“We are all in this together…” (May 8-11)

Sorry to our family and friends who have been sitting at their computers terribly afraid for our well being because we have not yet posted a blog post. We are alive! We have also walked miles through the streets of Paris, conquered the Metro, and have been to most of the major sites and we are finally sitting down catching our breath and updating you on our trip.
Every good story starts at the beginning, so that is where we will start as well. After saying good bye to family and friends at the airport we traveled to Charlotte where after a three hour layover, we found out that our plane was being sent to the hanger for maintenance; however, they would send us another plane, in three more hours…. This messed up our schedule a bit for Wednesday. Once we landed in Paris, we drug our luggage through the street to our hostel. We were all pleasantly surprised to find that our hostel is right on the canal, our rooms have amazing views, and there is a restaurant downstairs where we can get coffee, food, and free breakfast. We spent our first day in Paris walking around the Louvre area, taking many pictures, and enjoying our first taste of the culture of Paris. If any of you had the stereotype that Parisians walk their dogs all day carrying baguettes, you would be right. They also sometimes eat the baguettes while walking.
Jess and Julia have become our designated translators for the trip. While not fluent, they know enough that we are often calling their names when we need to order food, get tickets, or when people come up to us on the street and we have absolutely no idea what they are asking. We have all tried as many “French” foods as possible, from French fries , to baguettes, French coffee, crepes, croissants, flan, and a few girls even tried escargot!
At some point during our three days in Paris so far we have all squealed and skipped out of pure joy or excitement just from our experiences here (yes, even the guys). We have also whined and complained because we are quickly learning that in order to sightsee, we must also walk and walk and walk and walk and if we are lucky Joel or Jack will let us ride the Metro. Despite tired feet, we are all enjoying our time and some of us are already figuring out how to lose our passports so we “have” to stay longer, don’t worry parents, Joel and Jack don’t find our plans too amusing.
Since we did so much in the first three days we will try to sum it up sort of quickly…
Day 1
Walking around: Saw the Louvre, Eiffel, and more
Went up the Arc de Triumph
Walked down Champ D’elysee (however you spell it..)
Day 2
3 Hour Walking tour of Paris- our tour guide gave us a GREAT history lesson and gave us good tips of where to shop, where to eat, what places are just tourist traps, etc
Musée D’orsay
Sacre Coeur
Day 3
Went to the Eiffel Tour
Saint Chappelle
Notre Dame
Shakespeare and Co Bookstore
Louvre