A Country Girl in Paris...

…longing for Nashville in the rain.  Well, we like to think we are country girls, but we will take any location in the good ol’ US of A.

Last weekend for my birthday Courtney and I went to Paris!  We took the Eurostar train instead of flying and I thought it was a great choice.  I really liked being able to bring whatever I wanted and the relaxing atmosphere.  And I had my row to myself.  Happy Birthday to me!

When we arrived in Paris, we immediately went on a crepe hunt.  Not that we had to look very far.  The crepes were as fantastic as we remembered! We then made our way to our hotel.  It wasn’t very difficult to get there either! Yay Paris! 

After we were settled into our hotel we went shopping! This has really become our habit…why break tradition for the final trip.  We were in search of the Longchamp store.  We didn’t find it.  But we did find the Disney store and the Hard Rock Café!  We are beyond predictable at this point.  We also went to Ladurée for macaroons and walked down the Champs Élysées at night.  Oooh fancy.

The macaroons were delicious!

Champs Élysées!

Saturday we had these big plans to be all touristy.  In actuality, we were tired and needed rest, so when we finally got going, we headed to the Sacré Couer.  The Sacré Couer is a church and that’s pretty much all I know about it.  We really just went there for the views of the city, but I’m sure the church is beautiful too!  While we were there, we stumbled upon a Christmas market!  As we walked through it, we kept seeing people with heaping containers of what looked to be cheesy potatoes.  We had to have them.  I have no idea what they were called or what was in them, but they were absolutely delicious!  Next, we headed to the Eiffel Tower! 

Sacre Couer

 Courtney and I had already been to the Eiffel Tower two years before, so we were undecided on whether or not to go to the top.  Once we got there, we discovered that the top level was temporarily closed.  Decision made.  We didn’t think it was worth the time and money just to go to the second level.  We knew from experience that the top was the best!  Soon after, armed with better directions, we went in search of the elusive Longchamp store.   We found it, and neither of us could resist buying a bag! Again, Happy Birthday to me!

21st Birthday! (well day after!)

Sunday, we were leaving in the afternoon, so we had time to see a few last things.  I had really wanted to see the Love Lock Bridge as we had missed it in 2010.  So, we checked out of the hotel and headed straight there.  We decided we better not press our luck and chance being late, so we got lunch (a yummy Croque Monsieur) and immediately went to the train station. 

Love Lock Bridge!

A whole lotta love!

We were back in London by 5 pm, just in time to study for finals.  Yuck!

Overall, I thought Paris was a great choice for our final trip of the semester.  We didn’t feel pressured to run from site to site because we had already seen all of the key things.  It made for a relaxing trip and it was a great way to get away before finals and our last week in London!