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| My breakfast spread |
This morning I thought I would start off my golden birthday by having an early breakfast at 8am this morning. After breakfast the plan was to hit the ground running off to the sales, but I was so full after breakfast I went right back to sleep. I woke up and thought I would venture out to the sales. My hostess Maya walked me down to the street market first because it was a little cold and rainy and I had on open-toe sandals. I was able to find some cute knock-off sneakers for about 5 euros, which worked to walk around in the rain. I went to the l'Opera first, which houses the Galleries of Lafayette, Paris' most famous department store, spanning over 5 floors of shopping. The sales were a great value, but in comparison to American prices, they were still a little expensive, so I didn't buy anything.
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| The Galleries |
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| The Eiffel Tower |
However, it was nice to see the crowds of people going mad over Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chloe, and every other couture label you can think of! The ceiling of the Galleries were just beautiful! After the leaving the Galleries, I went to rue de Rivoli, to view their sales. After walking around I had lunch at McDonald's. The food was quite similar, with a few minor differences in taste and a major difference in price. In the US I usually pay around $4.50 and today I payed 6 euros, which is roughly $8.75. After lunch I walked around a little more before heading back to the room. I decided I would visit the Eiffel Tower for my Golden Birthday, so once I was well-rested I headed out to find the world famous tower. As I approached the tower my eyes begin to fill with tears and before I knew it I was crying. I had dreamed of visiting the Eiffel Tower for nearly 8 years and my dreams had come true, on my birthday! It was quite a wait to climb the tower, I waited for a total 40 minutes before entering. It was scary to look at how far up we had traveled and I was terrified to go up to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, then I thought about how this was a chance of a lifetime and I decided to go all the way to the top.
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The second floor of the Eiffel Tower
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| I just had to do it! |
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| A long way from home!!! |
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| The City of Paris |
The top was a long way up and it was very cold, but it was well worth it! From the top of the tower you could see all of Paris, it was simply breath-taking! After I came down from the tower I decided to wait for 20 minutes so that I could see the Tower light up at the top of the hour. Unfortunately, right before the lights came on my camera died. I still stayed to watch the beautiful lights. I wanted to walk on the Champs-Elysee, but it was getting dark, so I decided to head back towards the metro. On the way I ran into street peddlers who were selling tour de Eiffel souvenirs. After intense bargaining I bought a few from him and he even gave me one for free!! On the metro I ran into a lot of intoxicated men and teenagers. One man decided he would sing for the entire underground, another played his violin while collecting coins from others (apparently music on the metro isn't uncommon).
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Looking over the Arc de Triomphe
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Once I got back to my room my hostess and her daughter Mia had prepared a dinner of meatballs, pizza, baguettes, legumes, fried potatoes, and red wine. We did a cheers for my birthday and they gave me a special bottle of wine to take with me. After dinner Mia fixed ice cream for everyone and then we took a "family" picture since I will be leaving them tomorrow. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and I can only hope my next hostess will be as great as Maya has been to me. Tomorrow is quite a busy day with my moving to another room! Until tomorrow, au revior!
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| Maya, me, and Mia.. "My Parisian family" |
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