Happy Birthday Paige!

So I missed a few birthdays first semester when I was in Paris - Meredith turned 21 at the end of January and then Kristen turned 21 at the end of February. Paige waited to turn 21 until she was in Paris, so I was lucky enough to finally get to celebrate a birthday with them! I tried to make up for missing Meredith's and Kristen's, so we turned our trip into a big birthday celebration... 

So March 6th we woke up in Paris to celebrate Paige's birthday! It was a Sunday, so we went to Hillsong for church in the morning. I loved this church so much and looked forward to going every week, I was so glad for them to go with me! It was probably a little difficult because the worship songs were in French, and the sermon was translated, but I think they really enjoyed it. I miss this place so much and hope to go back someday!

After church we headed to the Louvre, not actually going inside, but just to see the Tuileries Gardens and the courtyard. It was a beautiful day!

Louvre Courtyard

As we were crossing the street to the Louvre, all of a sudden Kristen screamed "James Blunt"!! Yep, she saw James Blunt crossing the street and he walked right passed her. So of course we all ran back across the street and tried to catch up with him. We had just missed him! James Blunt is one of Kristen's favorites, so she was a bit star-struck. We saw our celebrity! He was there for Paige's birthday, naturally. 

Fountains at the Pyramid

We walked down rue Rivoli to slowly make our way to the Champs-Elysees for some birthday shopping. You can't get much better than that if you ask me! We stopped along the way in the middle of the Place de la Concorde. This is one of the best places in Paris to see the city. From the middle of the square you can see the Eglise Madeleine, the Musee de l'Orangerie and the Tuileries Gardens (with the Louvre behind), the Eiffel Tower, the Hotel de Crillon, the U.S. Embassy, the Assemblee Nationale across the Seine, the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe, and of course, the Obelisk de Luxor and the famous fountains in the middle of the square. It's quite a sight!

Place de la Concorde

Paige was especially excited to see the fountains. This is where a scene from The Devil Wears Prada was filmed, and Anne Hathaway was filmed at one of these fountains. It was fun for Paige to come here on her birthday! We all four climbed up on the fountain and just sat and enjoyed ourselves and the view. One of our best memories of the trip for sure. 

Sitting at the Fountain in the Place de la Concorde 

After soaking in as much as we could, we crossed the street to begin our walk down the Champs-Elysees. First stop: Louis Vuitton. 

Louis Vuitton!

Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe

After a full afternoon, we headed back to our apartment to get ready for dinner. We went to one of my favorite restaurants over by the Eiffel Tower, Cafe Constant. Since this restaurant doesn't take reservations, we put our name down for a table and wandered over to the Eiffel Tower since we had some time. It's so beautiful at night!

 Eiffel Tower at Night

We made our way back to the restaurant right in time. We sat upstairs and had an amazing dinner, and of course followed by delicious dessert! The perfect birthday dinner, happy birthday Paige! After dinner we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, but this time we were going to the top! Thankfully there was almost no line (one of the perks about Paris in March) so we quickly bought our tickets and filed into the elevator. We made friends with some nice people from Dallas, such a small world! They were more than happy to celebrate Paige's birthday with us, the more the merrier! We made it to the top and what a view! It was much higher than I expected though, and very windy! We all were convinced we were going to blow away, thankfully we didn't. 

Us on the top of the Eiffel Tower!

Paris at Night - View from the Top

It was a great day and the best way I could think to spend Paige's 21st birthday!

Day 2 - Les Puces de St. Ouen and our Montmarte Adventure

After our first night in Paris, we started the day early to go to the famous Paris flea market: Les Puces de Saint - Ouen, near Porte de Clignanourt. This flea market is famous for it's antiques, furniture, jewelry, vintage clothes, and so much more. We were lucky because it's only open on the weekend, and it was a Saturday so we could go check it out. Here's the thing about the market though - Porte de Clignancourt in the North of Paris is not the safest neighborhood. Let's just say in order to get to the market, you have to walk through a pretty "rough" area to find it. Also, we weren't exactly sure where we were supposed to go. So, us four girls - us four blondes- wandered off the metro and took a walk through the neighborhood until we found the market. That was the fastest we walked all trip.

We got to the market and had a fun time. There are several vendors when you first reach the market, and they all had a great time trying to pawn their trinkets off on us. We made some friends here. But we knew to keep walking in order to get to the good part of the market, where all the "less-touristy" shops and stalls are.

Paige modeling a Parisian hat

It was a huge maze of the coolest, old antiques and vintage things. We found one shop that was full of old designer clothes, jewelry, and bags. We could have spent all day in this place! Paige took advantage of the opportunity to ask the owners about Fashion Week, because of course we needed to know where to go to see all the celebs.

 

Paige, Me and Kristen in the market

We found a great shop with the cutest old French woman selling vintage jewelry. Meredith found a pearl ring and ended up going back to buy it! 

