One (ish) month

So I'm in Paris!

It's been about a month now and I'm starting to get used to things.

I'm getting used to the metro: the bad smells in the stations (the least bad of which being the weird jam smell), the fun little guitar riff they play when a train is leaving, the amount that I need to lean one way or the other to keep from falling over.

I'm getting used to saying "emporter" in restaurants (mostly boulangeries) when they ask me if I want it to stay or to go.

I'm getting used to my museum. I'm getting used to clipping my badge to my shirt before I walk in and nodding at the security guards standing watch against confused pedestrians before the museum opens. I'm getting used to letting myself into my boss's office since she's been gone for 4 out of the 5 weeks I've been there. I'm getting used to heading down to the metal lab at 12:50 so the other intern and I can eat lunch together at the cafeteria under the Louvre.

I'm getting used to it, but it's still pretty surreal.

I've not done as many cool things as I probably should have by this point. My friend from church, another American who is here for a couple of months before she moves to New York, were talking the other day about how if we were on vacation here, then we would have already seen so much more than either of us has. "I've only done about two days worth of things," she told me. Same here.

So I'm trying to step it up a little more, get out to museums and things a little more.

Here's a rundown of what I've done (complete with pictures if I have them!):

First off, a lot of walking around. That first weekend when I was so jet lagged, walking around was what saved me.

Notre Dame from afar, since you can't go up to it at the moment

And I want you all to know that my priorities are incredibly in order because the first Saturday (other than that first horribly jet lagged one) I went to Disneyland Paris.

This probably my favorite castle of any Disney park. The elegance?? The square trees??? Unmatched

I'm a huge Disney fan anyway, so Disneyland Paris was definitely super incredible. It's pretty different from the the parks in California and Florida, but still just as magical.

At one point I went to Sacré Cœur, a gorgeous cathedral in northern Paris.

A close-up of one of the mosaics on the ceilings inside

I went to Galeries Lafayette which is basically just a giant bougie shopping mall. I looked at all the expensive makeup and clothes, and then I went to the roof to take a picture of the view (I did buy a 2020 planner and some cute gel pens--the key is to go the top floor where they have all the cheap stuff).

The Opera and the Eiffel Tower. When you're actually up there, the Eiffel Tower looks so close, but for some reason it looks far away in pictures.

I also went up to the Eiffel Tower that same day. I haven't been to the top since I was here with my mom, but hopefully that will happen at some point. Who's to say.

I went to the Luxembourg Gardens with a girl I met at church (she's American but she's here studying fashion design. Literally the dream??? Anyway).

That next week Grandma Geri, Megan, and Whitney came into town. It was so cool to have them here! And they definitely got me out doing things. We did a boat tour despite the questionable weather.

At this point I think we're up to three Eiffel Tower pictures? 

Just one of many beautiful bridges across the Seine

We crossed the river to find a burger restaurant and stumbled across some amazing views of....

Surprise! A fourth Eiffel Tower picture

Later that week I reached both new depths and new heights. Megan and I went down 131 steps into the catacombs.

Bone time babey!!

Then, back at Sacré Cœur, we climbed a cool 300 to the dome.

For reference

The view was definitely worth it

The next day we went to the Palace at Versailles. I know my mom wasn't a huge fan of it when we went last time, but let me tell you Thelma, you didn't see the gardens.

A recreation of a mirror selfie from two and half years ago with two of my best friends, this time with my aunts

See mom?

Down in the garden pictured above they had fruit trees! Here's a lime (or maybe an underdeveloped lemon? Is there a difference?), but there were also avocados and pomegranates.

Some jasmine that smelled amazing

The most recent significant thing I've done is go to the Musée d'Orsay, where they have all the impressionists and post-impressionists. It was incredible. I love love love Monet and Renoir. I didn't cry I like I did at the National Gallery in DC but I definitely got pretty close. I didn't any pictures inside the museum, but I do have a picture of the souvenirs I got.

I don't know how to rotate the picture in blogger so unfortunately this is what we're stuck with. You get the idea. 

That pretty gets us up to date. As a bonus round, I'll throw in a few pictures of other significant things.

The window in my bedroom

I had to buy a new purse when the zipper and strap on my other one broke.

A jack-o-lantern chocolate mousse that I got at Disneyland. Please ignore the finger mark from when I tried to rotate it for the picture and didn't realize how soft it was. I mean, we all know how firm mousse usually is right?

My failed attempt at Joe Mama jokes

Well, I think that's all. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I'll try to update a little more frequently so it's less of a dump of so many things at once. Maybe I'll shake it up with some fun anecdotes next time.

Alright bye!