First Weekend in Paris!

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry for being so behind on updating this! I'm now technically over a week behind, but please, try to bear with me. :-) The following is a summary of my first weekend in Paris. I promise it's more pictures than writing, so if you're crunched for time, you can just skim through the pictures. (How convenient, huh?) As you will see, I saw A LOT...

Saturday: the perfect day for a stroll through the cemetery and watching the sunset (and picnicking) on the Seine.

Saturday, Anne and I met up with our professor friend, Scooter, and he took us to the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery. We strolled around for a few hours, lost most of the time. (We didn't obtain a map until we asked a Swedish?? tourist.) However, it was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, so we didn't really mind being lost. Once we got the map, it was still incredibly difficult to navigate, but we finally managed to find Oscar Wilde's and Jim Morrison's grave, which was our original goal. Success!

Oscar Wilde's resting place...note all the lipstick everywhere.

We couldn't leave without adhering to tradition...

Jim Morrison's grave

picnicking on the Seine that evening (this was before I got sick of bread and cheese...)

On Friday and Saturday nights, especially when it's nice out, it's typical for the coast of the Seine to be full of Parisians eating/drinking (this is one of the only places in the city the police turn the other way when they see people drinking in public...) and watching the sunset.

I'm really glad my camera allows me to get good night shots. :-)

Le Louvre at night :-)

I hope this one is self-explanatory...

Sunday: just a lovely stroll through Paris...

On Sunday, I met up with some friends (Anne, Marisa, and Taylor), and Scooter took us to several more famous sites in Paris...

Place des Vosges: basically, a relatively small park area that a lot of Parisians frequent (because not as many tourists know about it), placed in the center of a bunch of gorgeous brick townhouses (including Victor Hugo's!) from the early 1600s

Le Louvre, of course. (I still have yet to go inside...but I will...)

The arch before the Palais des Tuileries...I'm not sure what it's called though. (There are too many arches in Paris to keep track of, evidently.)

Jardin des Tuileries

Jardin des Tuileries

at the Place de la Concorde with Anne

l'Arc de Triomphe (on the famous street, Les Champs-Elysees)

You have to stand in the middle of the street to get these last two shots. Inevitably, we were in that little median area for awhile...