Paris

Paris was amazing! We arrived Monday afternoon and got back around 3 this afternoon. We had some interesting adventures but Paris is definitely my favorite city out of those we have visited so far. Monday when we arrived we thought we knew where we were going but the short walk to our hotel turned into a 2 hour adventure. It didn't help that everytime we pulled out a map, overly friendly french men would try and help us, usually in the wrong direction. After we made it to our hotel (which was very close to Paris' version of the Red Light District :0) we decided to go on a 3 hour walking tour from one of our travel guides. On this loop we saw Sacre Coeur, Musee de Montmartre, and walked through Place du Tetre. Sacre Coeur and Montmartre was my favorite...the view of Paris was so awesome.  I liked this walk the best becasue we got to go on a lot of small side streets that weren't so crowded. Another awesome view we got to see on Monday evening was the one of Paris from Monparnasse. This building is taller than the Eiffel Tower and it was much less crowded. I'm sure you can tell by my past posts that I detest large groups of people (kind of a problem in large cities such as london and paris haha). After a late dinner we decided to call it a night. Tuesday we pretty much saw everything there was to see...or at least it felt like it. We walked for about 5 hours starting at the Arc de Triomphy before headint to Ile St-Louis, Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Musee du Louvre (just the outside), Jardin des Tuileries and the Eiffel Tower. After all this sight seeing we took a boat tour on the Seine and finished it up with some Starbucks haha. Wednesday we were worn out from walking around so we deicded to take it easy. We toured the inside of the Musee du Louvre and then headed to a theatre to watch a French film that happned to be in English (oops) haha. Following the movie we did some shopping (window shopping of course) and had dinner before heading back to the Eiffel Tower to watch the sunset. We walked up to the second floor of the tower and hung out for an hour or so. Soon after, we found some awesome seats in the park in front of the tower and watched the sun set, as well as the Eiffel Tower light show. This was definitely my favorite part of the trip and something I will never forget. Though the sights in Paris were my favorite, the people were not. Everyone we encounteed at the restraunts, shops, and hotel were extremely nice (even with our shaky French) but the men here were ridiculous! We couldn't walk 20 feet (not an exaggeration) without being harassed. Men, both young and old, yelled at us, sang to us, blew kisses to us, try to grab our hands, and would even follow us after we ignored them. One time we had to get off the metro becasue this drunk guy wouldn't stop touching my face and it was too crowded to move. Pretty much all of them were yelling at Boudine, all making comments about her boot, but it got annoying after the first day. If I knew how to say "your mother would be ashamed" in French, I would have! haha. Despite this one annoyance, Paris was amazing and we had a great time. The food, sights, and atmosphere is something I will never forget. Tomorrow morning we leave for Croatia. We will be camping on the beach for 12 days so that will be a realxing finish to my trip. I hope everyone is doing well...and don't forget to check out the pictures. Love you all and see you soon!