il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux champs elysées

i'm in paris! it is incredible. everything that i wanted and more. right now i'm staying with my very amazing friend, marion, who has lived in paris her whole life. the city is just so gorgeous - history and everything.

here's a pic of me yesterday before i left - i look so excited and full of energy!! definitely expecting to feel the opposite at the end of the trip.

i also want to be about 5 lbs lighter.

yesterday, marion et moi ate dinner and drank wine in the grass around the eiffel tower. we saw fountains and the trocadero (?!), which i guess are museums and stuff. the train trip here was also great - just a stop in limoges and then a three hour train to paris. MARION IS AWESOME!

wow! 

me with a bag of wine

fountains with a crane

my view. it's ok.

it lit up! my phone couldn't handle it.

today was a CRAZY day. marion had it all planned out. here's a picture per thing we did. get ready.

first we went to montmartre - this is a large hill in paris topped with l'eglise de sacre coeur (a really famous cathedral). it is also where the film amelie was shot. there were a lot of stairs.

l'eglise. 

disney based his castle after it. duh.

me with tourists. best friends.

a fountain!

cheese shop in montmartre 

i like fountains.

view from the top! LOOK AT PARIS!!! DO IT!!

then we BIKED. down through the city. it was really stunning. i mean like, movie stunning. just biking through paris. here are some things we saw:

moulin rouge, of course.  

l'arc de triomphe! it is surrounded by a terrifying
roundabout. 

entrance to the grand palais. it was pretty stunning.

entrance to a museum.

i'm serious. gold is a fine thing
(10 pts to whoever gets that reference) 

here's me on a bridge.

just a normal column with the eiffel tower
in the background. 

gold shiny things. 

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! 

an ornate bridge.

i mean. it's fine.

across this bridge that i've been referencing was this huge hospital used in some war for people who lost limbs. it was big.

it was for "invalids"

getting closer!

it literally took forever to get to the entrance.

entrance / bald man

wow!

it is now a maritime museum.
huge courtyard with
a big gold cupola (of course) 

wow!

it was quite large.

very ornate.

i mean, this is a pretty nice hospital.

the view of paris as we left the invalids.

just some natural ornate buildings.

then we had to take a lunch break because we were le tired. japanese food!!!

then we saw one of the paris opera places.

i cant remember the name.

parisian fashion.

a large monument.

then we wandered over the the louvre (again, no big deal........). we sat again because we needed to make sure our legs were still attached to our bodies.

just saw the louvre!

then we walked to another bridge that people put locks on and write their initials on the locks. all for love. <3

view of one of the ISLANDS off of paris... who knew?!

locks.

love locks.

then we turned a corner and saw this.

notre-dame!

it's HUGE.

then we kept walking (theme of the day!)

flower market!

another amazing building.

beautiful.

this is a university?

courthouse, i think.

marion's favorite church - cute.

it was closed, but whatever.

THEN we went home and passed out for a while. 

we continued the night by getting sushi to go and biking to the river seine.

riverside dinner!

and treated ourselves to un peu de glace.

so basically, it was the best day ever. tomorrow afternoon i am off to amsterdam. i'm sure i'll have a lot to say. I HAVE TO GIVE A HUGE SHOUTOUT TO MARION WHO SHOWED ME ALL THE MOST AMAZING TOURISTY THINGS EVEN THOUGH SHE HAS LIVED IN PARIS FOREVER! i had such an amazing time. cant wait to return in a few weeks!!!

a bientot!