Friday. I know, I know.. who goes to Paris and gets THAT excited about Disneyland? You just don't understand how nice it was to feel like I was in America again!

We didn't let the American feeling stop there, though. We headed to an area right outside of the park after that and ate at the Hardrock Cafe. Mmm, American food! How I love it. There were also some fun little shops scattered throughout the place.

We met back up with Abril and Janet at the hotel late that night. Once again, we were all tired, so it didn't take long for us to fall asleep. When we woke up on Saturday morning, Abril and Janet headed off to do their own thing, and Emily and I went to the Louvre. It was HUGE! I would have never imagined that it would be that big, despite the Tom Hanks' movies
!
You know what wasn't huge, though? The Mona Lisa! Seriously, it was pretty small! It made me laugh. Why? Because here is this little portrait stuck behind some very thick glass on an empty wall, and there are TONS of people, including us, lined up to take pictures and examine it closely! Then, behind it, there is a wall that holds a paintiWng that is HUGE and takes up almost the entire wall, but everyone is ignoring that one for the Mona Lisa. What makes the Mona Lisa so special? I know, I know.. I was a tourist just like everyone else and went to the famous piece first, but seriously, the other pieces were amazing! The entire Louvre was amazing. I especially enjoyed getting to see an artist at work within it. He was recreating a piece with oil paints. It was neat to watch. I just wish I knew a bit more about art; that would probably help me enjoy it all a bit more. Oh well!

Emily and I had a bit of free time before we needed to meet Abril and Janet, so we took a metro the Eiffel Tower. I think I fell in love with it at first sight!! It was actually a lot bigger than I would have imagined, and the structure of it was so amazing to just stand and look at. I wish Dad could have been there soo bad! We'll have to go back. :) We took lots of pictures of it and walked underneath it and stared up it. I officially love the Eiffel Tower!

We decided to walk to the grocery store and get ice cream to sit in the little park outside of the Eiffel and eat it. It was a pretty nice afternoon; the rain held off for the most part! It was relaxing to just sit and watch the people flow to and from the tower. We were also constantly reminded of the fact that we were in "the city of love"; people were making out everywhere! Kinda awkward... and kinda makes me think that the next time I return to Paris I should probably go with a boy. ;-)

When we finished staring at the Eiffel, we got back on the metro and went to Moulin Rouge. Abril and Janet had found this free walking tour of the city, so we decided to give it a try. I'm so glad we did; the tour guide, which was an American college student studying abroad in Paris, provided us with a lot of neat information and history of the city! We saw Moulin Rouge, Picasso's studio, where Van Gogh lived, etc. I didn't realize all of that history was compacted into such a small area! Apparently someone lives in Van Gogh's apartment now, and they use the bedroom that he used as the model for his famous "Blue Room" painting. How funny! And kind of creepy.. I don't think I'd want to reside in the bedroom of a man who cut off his ear as a gesture of love. Creepy!

We continued on the tour to Sacre Coeur (that's "Sacred Heart" in French), which is pictured below!

It's a really pretty church that sits on a hill, and you can see it from most places in Paris. Since it's on the hill, we were able to look down over the city, and we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel at night! Sacre Coeur is a pretty happenin' place at night; people line up on the steps in order to enjoy the beautiful view, and there's a bunch of live music. It was fun!

Our tour ended here, and we decided to do a little shopping and walk around the surrounding area. Well, somehow we got conned in to getting our portraits drawn. The guys kept offering us discounts for being pretty and being students, and we just couldn't resist! My artist, Mory, was actually a pretty fun character. He let me talk while he was drawing, and he taught me a bit of French, and we discussed the United States and France's feelings towards the U.S. In the end, it took Mory about 30 minutes to draw the portrait, the portrait that he drew was really good. There was only one problem... it doesn't look like me AT ALL! It's actually really humorous to look at it. So.. now I have a portrait of some strange girl that's not me, but we were wearing the same outfit. Yay! :) Also, a million people have a picture of me. Why? As we were getting our portraits drawn, TONS of people came up and snapped pictures of us. One guy even videotaped! I am happy to know that my picture is going home with tons of people.. they better enjoy it! :)

We ate dinner in some little sandwich spot, and then we went for the traditional French food -- crepes! It was some pretty good stuff, but it doesn't beat gelato from Italy. ;-)

On Sunday morning, we woke up around 10:00 and headed towards Notre Dame. As expected, it was crowded with people everywhere! We honestly didn't have to wait in line too long, though. While we were waiting, we were approached by beggar after beggar. It gets a little annoying. Paris is full of women who come up to you and say, "Do you know English?", and if you accidentally say yes, they shove a card in your face that is written out in English and begging you for money to help them return to their home country. I'm not really sure what that was all about, but they were EVERYWHERE. I eventually got good at either saying "no", speaking in Spanish, or just staring blankly at them like I didn't understand. Fun times. Anyway! We made it into Notre Dame, and I did not see a hunchback, but I did see one beautiful cathedral!!

Here is the inside of the cathedral. There's beautiful stained glass everywhere, and the place is enormous. There was a service going on part of the time we were there. The best part was that part of it was in English, so we could understand bits and pieces! :) All of the singing was done in French, though, which was really beautiful to hear sound throughout the place! What is strange, though, is that they don't even attempt to stop all the tourist-y stuff from going on during service. Instead, they just rope off part of the cathedral and let the tourists weave around the sides of the building. In that sense, it was a lot like St. Patrick's in NYC. I don't think I would enjoy having thousands of visitors streaming in and out of the doors constantly at my church, but I am glad they let me be one of them! I really enjoyed the experience.



