Defining Movement: Napoleon's Capital for Europe

I am officially alone in Europe. My family has left me. No, no, it's not near as bad as it sounds. However, the rest of the family has unfortunately had to head back stateside. Mackenzie will spend the last few weeks before school begins again in Ketchikan, Alaska with the grandparents and surprised the parents with plane tickets to do the same. While those three are up in the last frontier, Nathaniel and Curtis are blazing their way around the base of Mont Blanc. They will hike through France, Switzerland and Italy during the 12-day trek, before flying home out of Geneva. This all happened just over a week ago when the family trip ended and we separated in the Dublin airport.

And where am I, you might ask? I have taken refuge in Poland. I am currently writing from Kasia and her family's beautiful living room. Kasia is a friend of mine whom I met studying abroad in Würzburg, Germany a few years ago. She lives in Kobylnica, her and her whole family are absolutely amazing poepole, and they and Poland are the subject of my next blog post. First, I want to tell you about Paris.

Mom, dad, and Mackenzie flew off on eagle's wings from Dublin. But Nathaniel, Curtis and I flew back into Paris after our time in Ireland. Our plane touched down at around 16:35 and the boys' plan was to then catch a train from the airport with direction eastern France, where they would start their hike the next day. I was torn (Paris is extremely expensive), but decided that since I was already in Paris I should stay a couple of days.

Power napping like a boss

We were met with a little surprise in Dublin when we went to rush to our gate and found this...a huge closed door that said, "If your flight leaves from gates... through... and the door is closed, please wait here." Except our flight was supposed to close boarding in 10 minutes. But where else were we going to wait? We ended up having a gate change and the horde swarmed to a gate outside of the safe zone.

Contrary to what everyone says and the stereotypes that we have, I did not meet a single rude Parisian. The city was vibrant and alive and the people seemed just as passionate and welcoming as the sights I was there to see. I got to my hostel that night at around 19:30. It was a shared dorm with 4 beds. Since there was no curfew and I only had one full day there, I decided to go for a little night tour. I walked along the bank of the Seine and hit most of the major sights, making it all the way to the Eiffel Tower. I would see a tall, important-looking building that seemed close, walk to it, then see another. This leapfrogging turned out to take me much farther than expected, however, and I ended up making it back to the hostel around 3:00 a.m.

Gael Monfils, a famous French tennis player, has taken over the metro with his healthy drink

There are signs on bridges saying that the tradition of 'locking your love' on the Parisian bridges is causing permanent damage to them and their structure. There is a plan to remove all of them and then cover the sides of the bridges with a clear Plexiglas sort of material within the year

The Eiffel at night

I was amazed at how huge the tower actually was. It is hard to appreciate until you are under its mass of iron

The lights sparkle every so often, for all you Nicholas Sparks readers...

The Pantheon

Notre Dame

Notre Dame from the bank of the Seine

The next day I bought a day pass and took advantage of the metro. I made sure to hit the Sacré-Coeur and then made my way back along the Seine from that direction. A pleasant surprise was my visit to the Louvre. I wasn't planning on it, but found out from a couple ladies in my hostel that entry is free after 18:00 for anyone under 26. I jumped on the opportunity and had my brain scrambled by an absurd amount of great art in a ludicrously large building.