On our second day in Paris we took a tour of the Opera house (where phantom of the Opera is based on) and it was amazing! The were grand stair cases made of marble, mirrors, and chandeliers everywhere!! Plus gorgeous painted ceilings and we got lucky enough to be able to sit in the auditorium and see where everyone in the old times sat and where the phantoms booth was. The seats were red velvet and there was a chandelier in the middle of the room that weighs 3 tons!!! It actually used to be lit by hand every night!!
From the Opera house we went over to Printemps (a major department store in France). They gave us an amazing tour.... we got to see the restaurant on the roof top that had a panoramic view of the city and they even had a special presentation set up for us with tea and little snacks (delicious). I couldn't even believe the speakers that presented had taken the time to sit down with us.... Cynthia Roussel, the head stylist of Printemps (she basically tells the company what the trends are going to be for the next season, they develop each season a year ahead of time) was first to speak. However my favorite was Aymerie de BECCO (questionable spelling, I am having a hard time reading my own hand writing) who is the Chief Buying Executive. He strategies how to keep the store turning over merchandise at the highest level possible. His main points were quality of the offer and Performance of the offer... I would go into detail of what this all means but I'm sure I find it much more interesting than most of you but if you want to know just ask!
After Printemps we decided to have a little picnic at the Eiffel Tour.... We had a bit of a detour trying to make it there and for the most part we were hungry and grouchy. But when we finally got there it ended up being a wonderful night with cheese, wine, bread and other little bits of food! At one point the Eiffel Tour started sparkling which was an amazing sight to see! We ate so much I actually said that I can never eat cheese again.... that only lasted about a day!
Day 3 in Paris was quite eventful.... The day started with a trip to the famous Chanel where Coco spent her last days, then the ritz where Princess Di was before her fatal car crash, and then a little concept store called Colette. From here the group split up and a few others and I took a scenic (monuments and also a very expensive fashion street) to the YSL- Pierre Berge collection at a little art museum. It displayed pieces from the 70's an 80's lines. We also picked up some souvenirs here!
This was also an amazing day because a girl from FIT stopped me in the street to take a picture of my outfit for her blog! (She was studying fashion in Paris)
After the foundation the day got really interesting!!! We were walking to take the metro and we heard bomb-like sounds and the police were shutting down the street to traffic.... Curious by nature Chelsea and I decided to walk towards the commotion and take pictures. there were smoke bombs going off, flashing lights, loud music, people rioting down the street; we even saw one lady curdle up on the ground with the paramedics around her. Then when we finally got to our under ground station the rioters were packed on the trains and flooding the station. Chelsea was a little freaked out to ride but we survived and made it to the CATACOMBS!!!
The catacombs are basically huge under ground graves where the French put the bones of people when they ran out of room in graveyards. The line was at least a block long but it was completely worth it! We had a little entertainment in line when a mini van trying to park backed into a mini-car numerous times and smashed the front of it! They didn't even leave a note (how rude)!! And plus the one-footed pigeon that had me distracted for quite some time trying to get a picture of it. Anyways.... the catacombs barely seemed real there were at least thousands of bodies in just the small part section off to tour and skulls were arranged on the walls in the shapes of hearts and crosses. Chelsea and I had to stop and take some "spooky" pictures and the make shadow puppets and take pictures of those!! It was a really good time for me and Chelsea can brag that she made it through!
Later on in day 3 we moved to our hostel which was the best one I had ever stayed at!! It was on a canal, had a full bar downstairs, the beds even had little curtains so everyone had there own space!! We walked the canal and found a really cute restaurant to eat at and i had to get apple pie for my birthday (which was the next day). When we got back from dinner we went to the bar and had some drinks, we had the most delicious margarita martini ever!! The bartender even did some magic and made the straws stick to the outside of the glasses... Then, of course they embarrassed me and put on he birthday song at midnight and a nice couple from Texas bought me a flaming green shot.... all in all it was a very full but fun day!
My major impression of Paris is that it could've been more fun had we had more time to sightsee and that it is very dirty and smelly and dogs poop and pee as they please.... Everywhere!!! But it was an experience and made me really appreciate the cleanliness of London!
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