Paris -- A recap.

So, yeah...

I went to Paris, once. 

Honestly, during the day I spent there, I did not see the magic or beauty that many people experience while they were there. Needless to say, my hopes were up entirely too high for the experience that I had. 

You see, Paris happened just two days (maybe less??) after our arrival back home from the craziness that happened in Finland, and our unexpected trip to Scotland. 

Before our trip to Finland, I decided to sign up for a day trip (through something Army related) to Paris. Husband wasn't interested in going, so he stayed home with the dog. 

I actually thought about NOT going. Because, well... To tell you the truth I was out of my mind exhausted! I almost gave it up, but then, thought back to the measly $60 that I spent on this trip, and was like, Adrienne, you CANNOT pass up on this opportunity. Who knows when it is going to roll around again?

So I got read to get on the bus that was to leave close to midnight. And we would ride it, for 8-9 hours straight. Oh wait, we had one stop at a gas station thing. On the inside of the border to France. We were nearly there! Thank goodness, because I hadn't slept a wink. Nope, not one minute of sleep was had by me. There were movies playing on the screens in the bus, the speaker happened to be over my head... Oh and the two guys behind me? They were snoring like chainsaws. Great.

We arrive in Paris, and I became friends with the guy who sat next to me on the bus, we both had the same issue of not sleeping. What better to do than pass the time with some chit chat? So that's what we did. 

There it is the Eiffel Tower. A big hunk of metal. I wasn't too terribly impressed. Horrible to say? I don't care. There it was, this monument that everyone in the world seems like they want to see. I get there, and I stare at it. Big deal. Whatever. I still took a lot of photos of it. We quickly went off to find some damn coffee and something to eat. We all were starving. You see that photo at the top of the post? That is what I had for breakfast. 6 fucking euro coffee. Do you know how much that is in USD?? Like eight bucks. For real. I was unimpressed, and it tasted like poo. I drank it anyway.

We walked around for what seemed like ages. Because... the only real reason why I wanted to go to Paris was because I wanted my damn Paris Starbucks Mug, and I was on a mission.

Luckily, the people I was with understood that. And they were patient. We found the Starbucks and got my mug, and then we did whatever else they wanted to do. At this point, I was just along for the ride (though, I secretly wanted to try and find the art district).

We saw tons and tons and TONS of statues... Moral of the statue story? Most cherub's were decapitated. Sad? I thought it was particularly funny. But also sad. Sad that  either people would do that to something that clearly took someone so long to complete. It's rude. It's all about manners people. But then again... It could have happen long long long ago, and it's just the way it is (probably the latter).

I think my most favorite part of the day was finding this face written on a red light. Cracked my shit up! Haha. It was near Starbucks.

Obligatory Louvre pyramid photo. We took a nice relaxing half hour here. After we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Yea we were pretty lame about food choices this day. I think we were all so darn tired, that it didn't really matter what the hell we were doing in Paris. At least we can all say we went to Paris, right? Something like that...

Notre Dam (yeah, I am too lazy to make sure I spelled it right. Don't judge me). So, my favorite part about the DAM was that we didn't wait in the LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG ass line to go in. I am an Athiest person, so, I only really go into churches to admire the architecture and art... However, this was not worth the wait. I am not a very patient person and would give up the one opportunity to go into notre dame (sp? lol) for something more appealing... Like, admiring the beautiful cherry blossom trees that were OUTSIDE of the church. See below. 

I also, just loved the outside of the church. I was just thinking about how long it took them to build it for such a silly reason (in my eyes) and how beautiful it was. And now, I look at these cherry blossom trees, or what I thought to be cherry blossom trees, and second guess whether or not they actually were cherry blossoms. I don't think they are. I dunno though. I am not sure if I have ever really seen them in real life. lol.

This sign also made me laugh. I thought it was pretty darn clever. 

Anyway. After the church. We needed to find something to eat, it was dinner time already. But goodness! It's so hard to decide where to eat when there are too many options in front of you, and you're tired, and... like, dying practically. 

We ended up stopping at this one restaurant, and they had a special on their chicken from the night prior, and... it sucked. I had to tell them to take it back to heat it up. Because, it wasn't even warm all the way. Oh, and the waiter here was the only douche-y french person I encountered. Compared to all the people who said the french are so rude, I thought that was a pretty great accomplishment.

We hung out at DA EIFFEL until it was time to get back on the bus. Everyone urged the bus driver and boss person to stay until it was dark so they all could see The Eiffel Tower all lit up. (I was thinking to myself, oh goodness, are you kidding me? I haven't slept in like, two days. I am ready to go home.)

But, on the bright side, I got this photo:

And now I can say that I've been to Paris and walked like... 10 miles that day. See?!

Honestly, I probably wouldn't go to Paris again. It's so full of tourists, and I don't really like that, personally. But, if my mom comes, and she foots the bill, begs me to go to Paris. We will. I'd do that for my mom. lol. All for the big hunk of metal.

Have you ever been somewhere that everyone raved about, only to find it disappointing and overrated?