AEPhi Takes Paris!

A few weeks ago, my friend and sorority sister, Sabrina, visited me during her spring break! She's a senior graduating this semester, so it was especially nice to have her visit me here in Paris, knowing that she won't be at school when I return in the fall.  We did loads of stuff during her time here so it won't all fit in one post. For this post I have pictures from various things we did during the week, where I only took a couple pictures, but it's still a pretty loaded post. I'll upload other posts that focus on single events (the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, for example) soon. So, here's a peak into the week AEPhi took on Paris!

Sabrina had an awful trip getting here, due to confusing airports and misinformed workers, so her arrival was delayed a few hours and she was exhausted by the time she got here.  We had an easy afternoon of sitting by the Seine (it was possibly the warmest day since my arrival), eating baguettes and cheese and drinking wine... Super French. We stopped by Shakespeare and Company and Notre Dame before heading back to my room so Sabrina could finally pass out.

Stopped in for quick peek at the always lovely Notre Dame.

The churches here are quite photogenic, I love the depth and various layers.

 The next day we visted Pont des Arts so Sabrina could place a lock on the bridge. While she was doing so, a girl walked up to us and asked to take a picture of Sabrina throwing the key into the Seine! After the little photoshoot (look out for Sabrina in the next issue of Vogue ;) ), we moseyed on over to the Louvre but those pictures will be in another post.  After the Louvre we walked through Jardin des Tuileries before heading home.

An awesome lock I found on Pont des Arts.

Relaxing in the Tuileries Gardens.

Hello I love you, won't you tell me your name?

The following day we took it easy, having celebrated St. Patrick's Day the night before, and took a stroll around Luxembourg Gardens. We stopped at one of the food stands in the gardens and ate our food while, at the same time, trying to fend off pigeons and ducks.  We then walked through the streets of Paris, taking random turns, and found ourselves at a cafe where we enjoyed a couple cafe cremes before returning home.

Jardin du Luxembourg

Flowers!

Meandering the streets of Paris.

Fontaine Saint-Michel decided to be pink today, still not sure why.

On the final full day of Sabrina's trip, we were gifted with very beautiful (albeit windy) weather.  Our first stop was the Catacombs of Paris.  The Catacombs are tunnels deep within the ground below Paris where several Parisian cemeteries placed bones from the communal graves once it became a health issue for the city in the 1800s.  The bones are placed very neatly throughout the tunnels, with signs indicating which cemetery they hail from.  It's a very cool, yet eery, place to visit.

"Stop! This is the empire of death."

This is what all of the tunnels looked like.

There were various different arrangements of the bones throughout the cemetery.

Who were these people when they lived?

After our trip well below Paris, we made our way to the highest point in the city, Montmartre! This is one of my favorite parts of the city, as you know if you've read my previous posts.  Unlike my previous visits, the weather was really nice so the stairs and grass in front of Sacre Couer were packed. We soaked in the view before heading inside Sacre Couer.  Afterwards, we grabbed lunch and then headed down towards Pigalle to see the infamous Moulin Rouge.

When the sun comes out, the people flock to Montmartre!

Sacre Couer.

My favorite group from last time was here singing again!

Stairs down to the rest of the city.

After our trip to Montmartre, we came home and changed into fancier attire so we could have a nice dinner on Sabrina's last night in town.  Of course, I had to take her to Printemps to watch the sunset! We planned to eat at the nice restaurant in Printemps but when we arrived we realized they only had a limited menu for that hour and none of it really appealed to us.  So, we made our way over to the Saint Michel area and found a nice place there to eat.  It was nice enough for us to eat outside (with our coats on), but we were chilly by the time our meal was over. We rushed home to get some shut eye before Sabrina's early wake up time the next morning.

I just do not get sick of this view.

I love the golden glow on the buildings at sunset.

Got a peak of Notre Dame all lit up at night before we hopped on the metro home.

It was so nice having Sabrina visit me, a combination of two of my worlds. I loved being able to show her around the city I'm calling home for these few months and loved having a piece of home with me here for a little while. I have more pictures of the trip that I'll put up soon!

Until Next Time.
Grace