(almost) 21 in Paris

As a nice birthday present to myself, I decided to casually fly off to Paris for the first weekend in April, yahoo! After enjoying a pleasant 30 minute flight on an airline where my legs actually fit without invading my neighbor's space (though considering my "neighbor" was Dylan, I think he could survive), we touched down in Paris! I was off to a great start when at the border control for the city, the young man at the counter was being all friendly in asking where I was headed, and I idiotically answered "...Paris?" (but really, what else was I supposed to say?). And then he proceeds to ask me if I would like a guide for the weekend, and after confusedly asking if he meant that he had a map of the city I could use, he clarified that he had meant himself. Glad to see it's not just the language that gets me confused! Although late, we decided to head into city centre after checking in to get our first view of the city. And also, to get all our stereotypical Eiffel Tower pics out of the way first thing!

Nim!

And to celebrate our first night in, we grabbed some delicious profiteroles at a restaurant right by the Tower. Great way to kick off delicious eatings in France for the weekend. It was also my kick-starting of my very meaningful interactions with Parisians in which I smiled and said "merci" the whole weekend. Nothing else. Just merci. French = fail. Dylan actually did surprisingly well, however.

Nim really enjoyed his profiteroles

That morning, after picking out the most unhealthily delicious pastries at a local bakery, we headed towards the Latin Quarter for a nice stroll down Rue Mouffetard, by Sorbonne University, etc. We stopped by the Pantheon and explored inside, including all the crypt with Rousseau, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, etc. Unfortunately the Foucault pendulum was temporarily away as they were doing construction.

Frolicking around the Pantheon

Tehehe, Nim

Afterwards, we continued our stroll through the Jardin du Luxembourg...

I ruined it :(

Statue posing continues...

Shoutout to Grace Murray! Haha, thought you'd appreciate this shop we stumbled on by the garden

Afterwards, we found some delicious place to grab a bite for lunch, which easily became one of the best meals I've eaten in a long, long time (they don't have Cracker Barrel abroad in Europe soo....). From there, we "hunched" our way over to Notre Dame (get it?! get it?! aren't I just the cleverest)!

Nim got all sorts of love this trip

From there, we went to our ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PART OF THE TRIP OMGGGG IT WAS THE BEST WE LOVEDLOVEDLOVED THE LOUVRE. Okay. Please excuse that, but I do need to clarify something. There are a number of incredible, incredible works of art in the Louvre. However, it was absolutely impossible to appreciate or enjoy them. First I yet again struggled with Paris security to get in when one lady by the bag-xray get telling me to come back, and her coworker next to her kept shooing me away saying I was fine. After staring in confusion for a while, I decided to be safe and come back, but in the end the one lady was just trying to tell me she liked me dress. Struggles. But that's not what bothering me. What's bothering me is that I have never been to an art museum that allows you to take pictures before. And on a Saturday afternoon, it was absolutely impossible to even see any of the art, because people would ask you to move so that they could take pictures of themselves holding up peace-signs in front of the art. Honestly, if I was one of the artists featured in the museum, I would be kinda sad to know that was what my work had come to. After seeing a couple take a selfie of themselves kissing in front of the Mona Lisa, and a group of 30 old Asian men wearing American flag bandanas around their head taking pictures in front of the art, Dylan and I had about had enough. And then we walked by these teenage girls taking pictures of the art, to which one girl said to her friend "Just take the picture of it now, and admire it later." Unbelievable. NO. Admire it while it is IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES. If you want to enjoy it later, which is fine, you may as well just google a picture that will undoubtedly be better than yours. asdifojaposdfjasldfjioasdfj. Sorry. Anyways. After that, Dylan and I just left before I began to permanently hate people.

Wandering to the Louvre

Dreams do come true... we're about to go the Louvre!

The culprit itself

From there, we wandered over to Champs-Elysees and strolled the entire distance from the Egyptian pencil (okay that's not what it's called, but that's what we called it...) to the Arc de Triomphe (this time the Parisian version - as you may recall in my post on Spain we found the Arc de Triumf in Barcelona).

The Egyptian pencil!

Arc de Triumphe... so triumphant!

That night, Dylan oh-so kindly treated me to an excellent, fancy Parisian dinner around the Royal Palace Gardens for my birthday. Such a happy belly! Then that night, we headed back over to the Eiffel Tower again to enjoy our last night-time view, although unfortunately it was too late to go to the top.

On our way to dinner... not sure what this was, but cool!

The next morning, we headed back to the Tower first thing so we could finally go up to the top! The views were stunning, and well worth the wait. There's not much more to say than what my pictures can better tell so... pictures!

Note at the bottom the Paris marathon happening all along the road! We almost didn't make it to the tower because the only way to cross was to hop in with the runners for part of the way... which we did...

Dylan may be cute....

... but I'm even cuter!! (not)

Before catching our flight back that night, we spent our final hour or so over at Sacre Coeur, which was incredibly stunning and had incredible views as the tallest point in the city.

After an incredibly jam-packed, awesome weekend, we made our way back home to enjoy an incredibly anti-climactic actually turning 21 moment after a fantastic weekend away. But still, I couldn't help but think how lucky I am especially when remembering how I spent my 18th birthday in Rome 3 years prior. Continuing to count my blessings every day.