Vanessa and I left on April 9th for 4 days in the real city of lights. I was so excited!
A close friend of Vanessa's, Annyu, has been studying abroad in Paris since February, and luckily we had a free place to stay - which always makes traveling that much easier. So we boarded our train and were off to Paris!
Mid-trip we were about an hour and a half away from Marseilles (where we were catching our second train) when the train came to a stop at the St Raphael station. It was one of the stops on the train, but oddly enough we had been stopped for a lot longer than normal, about 40 minutes. Finally, the conductor came over the speakers and said there had been an accident and that we were going to be sitting there for a while longer. At that very second, there were a bunch of cops and a few paramedics that appeared outside the train. Briefly after that, the car behind us was asked to exit the train. The interesting part was that the people passing where the paramedics were kept looking in the opposite direction and covering their kids eyes. That action alone made Vanessa and I question what the accident was. Of course I thought that it was a person that got caught under the train, but no one actually knew.
After a few more minutes, our car was asked to exit the train as well, and then the remainder of the passengers were asked to exit. After everyone was off the train, we were asked to wait at the main station until the accident was sorted out. This took another 40 plus minutes, which caused us to miss our connecting train to Paris.
While we were waiting on the train to pick us all back up, I noticed this guy that was standing on the other side of the people. I giggled a little bit because after looking at him I realized that he was the epitome of a "European Man," or at least he was in my eyes. He had crazy long, greasy hair, a V-neck white t-shirt, and slightly skinny jeans on. Hahaha. I know he wasn't a true European man, but before I left for France that is what I pictured most of them to look like.
Anyways, the train finally pulled back up and we were all boarding. Once we made it to Marseilles, the conductor said that all the other connecting trains knew about the accident and would allow us all to connect on other trains. So Vanessa and I had about 20-25 minutes until the second train to Paris came.
When we FINALLY arrived in Paris, it was about 12:30 p.m. and we had a whole day ahead of us. We first went to Annyu's apartment to drop off our things before heading out all over the city. First stop was the Louvre Museum, where I saw first hand the Mona Lisa and La Victoire de Samothrace. After the Louvre we headed to Pont des Arts, and St. Michael fountain. 
On the second day, Vanessa and I headed to Versailles to view the Chateau of King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. After walking through the entire Chateau, we walked back to the Metro station and headed back into town. We decided that since we had a good part of the day left we would head to Sacré-Cœur Basilica and eat the lunch that we had packed for the day. After that, we headed to Champs Élysées for a little bit of shopping and to see the Arc de Triomphe. 
From there we headed to Laduree, which is by far the cutest little pastry shop I have ever been too! They have the best Macaroons I have ever had, and will ever have. Yum! Mental note: If you ever go to Paris be sure to stop at this little shop in Champs Élysées and be sure to buy some, they may cost up to 6 euros for four, but they are WELL worth it! Believe me, I went back one more time before I left. :)
The following day, Vanessa, Annyu, Nikki and I headed to the Eiffel Tower. I was SO excited! When we began walking to it I literally acted like a little girl would had she just saw Minnie Mouse for the first time. I giggled, danced and jumped around all at the same time. It was slightly pathetic. The girls and I took a few pictures underneath the tower before we bought our tickets to go up. We bought the tickets that allowed you to climb the stairs... didn't know that at first, but we did. So we climbed up a LOT to steps to get to the first level of the tower. Talk about a view! We walked around, took a lot of pictures, used the toilets, and walked through the shop. When we walked out of the shop the wind was blowing like no other and we decided that the first level was as far as we would be going. So we headed back down. We took some more pictures... we A LOT more pictures and then headed back into the city. From there we went to the Palace, and to some church that we had no idea what the name was. 
On the third day, Vanessa and I went back to the Tower to have a picnic in front of it, as well as to have a baguette fight. :) On the fourth day we decided while in Paris we needed to go shopping, so we did, Parisian style! I bought two new tops and a blazer, all of which made me look very Euro! Once the day came to an end, we headed back to Annyu's to collect our stuff and get ready for our overnight train back to Antibes. Little did we know, the train strike had picked back up and our overnight was canceled. We got to the station and had to wait in an extremely long line just to find out that the next train to Antibes was at 7:45 the next morning. Thankfully, we didn't have to buy a ticket for that train because it wasn't our fault for the cancellation. So we headed back to Annyu's and went right to sleep.
The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to Charles de Gaulle station, boarded our train, and said our final goodbyes to Paris.
If there is any place in the world that I would recommend someone travel to, it would by far be Paris. You truly do fall in love with the city, I know I did. <3
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