Valentine's Day in Paris

London and Dublin exceeded expectations, and my long awaited return to Paris was sure to be a good one. I stayed with my long time friend Murphy on my first night in Paris. She is studying abroad in Paris through NYU. When walking to school with her Thursday morning, I realized that she lives about two blocks from the Eiffel Tower. It seemed to appear out of nowhere as we walked through the city.

I took a cab to my hostel. After wandering around a bit to find it, I realized I was dropped off in the completely wrong part of the city. I found a pastry shop and had a delicious breakfast, before getting another cab to the correct area. Ironically, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2 was playing in the cab when I got in.

Nick, Melina, Jordan, Katherine, and I made our way toward the Eiffel Tower for lunch. We took a few photos, to take advantage of the blue sky, before grabbing a fantastic lunch. After a late lunch we visited the Musée d'Orsay. It was there that we saw paintings and other works of art from artistic geniuses including Monet and Van Gogh. I made my way down the Champs-Élysées after visiting the museum, where I peaked into a few shops, enjoyed a quiet dinner, and got a few pastries for dessert from Paul. I ventured to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up, before meeting back up with the rest of the Hokies.

On Valentine's Day morning we went to the most grand palace in all the land, Versailles. Caroline, Megan, Kaitlyn, Nick, and I explored the palace. It was magnificently covered in gold, and far larger than I imagined. The gardens were endless, although not nearly as extravagant as they are in the summer. While the fountains were off and the flowers hadn't bloomed yet, the gardens were still a sight to see.

After spending several hours in Versailles, we made our way back to Paris to prepare for the Avici concert. Kaitlyn, Caroline, and I made a quick stop on the Champs-Élysées for some last minute preparations, and Valentine's Day pastries. I couldn't help but purchase a heart shaped baguette at Paul when passing by.

About thirty of us had tickets to the Avici concert and had dubbed Valentine's Day "Avici Day" weeks before, in preparation. Somehow, Ashley, Alex and I managed to have tickets that were not valid and were not actually able to get into the concert. We made the most of our evening however, by joining Courtney, Kelsey, Molly and Cat at the Eiffel Tower for crêpes. As the clock struck midnight, the already lit tower sparkled as additional lights flashed for five minutes. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Cat as her 21st had just begun. Around 1:30am we made our way to a restaurant, which was surprisingly crowded for that time of night, and ordered crêpes. It was a great way to end the evening.

On Sunday morning, Nick and I ventured to the Louvre to continue use of the all access museum passes that my awesome friends back home got me for my birthday. With the pass we had free access to every museum in Paris and got to cut all the lines on our way in. Shout out to my friends back home (below) for making my trip even more enjoyable!

The Louvre is overwhelming. There is so much to see, I could spend a week there and not see half of it. I did my best however, and made sure to see the classics including the Mona Lisa. Nick and I also visited the Musée de l'Orangerie later in the day.

We met up with the a bunch of other Hokies after lunch to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. While waiting in line, someone bumped into me. We both turned, as if to apologize, and I realized it was my cousin Sam! He's studying in Rome and happened to be visiting Paris for the weekend as well! I still can't believe we ran into each other. Following a brief reunion, we climbed the steps all the way to the top of the tower. While I had been to the top before, it was great to do it again. We were there just before sunset, and were able to see the entire city from the top.

As we made our way to get dinner, we got stuck in a heavy hail storm only minutes after reaching the bottom of the tower. We sprinted to the nearest restaurant, and treated ourselves to crêpes before dinner as we waited out the storm.

A group of the Hokies were staying in an apartment they rented for the weekend. All thirty of us joined their apartment prior to going out for the night to celebrate Cat's birthday. Just as we were preparing to leave, we heard screaming from the kitchen. Trip's shirt had caught on fire! It turned out that while he was leaning on the stove, the gas was turned on. Luckily, Logan and Nick noticed and helped tear his shirt off and put the flames out, and Trip was unharmed. It was the start of a very interesting evening.

My friend and fellow McLean graduate Sam Nelson, is also studying in Lugano through SMU. He joined us for the weekend in Paris. Trip, Sam, and I made our way to the Frog & Princess Bar in Paris to meet up with Murphy before rejoining Cat and company for her birthday. It was great to spend more time with Murphy and meet some of her friends. If I had been told a month ago that I'd be spending a night in Paris with three friends from middle school, I would not have believed it.

At the Frog & Princess I tried a beer called the Darke de Triumph, in honor of the famous memorial at the end of the Champs-Élysées. My cousin Sam joined us at the bar and we all made our way to what we were told was the best club in Paris, Showcase. Showcase is located underneath the Alexander III bridge. Frankly, it reminded me of a club that would be recommended by SNL's Weekend Update correspondent, Stefon. The line was quite long, but we made our way in rather quickly as we were on the guest list. Once inside, we tried to find our friends, only to find out later that they never ended up going to the club. While the club was bizarre, I ended up having a great night. While there, I was informed that the two DJ's who were playing the music, none of which had any words I might add, were two of the most famous DJ's in the world. Whether or not that's true, I'll never know.

I had an incredible first spring break! Classes started back up on Monday, and we're hustling to cram a 15 week class into three weeks. I made my way to Italy this weekend to visit Genoa during the Pesto World Championships! Updates coming soon!

Au revoir Paris! Ciao Genoa!