HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I was really excited to have my 20th birthday in Paris. This is what I did:

We took the metro down to Notre Dame and I picked up a pain au chocolat for breakfast. The line to get into Notre Dame was kind of long so most of the girls opted to do their own thing. But, while M'kynzi and I waited in the long line there was a Quasimodo-masked guy walking through the crowd scaring people. It was soo funny because most of the girls screamed. We finally got up the spiral staircase and the view was great!! We were both glad that we waited in the line to go up. I've decided that climbing up things is one of my favorite things to do as a tourist.

After taking lots of picture we decided to walk a ways to Saint Chapelle to see the stained glass that Kelsey had talked about. Because we had a museum pass we got in free and skipped the line. At first when we got into the first floor we thought "wow, good thing we didn't wait in that line" - it was just under-whelming. Finally we realized that there were some stairs to the next level and once we climbed them we were amazed. The windows are incredibly beautiful and it was nice to just sit and try to figure out which bibles scenes we were looking at.

We had a plan to meet Kelsey at the Louvre at 2:00 so we wandered along the Seine and looked at all the vendors. I bought myself a small pocket mirror with the Eiffel Tower on it. Anyways, the Louvre was huge! We split up and looked at whatever we wanted to look at. Yes, I saw the Mona Lisa. What is even better is that I actually recognized more than I thought I would, probably because of my Music Civ. class where I had to memorize art like crazy. I wrote down most of the artists I recognized. Anyways, I pretty much just saw the paintings which I was excited about, though I also wandered through some sculptures to find the Venus de Milo. What's funny is that I was most excited to take my picture in front of the pyramid.

The next item on our list was to climb up the the Arc de Triomph. All of us finally met up at the Louvre to walk over there. It was about an hour walk down the Champs Elysees, which really does have some cool stores along it. When I compare climbing the Arc and Notre Dame I come to this conclusion: the Arc is more exhausting because of the spiral went forever, but you can see a bigger view of Paris all around. Notre Dame was cooler because of the architecture and the giant bell that we got to stand by.

By this time we were all super hungry. The girls treated me to dinner at a funky French restaurant with fuchsia walls. I had penne aux 4 fromages and ordered in French. It was the best penne I've ever had. Yummmm.

And of course we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower again. M'kynzi, Kelsey, and I were up for climbing it, but the other girls weren't so we again split up. The line actually wasn't too bad. We met a couple from Canada and had a nice conversation going. While talking with them, a lady slipped into line right in front of us. We were a little confused but thought, who cares it's just one person. After a few minutes though she waved to all her friends and they joined her in the line. M'kynzi had the guts to ask her to move, but she claimed she had been standing there forever, and we couldn't do much else but make them stand behind us and the Canadians. We forgot about them as we rode the elevator up to the middle level. But as we stood in the line to take the lift to the top, we see the same lady duck under the rope to cut in front of us once again!! I was astonished! Who does she think she is? She thinks she can "budge" us twice in one night?? I don't think so. We made her and her cutting entourage go to the end of the line, and I was growled and cursed at. haha wow. Some people. But anyways. We made it to the top and, oh my, the view was spectacular. We went at just the right time, because the city lights we just turning on. Then the flashing lights on the tower went off. It looked like a strobe light. I enjoyed the view, a little rain, taking pictures, and soaking in the fact that I was on the Eiffel Tower on my birthday! Since it was such an occasion, I used M'kynzi's sharpie to write "Abby Leigh 20!" on the structure. It was a fun moment. We made it down, after all that, just in time to sit a while on the grass and see the lights go off once more.

We bought some cotton candy on the way to the metro station. and I almost had a man draw a caricature of me for 5 euro. Those guys kept asking me all weekend to draw me; I didn't know if I should really be flattered. We got to the hostel around 12:30 and then Kels and I talked until 3:00 am. A day in Paris was a great way to quit being a teenager!