Les Catacombes

On Friday I want to Les Catacombes de Paris. First of all, I have to describe the line. It was atrocious! I seriously considered getting a haircut at a nearby shop while my cousin saved my spot in line. We waited longer here than getting into the famous Louvre museum on the free day of the month!

However, did get to see some cool things while waiting. When it was my turn to get food, I walked over to this place to get lunch, and ended up getting a pastry.

There was a guy cutting out people’s silhouettes for moneyz.

So then we finally enter the Catacombes. First we saw some awesome miniature buildings that people built while they were imprisoned or trapped here (sad)

Inside this hole is the sea...imagine how deep this must be!

After all the that, we get to the underground cemetery part. It is filled with 6 million people’s remains. So basically, I got to see lots of bones. Here are some creepy shots we took.

Translation: Stop! Here is the empire of the dead.

Skulls and femurs

A heart of skulls

Creepy

Reminds me of a honeycomb..

There were also lots of signs in French that said really Carpe Diem (or just morbid) stuff like, live each day as if it were your last. Or Death affects everyone, poor, rich, famous, young, old…

So it was a different kind of tourist attraction but still enjoyable! Not sure it was worth the >2 hour wait though.

Champs-Élysées

Thursday, we went shopping on Paris’s most famous street: Champs-Élysées, la plus belle avenue du monde (The most beautiful avenue in the world). It is right between two famous monuments, the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde. Yet, it is known mostly for SHOPPING. Some of my new favorite French boutiques are promod, NAFNAF, Etam and ZARA. Everything is so chic and modern!

The avenue

They have car stores here too!

That is a fan. I still don't understand how it works. I put my hand through both of those holes and there are no rotating thingiez

There also were some familiar faces like H&M (bigger and better than American ones) and Banana Republic (this location is the first Banana Republic in France) and the most FAMOUS, POPULAR American store in Paris is…drumroll…Abercrombie and Fitch!

I know…BARF! I didn’t even like the store when I was in middle school, when it was cool to wear something from there. The store has just always rubbed me the wrong way, from the publicity the store has gotten for discriminating against its employees based on their looks to the darkness of the store which could only mean to me they were hiding the poor quality of their overpriced clothes.

So imagine my surprise when we come to this huge golden gate with a line of people waiting to get inside and my cousins tell me it’s NOT a tourist attraction but in fact, it is an ABERCROMBIE & FITCH store. I burst out laughing, thinking they were joking. They just looked at me, confused at my reaction.

So what did I do next? Yeah, I waited in that damn line. Which means a lot because I had just gone to Disneyland, where I decided anything with a line is no longer worth my time. But I had to know what the hype was about.

The nice gate and line of people

I figured since I waited in that line I might as well get all the perks out of it...including a picture with the models ;)

A more close up shot so you all can appreciate their...clothes

After entering the gate, there was a pretty path surrounded by trees to get to the store. At the front of the store, there was a little maze of bushes. A shirtless, perfectly built A&F model greets you at the golden doors that are twice your height. The inside reminded me of any A&F store you can find at the mall at home, but the air was crisper and the floors where shinier. When I walked to the middle of the store, you could see staircases and 6 different levels with glass banisters.

With the darkness, the pounding music playing, and the hot dancing models/salespeople (yeah, they were paid to dance), I could see why people wanted to go in here…they all thought it was a nightclub!!! Okay not really, but I really wish nightclubs (boites de nuit) were as clean and smelled as nice and had as many attractive people as this Abercrombie & Fitch store.

When we were done shopping, we had this lovely view to go home to:

Staying in Sartrouville

Wednesday I took it easy and stayed in Sartrouville all day with my family.

First we went to Carrefour which reminds me of a Walmart, but much classier. So I guess it's like a Super Target. Whenever I had to buy something, my relatives always said "No problem, we'll go to Carrefour!" The only way I can describe the accessibility and obsession of this store in France is comparing it to how people in the South are obsessed with the grocery store Publix.

FROMAGE. Cheese is a big deal here if y'all didn't know. I wanted to try some but my uncle told me I was not ready for "stinky cheese" yet.

Decided to buy these. They taste exactly like cheeseburgers!!

Macaroons. First famous French dessert that I have NOT liked! Too sweet and soft (I guess that description doesn't make them sound that bad)

When I got back home from my awesome food shopping trip, I found my cousins outside doing artsy stuff. Love these kids.

Painting

Professional photographer at work...shooting a bubble

My attempt at painting. Please don't blackmail me with this.

Artsy sister shot

After being all creative, I felt like stretching my legs a little, so I went exploring around Sartrouville on my own. There is this cute little town center area where I sat to people watch. Now don't judge me, but I took many stalker-ish photographs of this little blonde girl because she was so adorable in her little dress riding her scooter around shoots of water!

Take 1

Take 2

Those were the best ones I took before her parents started looking in my general direction, seemingly concerned. My cue to leave!

A Sartrouville post office! As a mailwoman at my university, I felt truly at home here.

