Paris Day 3

On our third day in Paris we visited the Musée D'Orsay. We took a long walk from our hotel that led us along the Seine, reminding me of our walk along the Tiber River in Rome on our way to Vatican City. Our walk to the Musée D'Orsay felt much longer but it was well worth it. The museum is filled with statues and paintings that stand in spacious rooms with incredibly high ceilings. It was exciting to walk around the museum and recognize works of art from books I've seen or just from what people have described to me.

After the museum we were led to the Champs Elysées, a famous shopping district in Paris. My friends and I enjoyed a good few hours of wandering the area before we took out our city maps to navigate our way back to the hotel. After an hour of being sure, then unsure, and then sure again of our location, we finally arrived back at the hotel. It was an exciting moment when we turned onto the street that we recognized.

Paris

Our flight from Florence to Paris was our shortest flight yet. It was only 2 hours long, but I feel like I've gotten so used to traveling that it passed in what seemed like 30 minutes.

Our hotel is beautiful and only a minutes walk from the Galeries Lafayette and L'opera Garnier.

Our first evening out we enjoyed a long, and often steep, walk to the Sacre Coeur, a large church that overlooks all of Paris. At some points on our walk it felt like we were nearly climbing vertically, but when we reached the building, the view from the doorway was incredible. (We were also thankful that we did not have to climb up the hundreds of steps that most tourists take to get to the top because our leaders knew of an alternate route).

We had our first crepes for dinner in the neighborhood around Sacre Coeur, known as Montmarte, and then made our way back to our hotel to get some rest. Overall, it was a relaxing first day in Paris.