Don Felipe's Travels: One of the Best Cities in the World: Paris

  This past weekend I spent 3 days in Paris and it was probably one of the coolest cities I have ever seen. Our hostel was a piece of crap but it was clean. We rarely spent any time there other than to sleep. So basically we would spend 15 hours a day traveling around Paris.
  Our first day was the longest because we had to be up around 4 AM in Valencia to catch our flight to Paris. As is common with Ryan Air, the airport we flew into was an hour drive from downtown Paris, so that was a pain in the butt. But once we arrived we grabbed a quick snack of bread and cheese and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Like many other things I have seen in movies, actually seeing it in person is a whole new thing. It was incredible! The lines to the top were too long for us so we decided to relax in the park next to the tower. It was a beautiful day so we sat for a while and basked in the glory of the Eiffel Tower. After an hour or two we headed away and grabbed some pictures of us with the tower in the background. We wandered around for a bit eventually coming to the Cavalry Museum that had some nice gardens. Our next stop was the Museum of D'Orsay. This was a free art museum with some pretty cool paintings but nothing compared to what we would be seeing tomorrow. We finished our day with a bottle of wine relaxing in the Louvre Gardens.
  Sunday was the big tourist day. Our first stop, Musee du Louvre. We were able to skip the lines and get in for free by passing as EU students, so it all worked out really well. The art and sculptures in the Louvre are incredible and there is no way for me to write about all the stuff I saw. You are just going to have to go for yourself one day.
  Our day continued with some crepes and gyros. Yum! We then went to the Catacombs of Paris where 6-8 million bodies are buried. The history is that in the 1800s Parisians were getting sick becuase the cemeteries weren't built properly so they built these huge underground catatcombs where all the bodies were moved. Basically we walked through half a mile of 10 ft. of bones lining both walls. It was a different side of Paris that I think most people don't see.
  On a brighter note, we then went to see Notre Dame. It is a really cool place and we were able to go inside and check it our. We arrived just before a service was about to start so I stayed for a bit to hear some of the music. It was awesome to hear the bells and organ of Notre Dame. We had a nice dinner that night of onion soup, steak with pepper sauce, and ice cream.
  Our third day, my favorite day, was very busy but everything we did was awesome. First stop was to see the Arc of Triumph and the Champs Elysees. It was a cloudy so not as magnificent as in the movies but cool to see. Next stop was back at Notre Dame where we paid a little to go to the top to look at the bell towers and see all over Paris.
  But my favorite by far were the Gardens of Versailles. It was a 30 minute train ride to Versaille and a quick walk to the Summer Palace and Gardens from the train station. It was free to get in but I would easily have paid good money to get in. When we first got there it was a cloudy, cool day but after a bit of walking around the sun broke through and it was like we were in a whole new place. We had brought along a couple bottles of wine and snacks, so we had a little picnic right on the edge of the pond. We spent a couple hours there relaxing in the sun. We had an early flight the next morning so we headed back to the hostel and went to sleep. After waiting for our delayed flight the next morning we were back in Valencia.
  Like I've said before Paris is one of the best cities of the world. For anybody who hasn't visited it yet I highly suggest you go. And I would be more than happy to accompany you and be the tour guide.