Martine's Lifestyle Blog

London & Paris Day 7: Saying ''Au Revoir''   I woke up that morning with a feeling of sadness overcoming me. It was my last day in Paris. I got ready, finished packing, and went down for breakfast. After breakfast, I went back up to my room and grabbed my bags and headed to the front desk.   I headed down to the parking lot to say goodbye to my friends who were staying in Paris for an extension, and we headed off to Gare du Nord. I said more goodbyes to the others who were headed off to Amsterdam or Rome. It was an emotional time, I was finishing the greatest journey of my life. I headed off to take the RER to Charles de Gaulles for my flight. The ride was long, I spent the time going through pictures I took during the trip, and making sure my passport and tickets were in order.   When I got to the airport, I went off to find my terminal, and checked in. Then, I was hungry so I got a snack and a drink from a snack bar. After that, I headed tow...

London & Paris Day 6: A free day in Paris The day began with breakfast in the hotel dining hall with crêpes and Nutella. After, everyone met in the parking lot to get details about the day. We were going to have city drop offs, and later that afternoon, we will all meet at Place de la Concorde and head to Versailles. I chose to get dropped off at Notre Dame. When I got to the beautiful cathedral, I was overwhelmed at how long the line was to get inside. So, instead, I decided to take a few pictures and head towards the nearest Métro station. I decided to go to the Champs-Élysées one more time. I window-shopped from H&M to Sephora to Banana Republic, until it was time to head down to the Place de la Concorde. Getting to Place de la Concorde from the Champs-Élysées is quite a long walk or a short cab ride. I chose to walk because it was such a beautiful day. When I was at Place de la Concorde, I immediately noticed some of my tour mates and joined them. They were l...

London & Paris Day 5: Discovering Paris   On the morning of Day 5, I woke up, got ready, and went downstairs for a traditional French breakfast. It included Crêpes, Croissants and my favorite morning spread: Nutella! After breakfast, we went down to the parking lot and waited for everyone. We headed toward the Eiffel Tower to take picture and a group photo. We were so many of us, we didn't realize it until after we took the picture. After, we had the option of doing a city drop off anywhere; so I went to the Arc de Triomphe. A lot of people wanted to go there so it was our first stop. I stayed with a couple of friends I had become close with. We took pictures in front of the Arc de Triomphe. After that, we headed toward an underground tunnel to get to the Arc. We got in line for our tickets, and headed up where we had to wait in another line to get inside. It wasn't long before we were climbing the steep stairs of the Arc to get to the top. The view from the top was ...