catching up
The day of traveling from London to Paris was a bit of a whirlwind.
We got breakfast at Waitrose and starbucks, then packed up and got ready to leave. We headed to Kings Cross, waited a while, got on the train, went underground underneath the water, and came back up in France. It was only about 2 hours, which went really quick. I got the 5 sketches done that I wanted to, so that was nice, but didn’t have much other freetime.
Then we got to Paris, checked in the hotel, switched up roommates, and headed out to the island that Notre Dame is on. We wandered around for a little bit, saw the Arab Institute with the shutters that are supposed to open and close to block out sun, then came back to the hotel and now I am just relaxing and preparing for a long day!
5/30
Today was a full day of Paris sightseeing!
We took the tube everywhere and popped up whenever we were somewhere we were planning on seeing. So first, we went to the outside of the Louvre, got a bunch of pictures, and just enjoyed it for a little bit. Then we went to Pace de la Concord, where there was a fountain with a bunch of sandy rocks around it, an obelisk, and a shady area with trees and chairs – which is where we decided to sit for a little bit. Next was the Arc de Triumph, and then the Grand Arch, the first one is a lot smaller and didn’t have too much of a pavilion around it. We walked around the shops in the area, into a car dealership, into some tourist shops, etc. But then, at the Grand Arch there was an entire mall, huge plaza and sitting stairs. So we walked around the mall, got pasta for lunch, did some window shopping, and then sat on the steps to eat some ice cream!
To finish the day, we went to Parc de la Villette which is a refurbished area where there used to be a slaughterhouse. It now has playgrounds, a big mirror ball that could rival the bean in Chicago, and a big building with a pavilion space. There was also a canal with a bridge over it, boat tours, spinny metal chairs, a giant bike tire sticking out of the ground, and lots of children.
It was a day where I felt like I was going all over the place, but it was good to take the tube around instead of having to walk all of these places. If we had more time and energy, walking maybe would have helped me connect things, but then again…I still got turned around in London when we were just walking…
