#Is She Smiling?

Day One in Paris. It was a full day to say the least...

We decided to buy passes for the hop on/hop off tour bus because it would take us everywhere we wanted to go and we could begin our adventure bright and early. My favorite thing about the bus ride this morning was when the driver tried to print our tickets and drive at the same time. We also got head phones and were able to listen to the recording of "Jean Luc" telling us about everything we were driving past and not stopping to see.

Our plan had been to go to the Louvre first, but our bus dropped us off at the Love Lock Bridge, which had been where we were planing of going after the Louvre, so a swap was in order. There are several love lock bridges in Paris (and other places) but this was the main one, Pont des Arts. You're supposed to attach a lock with your and your beloved's name written on it then lock it onto the bridge and throw one of the keys into the Seine. Whitney bought a lock and attached it to the one new section of parapet since the old section actually collapsed last week due to all of the weight the locks added to it.

Whitney throwing her lock into the Seine

Me throwing up because of all the sentimentality

After that, it was time for the Louvre, aka the most famous museum in the world. We started off right, we went in through the underground entrance and cut off a lot of the wait time, but after that, we were totally lost. We had two different maps and still had no idea where we were going -- more on that in a moment. After bumbling around the place for a bit, we got to the first must-see of the trip (we only had two "must sees" but still) which was the Venus de Milo. I bet you'll never guess what the next "must-see" was... The Mona Lisa. Whitney spent the majority of the walk to the painting (which yes, included getting lost) talking about why she didn't understand why everyone thought that it was so great. When we actually got there, Whitney pushed through the crowds to take a selfie with the Mona Lisa. Don't believe me?

But first, let me take a selfie

I just reverted to my favorite Justin Timberlake/Jimmy Fallon sketch and kept saying #IsSheSmiling? Clearly culture is lost on us. After that, we tried to leave. Tried is the key word, because as I said before, we were pretty much lost from the moment we walked in. We ended up in an exhibit with that recreated Marie Antoinette's rooms and had a lot of her possessions; at this point we determined that she was fancy, like Iggy Azalea fancy. After that, we ended up in the ancient Egyptian exhibit. Then we left the ancient Egyptian exhibit and found a bathroom but ended up back in a different part of the ancient Egyptian exhibit! We were pretty sure we were going to be lost forever because suddenly we were down in some type of stone exhibit when we FINALLY saw the light and were standing under the famous pyramid.

After the Louvre, we hopped back on the bus and headed towards Notre-Dame. When we got off the bus, we decided that it was lunch time so we walked a few blocks until we found some place that appeared to be within our budget. I don't think I've actually had "real" French food yet, but considering that I'm in France, it's all French food. Across the street from the little cafe where we got lunch was a little market and since Whitney luvvvs shopping, it was a no brainer. This is probably where the biggest surprise of our day occurred; before our trip, Whitney informed me that my wardrobe was ungodly boring and "couldn't I at least dress it up with a scarf?" Well, I bought a scarf. Let the people of the world rejoice.

After lunch and scarves, we went back to Notre-Dame to actually go in it. Going into the cathedral is free, so that is where we headed first. I can't really be sassy about this part of the day because it was hands down the most stunning. Like, how can you turn incredible stained glass windows and gorgeous vaulted ceilings into sarcasm? Not even I can do that.

After going through that part of the church, we decided that we needed to pay the extra to head to the top. We didn't realize that this would mean waiting in line for about an hour, but it was worth the wait. Really, really worth the wait.

There was a catch though... 400 catches actually, because we had to climb 400 stairs. I can barely climb four stairs! Plus, these were spiral stone stairs. I impressed myself by making it up about 85 of them before I tripped and nearly broke my face. Without any major injuries to report, we made it to the top, which, like I said, was worth it.

Mhm. Yup. Worth it. 

My favorite part of this trip, however, might have been before we even left the ground. Whitney excitedly asked me if I "was ready to see a gargoyle up close and personal?" I told her that I already was. Ba dum ching.

See the resemblance?

After we'd gone down the stairs (which was almost as bad as climbing up them), we went back to the bus and got to basically take the entire tour around the city before returning to where we started -- strike that -- several miles away from where we started. In the morning, they add an extra stop that is right by our hostel, but when that stop no longer exists, the closest one is a long walk. We got a little bit lost, but successfully made it back (which I assume that you figured out for yourself since I wouldn't be blogging about it otherwise, but I gotta check).

And now, we're chilling before dinner and then will probably spend a bit of time doing our own thing because as Whitney put it, she likes me but she doesn't like "being nose-picking touching close" to me all the time.