kris & i started our euro adventure in liverpool, england. after a delayed train causing us to miss our switch in preston, we eventually made it to liverpool. we went to ´the beatles story´which is a museum dedicated to the beatles, since liverpool is where they grew up, started the band, and became famous. it actually made me want to stay in england forever. if ever you get a chance, definitely check out the museum. it was by far one of my favorites. the commentary was funny and interesting and at times even gave me the chills. after learning the history of the beatles, we flew out of liverpool and headed to paris, the city of love!
since we flew in so late the airport was pretty dead, which was nice because i´ve heard it can get pretty hectic with lots of pickpocketers. kris and i found our hostel and went off to bed to rest up for our exploration the next day. we decided to do another free walking tour, and kris and i ended up walking from 9am to 10pm. we started off the day with bread and jam at the hostel for breakfast (the french love their loafs of bread..think italian restaurant style). we then followed the map to the meeting place for the start of our tour, and let me just say kris and i are getting to be quite the map readers! on the way we realized what a clean city paris is! for as big as it is, there was not a bit of trash, and all of the trees were perfectly trimmed, and the flowers were all in bloom. we also noticed the cutest boutiques, shop after shop. their window displays and all of the clothes were so cute..too bad it´s so pricey! anyway, back to the tour...our tour guide was from scotland and she did an awesome job. of all the free tours, paris was by far my favorite. we saw buildings such as the Louvre, the arch, the Eiffel tower, and bridges while learning the history of Paris. It´s such a lovefest that there is a bridge dedicated to lovers who put a lock on the fence rail and then toss the key into the river, locking their love forever. there are hundreds upon hundreds of such locks, some engraved, some just written in marker with names and dates, of all shapes and sizes. another bridge we saw was the first stone bridge built in Paris. the king at the time was humiliated by friends because they didn´t think the stone bridge would stand and instead they thought it would collapse just like how all the wooden bridges rotted away. well, after he had it built, he hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the bridge. he invited tons of guests, many of whom were the ones who thought a stone bridge was a pathetic idea. he served wine and champagne which apparently isn´t a good combo. they got plastered and the king had an artist sketch a picture of them all after they were ´well pissed´ (english term for really, really drunk). he then had a sculptor sculpt out the heads of all of these faces, and he had them placed on the side of the bridge, in revenge to humiliate them. there is not a single duplicate of a face, and some even look goblin-like. a bitter revenge? i think so, since the whole world can now view them!
we ended the tour at a restaurant that had outside seating (literally every single place has outside seating with the chairs all facing the sidewalk/street so that you can people watch, how brill!). we had a view of the eiffel tower while we ate croque monsieur, a typical french sandwich, and sipped on some lovely white wine. the sandwich is like a toasted hot ham and cheese but it also has cheese toasted on top as well. i´m definitely going to start doing that at home! a grilled cheese with a twist...
my absolute favorite part of paris was of course the eiffel tower. we were advised to go at dusk to get the best of both worlds and see the tower right before the sun completely sets as well as when it´s silhouetted against the black sky. to my suprise there was no line to climb the 669 steps to the 2nd floor, so up we went! the views were spectacular, and as we climbed, the skies became dark and we were greeted with a lighted tower that sparkles every hour on the hour for 10 minutes. the sights were great, but did you know the empire state building is taller? once we descended all 669 steps, we gazed once again and waited for the tower to start its glittering. we felt like we were waiting for fireworks on the 4th of july. Once the time approached, the sight was beyond beautiful. i couldn´t take my eyes away from the tower. no wonder an american woman literally fell in love with it, got married to it and even got married on it (well i guess how else would you marry someone (or should i say some ´thing´) without ´it´ being there?) that´s a true story too, look it up!
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