Saturday, December 11, 2010

Adventures with Matt, Pt. II

Here we go. Once Matt and I arrived in Paris, it was a whirlwind of adventures. I’m not quite sure how much I can expand on…because we might be here all day.

So to start, we found our hotel. Praise the Lord! It was a cute little joint, but the shower was down the hall. It was about 30 minutes to an hour walk from any of the main sites, so we got a fair share of exercise in that week.

We first visited the famous cathedral of Notre Dame... yes where Quasimodo used to ring the bells. What an incredible church! All the stain glass and high ceilings (although the cathedral of Sevilla is really incredible too). We also got a chance to climb to the top.. to see the bells and the famous gargoyles. That was maybe my favorite part of the whole trip. But, while we were waiting to climb.. we bought our first crêpe, with sugar and butter. I’d never had a crêpe before.. and it was delicious! Once at the top, we looked at the bells. The biggest bell, is over 400 years old and takes at least ten men to move it. Wow! Plus, at the top of the tower.. was a beautiful overall view of Paris.

        At the top!                                                            Notre Dame
The Gargoyles.. that overlook the city




Afterwards, we intended to visit another church…but apparently things close early in Paris, so we weren’t able to go. Thus, we decided to make our way towards the famous Eiffel Tower. Along the way, we stopped at a beautiful park, the Champs-Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe…and then proceeded to the Eiffel Tower. Though it was getting late, I just KNEW that it had to be close.. since I could see it. Matt wasn’t quite so sure…but we continued. About 45 minutes later, we finally arrived. Matt made sure to let me know…that though I can see something, that does not mean it is close. =)
But wow, what a beautiful site! I never thought in my life that I would see the Eiffel Tower. It’s always something that you hear about. It’s way more beautiful in person too…especially at night because every hour, they do a light show.. and the tower lights up and sparkles!

The next couple of days, we did a lot of walking. We visited the Basilique de Sacre-Coeur, which is another beautiful church that is situation on a hillside and of course the famous art museum the Louvre. Matt LOVED the Louvre. He’d never been to art museum as such before and he’s not super into art, but he really enjoyed seeing Napoleons’ apartment—which is basically like the inside of a palace, where everything is…or seems of Gold. Of course we also the Mona Lisa and the armless woman statue, because they are also situated there.

Also, did you know that there is a statue of liberty in Paris? It's the sister statue to the one we have in New York.
Sacre-Coeur
The Louvre
Napolean's Apartment
Famous armless lady. What's the actual name? Anyone know?

We all know what this is. It's actually REALLY small
A real Egyption mummy inside of the museum


Arc du Triomphe and Eiffel Tower off the the right


View from the top of the Eiffel Tower


We had intended on going to Disneyland Paris. For those of you who know me well,  I LOVE Disneyland. In fact, we spent a portion of our honeymoon there…so that must mean I really like it, huh? =) Unfortunately, we ran out of money…because everything is Paris is expensive and Matt didn’t get paid as much as we were anticipating.

So though Paris might seem like a really romantic place, it was a different kind of romantic…because we didn’t have money, therefore we didn’t eat out. In fact, most of what we ate was pastries from a bakery.. and loafs of cheap, delicious bread. And we didn’t get to do a lot of the activities we were hoping.

Nonetheless, we still thoroughly enjoyed it and would like to return someday. We visited the Eiffel every night..and sometimes during the day. The street venders there are CRAZY. There is thousands of them.. and they all surround you and try to sell you mini Eiffel towers and toys and everything you can imagine. So when they see you...and even if you dont want to buy anything...they will just drop the price lower…and lower..and lower. It’s kind of ridiculous, because they are bartering with themselves.

So the last night, I decided to take advantage of their little…price lowering game. I really wanted to buy an Eiffel Tower, but only had 7 euros. Most of the Eiffel Towers..are like 20+ euros in the stores, so I had to get the price down quite a ways. So he started his price at 15. I tried to tell him six..and he would lower it one euro at a time and hand me the Eiffel Tower. Then, I would say six..and give him the tower back and he would lower the price again. Finally, it got down to 7. Woo! Job done. =)


Very proud of my new Eiffel Tower purchase

Gosh, the rest of Paris is a blur. We were only there for three days, which is not very much time. Afterwards we headed back to Sevilla and hung out for a couple days until Matt left. When we arrived in Sevilla.. we practically had no money and weren’t quite sure what to do, since we needed somewhere to sleep. The couple we stayed with originally had other people staying with them… so we just went with the flow and didn't really know where we would stay. We considered sleeping outside, but we just left it in God’s hands.

Sporting his blazer gear in front of the
Giralda, which is part of Sevilla's Cathedral


Churros.. they make them fresh for you.
You're supposed to dip them in hot chocolate..that is almost like pudding.
Immediately, we headed back to my host family’s house to put our stuff somewhere. Most of the time, Spaniards are really weird about letting strangers come in their house, so I wasn’t quite sure what would happen. However, when we arrived...my host mom was super excited to meet Matt and invited us in…and made us dinner. =) Then she proceeded to tell us that we could both stay in her house until Matt left. WOW. That never happens…and I’m not joking, so it was a huge blessing to us. Since we had just a tiny bit of money left, for the next two days, we visited Sevilla's Gothic Cathedral (3rd biggest in the world), ate churros, ate one meal in a restaurant where Matt tried authentic Spanish food, and also took a horse drawn carriage!!!
Yay!!
Just really happy to be together!
The last thing we did, was put a lock on the bridge that I walk over every day. There are locks all over the bridges and the story goes…that lovers put locks on the bridge and throw the key into the river, so that nothing can unlock..their love. To this day, our lock is still on the bridge. I LOVE looking at it.. as I walk over the bridge every day. It’s just another reminder of how much Matt loves me!
Our lock.. that says "My home is where you are".. which Matt wrote.
The Tower of Gold is in the background.

Matt left bright and early the next morning.. and I was pretty emotional, but he made it home just fine and recovered from jetlag quite quickly. My host mom sent him with some food for his journey...a Spanish sandwich, chips and fruit. Again, another blessing.

So there you have it. This is probably my longest blog yet and I’m sure there is something I’ve left out. If you want more specific stories, you’ll have to ask me sometime.

One week until I am home! Sorry if I have some gramatical errors. I'm pretty exhausted. =)

1 comment:

  1. This was the greatest trip of my life and I am so blessed that I got to spend it with the one I love. I love you so much my dear :)

    ReplyDelete