As the semester is starting to come to a close, my CEA group and I went on our last excursion together this past weekend. And not a shabby one at that because we spent it in “The City of Love”, aka Paris! And how was it you ask? Absolutely amazing! For this being my third time here, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Paris has a way of capturing you in the moment and made me fall in love with the city all over again!


Of course we saw the Eiffel Tower (and we actually saw a guy proposing to his girlfriend here!! It was the most romantic thing I’ve seen in awhile)

Notre Dame

The Louvre

L’Arc de Triomphe

 and the Champs Elysées


But we also got to explore a different aspect of the city that I had never experienced before. The first not so touristy thing we did was visit the famous cemetery, Père Lachaise. This cemetery is massive, I’m talking many, many acres, but the cool part about being on the grounds is who’s buried here. Some of the most famous and well known are Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Fontaine, Molière and Delacroix. And our group found all of their graves. Oscar Wilde’s grave was the most unique, in my opinion, because of all of the “lipstick” kisses on it. I guess it has become a tradition that when you are at his grave, you give him a kiss. I did not do this, 1. because I did not have lipstick, and 2. because, do you know how much bacteria is on that grave? Gross! I did, however, blow him a kiss, which I think is the next best thing.

We also explored Chinatown, which I actually never knew Paris had. We ate at a wonderful Chinese restaurant and got to explore Chinese grocery stores and shopping. There was even a McDonald’s with Chinese characters instead of English. The Jewish quarters were also something I enjoyed exploring. We ate at one of the best falafel houses in that area and experienced the wonders of Jewish bakeries (well I didn’t, but just the smell of those bakeries was to die for!).


Le Grand Palais was another one of my favorites. The building itself speaks wonders!

I could have walked around the entire perimeter and been satisfied, but we did go in to see the art of William Turner, and the first thing that came to my mind when hearing his name was Orlando Bloom’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean hah, but it turns out that he was an impressionist painter.
His art didn’t “wow” me, but it was still very well done and somewhat interesting to look at. We didn’t spend a lot of time here because everyone in my group pretty much felt the same way about his paintings as I did, so after the Palais, we walked up the Champs Elysées towards L’Arc de Triomphe. Our walk was very peaceful and it was fun just observing my surroundings and taking it all in. The weather for us was perfect as well! It was supposed to rain all weekend (which would have been miserable), but the sun kept shining, which made for a wonderful trip!




Some other places we visited:
Le Pompidou

I definitely could have spent a few more days in Paris- there is so much to do and see, but now I am fully prepared and ready for when I do return with Patrick in a few weeks! Look out Paris, I’m coming back!
And with only 2 more weeks of school, I am slowly preparing for my trip back to the States and getting more and more excited and anxious. Patrick comes in 17 days and our big Europe adventure will begin! We are hitting up Bordeaux, the Normandy coast, Mont St. Michel, Paris, Lyon and of course Grenoble. It is going to amazing! Check back soon for more updates. Can’t wait!

Au Revoir,
Steph