Found a flower shop! With an old man looking at flowers, deciding what to buy for a loved one! Seems like I have stumbled upon a quintessential scene from a French film.

Bizarre flower

Flowers I bought for my family <3

I only had a little bit of money left in my wallet so I only had the option of buying these little bouquets of flowers. I almost didn't buy this because the bouquet looked so small and pathetic, and was halfway home when I turned around and decided to go buy it anyway because I wanted to do something nice for my family. When I brought the flowers to the cashier, he asked me something in rapid French, and I panicked and said "Oui" without understanding what he said. He then proceeded to go all out in wrapping these skinny pink flowers into a pretty display with tissue paper and ribbons, all for free! Lesson learned: say yes to everything!

Disneyland, Paris!

So I am back in the States (My weepy, missing-France-and-wanting-to-return-as-soon-as-possible post will be coming soon), but I still have a bunch of things to update everyone on, so keep reading please :)

Now, on to Disneyland Paris! I have not been to Disneyworld since fourth grade (even though I currently go to school in Orlando, go figure), so everything was like new for me.

My cousins at the entrance

Gorgeous day

First we went to the Sleeping Beauty’s Castle (La belle au bois dormant, which translates to "The Beauty sleeping in the Woods."

View from the castle

At the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride. Yep, I'm the only one with my hands raised. I was expecting a bigger drop...

After that…LINES. And LINES. And MORE LINES! I realized that in a few years, I will refuse to go to theme parks altogether (except King’s Dominion, my one true love). Nothing, not even robot pirates or a train ride around the park is worth an hour in line. We were all getting crabby by 6pm. But we decided to do one more ride, Old Thunder Mountain because we had fast passes for it. It looked like another normal train ride to me so I was not expecting much. But of course, it was the ride that made all the previous waiting worth it. It was thrilling but not too scary for the kids and really fun and didn’t hurt and was refreshing! We all left the ride chattering about it, in much much better spirits. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Everyone delighted after the ride

As we were leaving, we saw an unbelievable crowd of people taking pictures of something. Turns out it was the 20th anniversary parade of Disneyland Paris! People were scrambling to take pictures of Mary Poppins and Mickey drsssed in his Fantasia costume and Simba…it was crazy. Music was playing and children were riding on their dad’s necks and singing along and I felt like I finally understood the hype of Disneyland. The whole day I could not comprehend why parents brought their little kids here. It seems like such a hassle and I doubted the kids would remember any of it. We saw license plates from all over Europe so these parents were really trying hard. Is it really worth it? I guess my answer now is: Yes. There is something inexplicably magical about Disney, and no, I am not seceretly working for them.

CROWDS

The parade

Where dreams come true

3 Museums, a Garden and a Bridge

Every first Sunday of the month is free access for the Parisian museums, so I took advantage of this and went to three of them. What a cultural and exhausting day! First we went to the very famous Louvre.

Obligatory pyramid shot

Inside Le Louvre

MONA LISA SO MANY PEEEOPLE

Honestly, Le Louvre was too large and crowded for me to enjoy. It also housed a lot more statues than paintings (or maybe I never found the paintings…), which I did not prefer.

On the way to the second museum, we saw the Pont de l’Archevêché, which was COVERED in all kinds of locks. Lovers are supposed inscribe the lock with their names on it, lock it on the bridge, and throw the key into the Seine river to symbolize everlasting love. How romantique! I had a lot of fun looking at these locks!

Overlooking the Seine River

There were unique locks like this one

even bike locks! I guess they could throw the combination into the river?

well, shucks

awww

attempted artsy shot
got a couple in the background
win!

We got sidetracked again after the bridge. We went through the Jardin De Tuileries, which was beautiful just like the Luxembourg gardens.

oil painting filter

There was an exposition going on there associated with Le Louvre. A Korean photographer named AHAE took thousands of pictures, all from his window. The exposition is called “De ma fenetre” or “Through my Window” They were amazing shots of nature. I don’t know how he got such a wide range of magnificent photos through just one area.

At last we reached Le Musee de l’Orangerie. It is most known for its huge Monet water lily paintings in the oval shaped rooms upstairs. A must for any Monet fan!

My favorite painting in l'Orangerie: La Niece du peintre assise by Andres Derain

And third, Le Musee d’Orsay, which is not as famous as Le Louvre but it was the best museum in my opinion. There were so many impressionist paintings. Unfortunately photography was not allowed but I did write down a few of my favorite paintings and googled them for y’all.

Les Glacons – Monet

La Maison – Leo Gausson

Clair de lune - Felix Vallotton

Dan le lit - HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC: Originally I wrote his name down because he was THE painter to go for Parisian nightlife (Moulin Rouge, bohemian style, etc), but I saw this painting and loved the intimacy and simplicity of it. I’ve read contradicting things about the painting; one website says it’s a painting of a couple, another says it’s actually two women, one with short hair, protecting each other from the harsh life of the Moulin Rouge.

After seeing all that art, I felt the need to create! My artistic contribution of the day:

I call it "Girl in pink with dandelion." Hope it makes me famous!