Manic Monday in Paris

We began this hectic day by thinking we only had four things to do and we thought it would be less stressful than the day before! We were completely wrong haha. So we had been too lazy to go downstairs and print a reservation for the Eiffel Tower and decided since it was so late to do it in the morning. In the morning we realized it had to be a day before..oops! So wearing light sweaters, dresses and tights we set off for a long line at Tour Eiffel. We didn't realize how windy it was until we got off the metro. We were so cold! Standing in line was pure torture but since I had never been to the top I felt I needed the experience! We then realized the very top was closed, but we were almost there! So I settled for the second level and we took some photos. Then we saw that they had opened the top and beat the queues by finding a different ticket machine but it only took large coins so it was a close one! We were so excited! And going up the elevator to the top was sort of scary as you looked down, it is a thousand feet high! Once we got there Ashley got some champagne and we had a marvelous time finding various landmarks and enjoying the view. It was really exciting! Well somehow when we finally made it back down and ate lunch at this adorable American cafe it was already 14:00 or 2 pm! We waited for ever and we had spent a long time up there too apparently. Luckily the cafe with tons of French teenagers, was awesome! We had hamburgers and they sold all kinds of American candy, soda, cereal, and food in general! It was so funny to see all our brands and we had missed burgers. My favorite was the kraft macaroni and cheese! But it was all super expensive of course. So putting the Louvre last on our list, we managed to make it to the Hotel de las Invalides and see the Dome Church! I had never been and I was excited to see it! The front is incredible, the gilded dome was definitely cool to see up close. I liked the history of how Napoleon's tomb made it in there as well. Louis-Philippe had it commissioned after he was voted into the new Republic. Napoleon had actually wanted his ashes spread on the banks of the Seine I believe. Along with a couple of Napoleon's relatives there are other important French military generals, I wish I had known more about but we were on a time crunch so I couldn't find anything to translate fast. After that, we decided to head to Notre Dame because we feel you can't go to Paris without visiting. On the way I'm pretty sure the strangest occurrence yet happened to me. Ashley was walking behind me and I was trying to tell her something so I wasn't looking in front of me. A man walked straight up to me and snorted super loudly at me. He was so close and I just stood frozen in utter shock and terror actually. Ashley said later he was like a beast and he was given the nickname pigman. But seriously it's hard to describe how weird and kinda scary it was haha. Anyway back to Notre Dame...It always amazes me how old it is and I'm grateful Victor Hugo led that campaign to restore it after the revolution! As the 850th anniversary is happening (or something close to that number) they were also doing some restorative work on the sides. After admiring our favorite rose window, we went over to the Justice Palace and made our way over to Saint Chapelle. We both had never seen the famous stained glass there. It had been restored recently and the windows are truly indescribable. The difference between the restored and unrestored was definitely apparent. But the light coming through was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. But we didn't stay as long as we had wanted to because the Louvre was closing in an hour and we thought we could at least see our favorites. Alas, after literally running through different metro stations at times we didn't make it! Even though technically it was still open for a little more than a half hour. We went outside and took some pictures in front of the pyramid and relaxed. We were pretty dead. Ashley would have passed out at our hostel if we hadn't eaten yet. After an hour or so at our hostel in which I got to skype my dad, it took a lot out of us to put our coats on and venture out to Montmartre for some dinner. We got some crepes as well, I tried just plain sugar and decided though it was good nothing can beat nutella! We also took a look at the famous Moulin Rouge while it was lit up. We didn't even shower before we went to be and I failed at catching up on blogging! Also we couldn't stop laughing before we went to bed about pigman... I'll occasionally see Ashley start cracking up and she's reliving it, apparently my face was priceless, i'm pretty sure she would have had the same reaction! I'm on the train to Florence currently after we flew into Pisa, yay Italy and pasta! <3