7.14.09 Paris

Conveniently, our free day in Paris fell on Bastille Day, which is France’s independence day. We were told it would super chaotic and that we should watch our pockets and purses for pick-pocketers. Our plan for the day included renting these bikes that are all over the city and riding to the Opera house and shopping, and of course ending the evening with my favorite thing in the whole world…fireworks. Not just any fireworks but fireworks off the Eiffel Tower. To our dismay, we weren’t able to rent the bikes and fulfill my dream of riding through Paris with baguettes and wild flowers in the basket.

the bikes we so desperately wanted to ride. it would have been bliss.

A little bummed out, we headed for the less exciting metro and found our way to the Opera house. It was very cool to go in the inside because I am a huge fan of the movie and musical Phantom of the Opera so to see where that was filmed in real life was pretty amazing. However, I found it sad that my only knowledge of the Opera house was what I knew from a fictional movie. I’m still glad we went though and got to see another side of Paris while there.

back of the opera house.

staircase in opera house...prom 09!

hall of opera house...INSANE

box seats in the auditorium

Shopping was next on our list of things to do and we searched with diligence until we found what we were looking for… H&M. only the world’s greatest store that I love. Lets’ just say it was a successful shopping trip for all of us and the fab five left with bags in hand. We were pooped after all that shopping and wandering around Paris so we rested for the afternoon until we wanted to go out for the evening to watch fireworks, and I just couldn’t wait.

successful shopping trip at the greatest place on earth

k this is for my brother in law dave....he told me it was a must to eat this pastry, or at least a pastry he described that matched this pastry i found. i enjoyed it for you dave!

We decided to cross the Seine to the otherside of the Eiffel Tower to have a better view and what we thought would have been a less crowded view. Man were we sorely wrong. I have never seen that many people in my life and so that many people packed into one metro car. Little did I know what it would be like on the ride home. We made it the place and with difficulty, found a decent spot were we could see the top half of the Eiffel Tower. We were packed in and were back to back with our neighbors. The show started and I could have wept I was so happy. I LOVE fireworks more than anything and to be in Paris watching them was unreal to me. It was a totally amazing show but not like Paris worthy I thought. Come to find out later, we were seeing the back of the Eiffel Tower and on the front of it, they projected images and lights and it was all to music and this totally amazing production that we missed. I was kinda bummed but loved the fireworks even if we didn’t see that.

we made it to the fireworks among the thousand of people.

it speaks for itself really

tears, honest to goodness tears welled up in my eyes during this experience.

hello grand finale! seriously incredible

It was time to make our way home along with about 1 million other people. You think I’m exaggerating but seriously they said that’s how many people were there. It’s got nothing on Time Square. We were so lucky to have Brady there because we all linked arms and he yanked us all through the hoards of people. I have never held on to someone’s arm as I did then because I was not about to get lost from our group. Getting on the metro was a joke so we decided to just wait it out a bit and see if it died down. I have seriously never been so nervous to be somewhere because we were told that riots can break out and if you are American you are not wanted there. We decided not to speak and if someone asked if we knew English we’d just shake our heads or pretend we were from Canada, the Vancouver area to be exact. After having some too friendly people near us and no being able to find the metro, we made it to the station. Again, just thousands of people were there. People were pressed up against the glass on the metro and there was no room to breathe. Brady got us on and off the metro and kept us safe while riding it. The hens were safe and rooster got us there…that was our motto. I honestly doubted if we would ever make it back to the hotel alive and not robbed, but we did! I have never been so happy to see my bed in my life. It’s just another day in the life of Paris.

on our way home before getting lost but happy to have made it out alive