France!!!!

Hi Everyone!!!!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the first week of August!!! I know I am!!

We got to Marseille, France on Saturday. Marseille is in the south of France and it is a very pretty city. The the buildings and houses themselves are art! I walked around the first day with a few of my friends and went to a fresh fruit market. It worked out well because it is best to visit the market on Saturdays and that just happened to be the day we docked. That night we went out on the town and went to a few bars along the "old port". It was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to have a really good time.

VERY early the next morning (around 4:30am) I woke up to catch a train to Paris. The train was only about 3 hours long so it worked out really well. I walked all around the city of Paris with my friend Shelly and we had a great time. A lot of people on the ship who have traveled to Paris before said that it was overrated and not worth going to, well I'm sorry but they were dead wrong! Paris was stunning!! There were so many things to see, people to watch, and delicious foods to eat. After our train got in we ventured through the Paris metro system and found our hostel. It was a really cute place right near Montmartre. Once we dropped off our bags we took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe in the Place Charles de Gaulle. This a beautiful French war monument that honors French soldiers who fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This is also the home of the Tomb of the Unknown soldier from World War I. It was really really beautiful!

After looking at the Arc we walked through the streets and found the Eiffel Tower. It was so cool to be right near such an iconic image that people know all over the world. Shelly and I bought some sandwiches and had a little picnic right on the lawn in front of the tower. We spent some time there just taking pictures and people watching, We also bought some baguettes and had a bit of a baguette sword fight right in front of the tower. I know we are cool kids.

After the Eiffel Tower we walked to see the Statue of Liberty. I learned that Paris is a very walkable city. As long as you have a solid pair of walking shoes you can get most anywhere in the city by foot. So we went and saw the French version of the Statue of Liberty which is almost an exact replica of ours. It is a bit smaller, and it was really cool to see. Our next stop was the Notre Dame which was all the way across the city. Unfortunately, Shelly went with flip flops yesterday so we jumped on the metro instead. The Notre Dame was stunning. I was actually really surprised with how accurate Disney got it in the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We were able to walk in and see the whole inside of the church. It was so beautiful in there. I wish there would have been a mass to go to because I think it would have been really wonderful.

Next we wanted to make our way towards the Louve. We were pretty sure the museum would be closed, but the garden area was supposed to be beautiful. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner and it was fabulous. I had to get some authentic French food so I went with escargot!! It was so yummy!!!

After dinner we walked around the Louve and then headed back to out hostel. We stayed there for about a half hour and then walked up the steps of the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. Once we got up the steps you could see all of Paris. The view was amazing!! It was worth all the steps to see that view. After that we jumped on the metro and went to see the Eiffel Tower because it lights up at night. We went to a cafe to get some dessert and I had the best chocolate mousse ever known to man!!! It was soooooooo GOOD! Then at midnight the Eiffel Tower started to sparkle!! It was really really cool!!

Now I am happy to be back on the ship after a exciting few days. We are leaving in about an hour. We have a really cool neighbor docked right next to us. It is the USS Harry S. Truman which is an aircraft carrier from the U.S. It was pretty cool to pull up to the ship this morning and see that. We will dock in Barcelona tomorrow morning for three days. My plans are up in the air for the first day, but the second day I am going snorkeling!! I hope everyone enjoys their last few weeks of summer before school starts. 

Love,

Kelly