After the service was over, we caught a metro back to the Eiffel Tower. It was a fairly pretty day outside, so we decided to go up the tower. The line was obnoxious, but we were patient! The elevator takes you to the second floor, and then you get off, browse around, and wait in line AGAIN to go to the actual top. The picture on the right is a view from the top that is overlooking the grassy area in front of the Eiffel. They have little labels around the top to tell you what monuments to look for from each separate view. That was helpful! I like being able to have a bird's eye view of everything. The sign at the top of the Eiffel informed us that we were standing 5,849 km from NYC. That's a long way away! I didn't like being reminded of how far from home I actually am.

While the weather may have been nice when we went up the tower, it turned cloudy while we were on the top, and it soon started raining. Then, it started pouring. Needless to say, we headed for cover and rode back down to the bottom. The pouring rain was not cold when you combined it with the cold, but we made it! :)

We decided to escape the rain and head for dinner. I'll give you one guess where we went... If you guessed McDonald's, you would be correct! Really, we went to some fancy McDonald's; it wasn't your plain, old fast food restaurant; it was a "McCafe". Kinda weird... whatever! I love eating at McDonald's in Europe; I miss American food so much. I wonder if I'll still enjoy it to such a degree when I return to the U.S. I doubt it, but you never know! I have some good memories associated with McDonald's over here! :)

After our lovely dinner, walked down the road to the Arc de Triomphe. Apparently Napoleon ordered for this arc to be constructed, and I read somewhere where it's the largest arc in the world. You can climb tot he top of it, but it was raining, and we had just climbed to the top of the Eiffel, which is much taller, so we opted not to. Still, we got a picture! That's what's important, right? :)

By this time, it was getting dark, and we were already soaking wet, so we decided to walk back to the Eiffel in the rain. We got there around 8:00, which is when they begin to light the tower, so we got to watch them start the lights! They do so in sections. It was a neat process to watch. We took lots of night time photos, and then we waited around until 9:00.


Between the hours of 9pm-2am, they make the tower sparkle for the first ten minutes of every hour. The picture above does NOT do it justice; the sparkles were gorgeous!! I think all of us just sat there and stared in awe. It was sooo pretty! :) I am definitely just a tad obsessed with the Eiffel now, especially at night...

Monday morning was our final day in Paris, so we checked out of our hotel that morning. We had seen Napoleon's tomb from the top of the Eiffel, so we decided to walk there on Monday morning. It's a pretty place, but I liked the gardens that surround it more. There were blooming flowers everywhere that were much prettier than some dead guy's tomb. :)

I really like going places with Abril; she is studying architecture, so all of the buildings and places we saw really fascinated her, and she has such a sincere appreciation for it all. I, on the other hand, can only say, "oh, that's pretty!" or "I really like that building"! :)



In order to further satisfy Abril's love for architecture, we returned to Notre Dame on Monday afternoon. This time we walked all around the place, including over the bridges. I think I may like this view of it the best; you can see the steeple this way. There are also pretty flowers and trees on the side, which complete the thing!

I, too, was happy that we walked back to Notre Dame because it meant more American food... Subway! :) This was the second time we've found a Subway here in Europe. The first time I made the mistake of ordering a 6 inch sub before remembering that they don't use inches! It's kind of funny; you get to pick between a 15 or 30 over here instead of 6 or 12! :) My dad always makes a joke at Mexican restaurants and says that he wants a footilada instead of an enchilada. I guess he can't use that joke in Europe! :)

We finished up our self-guided walking tour of Paris after that. The weather was not in our favor that day. It was pouring! I thought it was pretty bad until it started SLEETING on us! Yes, frozen ice was falling from the air in the middle of April. It was not enjoyable! Fortunately, it didn't last long, and we escaped by getting on the metro, going back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, boarding the bus to the airport, and heading back to Valencia.

For once, I didn't fall asleep as soon as we sat down on the plane. I think that's a first! We made it into Valencia way ahead of schedule, thanks to Ryanair planning plenty of cushion time so they can always say we arrived early, even though there is no way the flights can take as long as they inititially say they will!

We were pretty dead on Monday night, but we made it to class in time on Tuesday morning and today, too! Now we only have one more day until the weekend starts again.. :) I guess this weekend will be spent in Valencia. I'm not sure where we'll go after this, but we have all weekend to plan some trips!

As we continue on the downhill part of our experience, I am starting to have some mixed feelings. I really want to go home, but I don't want to leave, if that makes any sense at all! I just wish I could go home for about a week and see everyone, drive my car, use my cell phone an insane amount of time, eat some Taco Bell, and sleep in my own bed with my cat. I think that would be ideal right about now. This is not to say that I'm terribly homesick or anything of that sort; I'm really not. It's just that I go to all of amazing places, and all of them reiterate to me about how special my HOME actually is! :) Seriously, no place compares, especially when you have my wonderful family! :)

Soo.. that's where I am right now. I will undoubtedly continue to enjoy my last few weeks in Europe, but I will welcome the time to go home when it actually comes. I miss you all!

Love,
Alli

...and I'm gonna say the same.