What Did I Do in Paris?

I did all this! Photos here, here, and here.

Friday
• Got into Paris Gare du Nord rail station at 8:50 a.m. Paris time
• Got overwhelmed as all hell at the foreign language. If this were Spain, I'd have no trouble.
• Found nearest Metro station and bought a three-day pass
• Rode the Metro to Lamarck-Caulaincourt stop
• Walked up this -> to get to hostel
• Found out we couldn't check in yet, but they would try to find us (me, Caitlin, Katie, Rachel) a room together
• Hammed it up with the statues at the Louvre
• Got ratatouille for lunch. It's not pronounced like it is in the movie, as I could tell by the cashier's confusion-turned-laughter.
• Walked to the Jardin de Tuileries
• Walked down the Champs Elysée
• Watched a popular street performer and gave him a euro
• Walked through the Arc de Triomphe
• Returned to the hostel, where a four-person room with its own shower and bathroom awaited us
• Sat and rested for a bit
• Walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg with Katie & Rachel
• Walked through the Latin Quarter after meeting with Caitlin and Maya, a Canadian whom we had met at the hostel
• Ate at a Tex-Mex place called... Indiana. I know, right?
• Bought two bottles of cheap wine (amongst five of us!) and a baguette
• Spent the midnight hour at the Eiffel Tower in all its lit glory
• Fell asleep... at the hostel... at about 2:45

Saturday
• Woke up at about 8:30
• Ate a breakfast of a roll, a croissant, orange juice, milk, and Cocoa Pebbles
• Saw the Eiffel Tower from the the base
• Saw Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower
• Found an authentic French street full of shops and grocery stores and French people having lunch. Caitlin and I got six bottles of water, two boxes of sweets, and two sandwiches (steak and cheese for me, tuna melt on baguette for Caitlin) for about €8 overall. Maybe the best deal of the trip.
• Went with Caitlin to the Army Museum, with Napoleon's tomb and exhibits on old French war involvement (Middle Ages, Napoleonic Wars, both World Wars)
• Saw the Sacre Coeur (in daylight) and listened in on a Gospel and homily in a chapel on the grounds
• Ate dinner (at a more French place than Indiana!) with Caitlin and Maya
• Bought a bottle of wine & white frosting-covered Oreos and hung out on the hill at Sacre Coeur with Caitlin, Maya, and Rachel
• Fell asleep... in the hostel... at about 2:30

Sunday
• Woke up at about 8:00
• Ate breakfast
• Went to a Gregorian Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral at 10:00. Didn't full-out cry, but felt tears well up five times (Kyrie, Gospel reading of the three questions to Peter, elevation, reception of communion, closing procession).
• Ate a Nutella crepe outside Notre Dame
• Hammed it up with more sculptures at the Musée d'Orsay
• Bought a bottle of wine & a baguette and lay in the grass in the Jardin de Tuileries. (Caitlin was there, so that bottle wasn't just for me!) We made a spot of shade with my umbrella leaning on her backpack, and we entertained a baby learning to walk with her mother. Also saw toddlers running through the hedgerows and sat next to a statue of a naked woman. Also saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Also saw the Louvre pyramid. Also realized it was our group's last Sunday overseas and we would be home in a week, which created sad faces.
• Ran out of battery life on my camera when we first sat down. Explains why there are no photos of our shade fort.
• Left for Gare du Nord before the rain started
• Left for London at 7:13 p.m. Paris time