I love Paris in the springtime.

My flight landed in Paris at 3 pm, but I had to take a train and 2 subways to get to my hostel. This was the easy part. I can navigate myself through any metro system now. But give me a map of the streets and I seem to have problems. I got lost trying to find my hostel once I was above ground. I had a map, but I couldn't figure out the streets. My room mate said it was easy to find from the Metro stop, so I just started walking. After awhile of aimless wandering, I stopped two women in the street, asked (in French) if they spoke English, and showed them my map. They helped me and I finally made it to my hostel. No rudeness from Parisians like I expected.

I checked into my hostel and then headed to Les Halles, an underground mall. Immediately I found the coolest jewelry store where I purchased some fun earrings and a necklace. There were a couple cool clothing stores as well. I went to try on stuff at H&M but they wouldn't let me. At first I was really confused but then I saw the gates coming down and the worker told me they were closing.

I had to shower at my hostel by 9 pm because they had signs posted that discouraged showering any later because of the noise. Later, when I was trying to sleep, I realized why. From five rooms away, I could hear the showers going late at night and it was so annoying. These showers, which I really should've taken a picture of because they were just so unbelievable, were like a bathroom stall with a facet up top. Just a little latch separated my from the outside sinks. No changing room. No bench to put set my clothes on. Some man's sick looking boxer briefs were dangling on the wall between two showers. The nozzle also only worked for 30 seconds. You had to keep pushing it in. By my last night, I figured I could lean against it for a constant flow, but a shower with dry spurts is definitely annoying!

I was up early Friday because my hostel had a lock out from 10 am until 3 pm. I went up north to the Sacre Coeur basicila. It is up high, so it was a nice little hike to the church. Then I decided to go up to the top of the dome. I thought an elevator would transport me. Oh no. 387 steps later I'm at the top. The view of the city was amazing though. Then I sorta got lost trying to find my way out.

After that I headed to the Arc de Triomphe...another 294 steps up to the top. The view from up here was amazing and I could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. With all these steps, my legs felt like they were about to fall off.

By this point, my friends had arrived in Paris and I met up with Bryn, Brian, Adam and Jake. We walked down some streets with cool shops, went into a random church and stopped by Notre Dame (we didn't have time to wait in the long line though).

That evening bought some sandwiches from a street vendor and some wine from a grocery store and sat in the grass across from the Eiffel Tower. It was beautiful. We were able to see it when it was still light out, and it the tower really transformed in the dark with its glow. I took some fabulous pictures.

Around 10 pm we decided to head up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The lines were long and we waited forever, but once we got to the top...wow. All the street lights and colors coming from below us were gorgeous. It was so much more magical at night. A perfect evening in Paris...great conversation, great scenery and a cool breeze.