Hey Cassie!
I know it's been a while since I've made a post, but everything's been a blur. The exchange trip to France has been amazing, and I'm so said it's coming to a close, but I can't wait to talk to you and Hanna when I'm back. So we've gone to a lot of different regions in France, however, the main one I'm going to be talking about is Île-de-France and in my next post I’ll be talking about Provence.
You're probably wondering where Île-de-France is. To outline it, it basically is a province
that is centered on Paris. But here's a picture of it if that doesn't make any sense.
There are a lot of bike riders on the streets, which surprised me since I’m so used to thinking of Paris as taxi filled. As soon as we arrived in Paris, we immediately got settled into our hotel rooms, and with a full day ahead of us we set off to the Eiffel Tower! Did you know that it’s as tall as about 64 adult giraffes. Crazy I know. You wouldn’t think it but the Eiffel Tower isn’t all that glamorous, except at night when it glitters like a disco ball. It’s actually quite scary once you get to the top. Just imagining the thought of falling through the gigantic holes, or losing all your money to sly pick-pockets. I would hate to be claustrophobic since you get crammed into an elevator with a bunch of people, and when it turns out the person behind you has horrible breath and the man next to you is sweating up a storm, you pray to God the elevator doesn’t malfunction. Also to protect the tower from the weather, they had to paint it with 60 tons of paint! From the plane France just looked like a quilt with many different materials, but up close it’s amazing.
The next day our group in the morning went to the famous Louvre! It was actually built quite a while ago, since the late 12th century. And with over 35,000 art works we knew straight away that we wouldn’t be able to see all of them. I love art itself, and I guess have learnt to appreciate and really think about different pieces of work; that may sound weirdly deep for a 13 year old girl, but it’s true. Of course everybody wanted to go and see the Mona Lisa, but I didn’t realise the crowd would be so huge! Hoards of people with cameras above heads swarm all around the painting, flashes of light and shouts of French were heard from everywhere. Also the famous glass pyramid is beautiful, and when you go inside you can see from the bottom where the pyramid is inverted!
On the third day we went to the Notre Dame, which is so grand and elegant. Seeing it from the outside just makes you wonder what it would feel like if you climbed right to the top and took in the view of Paris. Just took a few minutes out of our busy lives and let yourself go. A lot of sights in France, and mainly anywhere in the world have an experience of their own, that nobody would understand unless they’ve been there themselves.
In the afternoon we arrived at the Arc de Triomphe. Built to honour the soldiers who fought and died for France in the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, it is breathtaking, especially the sculptures! After that we went to the Lover’s Bridge which was so sweet. After locking the love padlock onto the fence, they then toss the keys into the Seine river – a sign of their eternal devotion to each other.
On the final day we went to basically every child’s fantasy: Disneyland! The theme park is enormous, with about more than 40 rides the queues are endless sometimes, which sucked. But some of my favourite rides that I went on were Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor and Space Mountain.
The food in Paris was amazing to say the least. The portions were much smaller than what I’m used to, but the flavour is really something else. In Paris we went and got crêpes, and of course you probably guessed it, I had to have the one with chocolate. They were so thin, but just thinking about it just makes my mouth water. Also we went and got macarons which I think are my new favourite food. There are just so many different types/flavours to pick from! And the textures are so different to one another. The outer layer/shell is really crispy, but the inside is soft, almost as soft as a meringue.
Also, would you believe it or not, I got up the courage and tried a snail. They’re really creepy at first, just imagining the snails I find in my mum’s garden. But I took a chance and you know how people say it tastes like chicken ... well it really actually does. Finally, some mornings we just sat in our hotel room looking out at the scenery of the beautiful country we were in, eating baguettes with cheese that just melts in your mouth, and grapes that burst with sweet juice.
I also found out some cool facts on Paris and France! :
- Paris wasn’t originally called “Paris”.
- There are more than 400 types of French cheese.
- Paris’ most visited attraction isn’t the Eiffel Tower, or Louvre, it’s actually the Disnelyand Paris.
- Chanel almost got called “Chasnel” due to a misspell.
- 6 million people are buried beneath Paris, in catacombs.
- It took an amazing 200 years to build the Notre Dame!
So yea, I would definitely rate my trip to Paris a 10/10! It's an experience that I'll surely remember for life, and one of my favourite places on Earth.
- Jenny