Paige and Meredith at the shop where Meredith bought her ring

We were having the best time, except this morning was really cold and we were all starting to feel a little numb in our hands. We needed to find a cafe to stop for some coffee and warm up, so we went inside the first place we saw. The man at this cafe was typically French, meaning not all too welcoming. We were just happy to be inside, and after ordering some coffees and hot chocolates we were starting to warm up. Oh, did I mention there was a parrot in the cafe? Because there was. We all just laughed about it, and after we finished our coffees we left to head out to Montmartre for the afternoon. 

We took the metro to Montmarte and made our way up the streets to the Sacre-Coeur. It was a beautiful day and the sun was coming out, so the day was starting to warm up. 

Mere and I walking up to the Sacre-Coeur

When we got to the top of the hill, we went inside the Sacre-Coeur - it really is such an amazing church. We were getting hungry for lunch, so we found a bakery in Montmartre and picked up some baguette sandwiches. We found a bench in the park just below the church- I love this park because it's never very crowded because it's hard to find, and also you get a great view of the city here. It had turned into a beautiful day by now and was actually really warm. We finished our lunch and headed back to the main square, of course stopping for gelato along the way. 

Me and Kristen at the square in Montmartre

It wasn't very crowded, so we were able to walk around the square and watch the artists for a while. When we started heading down, we met a nice couple from the States who offered to take a picture for us. We also got a picture with them too, I love how friendly Americans are!   

Us heading down Montmartre

We decided to wander down the hill and ended up finding some really cool areas. I wasn't really sure where we were, but that made it even more fun. You never know what you'll find when you get lost in Paris. We eventually made our way to the Moulin Rouge, then got back on the metro to head home and get ready for dinner. 

We went to dinner at a restaurant near Notre-Dame called Au Bougnat, delicious! After dinner, we walked down the street to Notre-Dame, one of my favorite things to see in Paris at nighttime. 

Me and Kristen in front of Notre-Dame

And for dessert? Laduree on the Champs-Elysees. We were seated upstairs, even though normally for dessert you sit downstairs. We weren't complaining though! We had the most delicious desserts. It was a great way to end our night after a great second day in Paris. 

Downstairs at Laduree

 

Backtracking to Paris...

Ok, so even though I'm back in Dallas, I am going to re-trace my steps and start up my blog again. This is partly my way of re-living my time in Paris, but also because I promised my mom I would blog and I can't break my promise. Better late than never, right?

So here we go... I left off last in Prague, my trip with Miranda and Lindsey. Once I got back, my three roommates, Meredith, Paige, and Kristen (who also happen to be my three best friends) flew to Paris for their spring break vacation. Nothing I write can even come close to describing how much fun that week was, I don't know where to begin!

They rented a studio apartment for the week which happened to be just right down the street from where I lived. It couldn't have worked out better! I met them at the apartment, of course I was an hour early just to make sure I was there to welcome them when the taxi dropped them off. That was one, very long hour of waiting. I was so happy when I saw that taxi finally turn the corner and come down the street, they were in Paris at last! Bienvenue!

Kristen and me in front of the apartment, right after they arrived!

The apartment was perfect, super cute and super "French". After settling in, we set out to find lunch. I took them to a cafe near the Beaubourg that I'd been to several times before, and we enjoyed our first French meal together! They were doing a good job fighting through their jet lag, but after our big lunch it was hard to stay awake. But I was too excited to finally have them in Paris, so I made sure that we didn't waste any time. We walked down rue Beaubourg to Hotel de Ville, then crossed the Seine to Notre-Dame. 

Meredith, Kristen and me in front of Hotel de Ville

We went inside Notre-Dame and around the back to the garden, then crossed over the river to go to Shakespeare & Co. After Shakespeare and Co., our energy was running low so we all decided a good crepe would be the best idea. So, we headed to the Latin Quarter to visit my favorite Creperie. Sadly, my friend Jimmy wasn't there (he only works at nighttime), but we still had some pretty delicious crepes. We stopped to eat them on the bridge. 

Paige and me with our crepes!

Next, we headed to the Marais. It was time for some shopping. The Marais is one of my favorite places because of the narrow, cobblestone streets and of course all the great little boutiques and trendy cafes. We had a fun time here wandering through the area and stopping in different little shops. It was late afternoon, and since we had been walking almost all day, my three friends were about to collapse. But I had to take them to one more place, the Place des Vosges. I told them this would be a great place to stop and rest, and it was- it ended up being a great place to stop and fall asleep!

Meredith, Paige and me sitting in the Place des Vosges

We started to make our way back to the apartment, and stopped at a market and bakery to pick up dinner. We had a very full first day - I was very impressed with how much we walked on their first day off the plane! We needed a night to sit and relax, and that's exactly what we did. A good dinner with lots of laughs, then we were off to bed (not quite as early as we had planned). Of course I packed my things to stay with them in their apartment, so two of us slept upstairs in the loft and two were on the pullout downstairs- quite "cozy" as Paige would say. It was the beginning of a great week in Paris!