Paris

I had to go to Paris a day early because the train from Rome to Paris was full on Easter Monday. So I travelled on Sunday instead. That meant that I didn't have a place to stay on Monday night. My wonderful brother kindly booked a hotel for me to stay in. It was the nicest place I stayed the entire trip. Thank you, Joseph.

Upon arrival in Paris, I checked in and hit the streets. I went to Notre Dame and the Arc de Triumph on my first day.

Day two: I moved into my hostel which happened to be right around the corner from the Maubert Market. I stopped at the market to get some stuff to take along with me for lunch and headed off to the Eiffel Tower. I had to wait in line at the Eiffel Tower. After approximately 45 minutes of waiting I finally reached the security checkpoint.

I opened my bag for the guard to look through and he found the fork that I had so smartly packed to eat my market food with. His eyes got wide and he started yelling at me. "Forbidden! Forbidden! This is forbidden! OUT! OUT! OUT!"

I offered to give him the fork, he looked at me like I was offering him a bomb. I offered to throw the fork away. He grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me out the door.

It all worked out for the better though. I went back to the Tower later that day, sans fork, and I timed it in such a way that I got to watch the sun set over Paris from up top.

The next day I took the train out to Versailles. It was beautiful. The grass was absolutely amazing. All I wanted to do was run around barefoot. Too bad you weren't allowed to be on the grass.

I came back and met up with a friend from high school and we went out to dinner at a fondue restaurant. The owner thought we were his good luck charms because the restaurant filled up after we came in and started eating. Good luck charm in french translates to free food and drinks. I was okay with that. After dinner Lauren and I went to the Louvre where we got in free.

The next day I got to see Lauren again and we chilled out, ate a crepe, had some hot chocolate until I had to catch my train to Amsterdam.