Bonjour! Hola. ... ah Espanol? oh sorry no English.

Getting to Paris

Before coming to Spain,  we were advised that if we were going to travel on the weekends it would be far cheaper to go ahead and book tickets and such before leaving the states.  Jordan and I got together to make travel plans and booked a flight  to Paris for Friday morning at 8 am, thinking we were only about 20 minutes away from Barcelona.  
As our departure date approached we tried to organize a way to the airport.  We asked around here and thought that Jesus would be able to give us a ride, however we were informed that no one would be around that early.  We were then told the best way to get there would be to catch the night bus in La Garriga.  

walk to la Garriga

Catch the night bus

Get on the aerobus

get on the plane to Paris

Catch a shuttle from the airport to the actual city of Paris 

sounds easy enough right? 
wrong. 
We decide to try and catch the 4 am night bus.  When the alarm went off at 3 am, we hit snooze for about 15 minutes.  We finally rolled out of bed to get ready for the cold 25 minute walk to town.  We rush to get ready and left the flat. 
We head to the lobby of the other building, which is where we have to exit since we don't have a key to the first large fence around the play area.  However, when we get there, both doors to the staircases are locked!! We try both keys that we have and nothing works.  We head back outside to try and find a way around the 10 foot fence.  Already running late, I am preparing to try and scale the flimsy looking fence, when Jordan finds a gap at the bottom and suggest we go under it instead.  We both shimmy under through the 1 foot gap and take off running down the hill to town.  
We make good time, and are there in time for the scheduled bus. However, the 4am bus never comes.  We are on the right street, but nothing comes.  We decide to wait for the 5am bus.  Thinking we are very near missing our flight, it takes an hour by bus to get into Barcelona, and our plane leaves in 3 hours.  We hide in a little nook to try and stay out of the freezing wind and wait an hour for the next bus. 
5 am rolls along and still no bus.  
We figure our next available mode of transportation to Barcelona is the 5:45 train.  Which is the first train of the day.   We then rush all the way across town to the train station. 
Once on the train we feel a little better, but still have to get to the airport and actually to the gate on time. 
We arrive in Barcelona around 6:30am. rush out of the station and jump on the Aerobus.  We get out at Terminal 1 and look at the departures , by this time it is about 7:10.  Our flight starts boarding at 7:35.  We see none for Ryanair... and then someone tells us that ryanair flies into Terminal 2.  oh. so we think it is in walking distance. nope. We have to get on an airport shuttle that takes about 10 minutes to get to T2. 
Run through the check in and security and make it to our gate by 7:30ish.  whew. 


From there the trip was much smoother than that. Luckily Jordan and I tend to take things very lightly so we were laughing the whole time as we sprinted through towns and airports.  

Made it to Paris! 
We finally make it to Paris! and the shuttle from the airport dropped us off right next to a mall!! very expensive though.  After grabbing a snack, we start walking.  The streets and buildings are absolutely Gorgeous!!!!  We walk towards the Arc De Triumphe...

We then make our way to the Eiffel tower, which is where we are supposed to be meeting up with Angie and Peter.  

first view of the tower. Beautiful!

We found the Eiffel tower!! I have some trouble with the go-phone i have for spain and can't figure out how to get a hold of Angie.  I end up having to call my parents and they acted as a mediator since they were able to get Ang on the phone.  They informed me that she was about 25 minutes away.  
We waited under the Eiffel tower for a while and then I finally find my little sister, who  I haven't seen in 4 months! 

lots of people excited to see the tower!

We were able to catch up over lunch and I met her boyfriend Peter.  I got to hear lots about Germany and her friends and school.  

Jordan and i had forgotten that it was December and were consequently freezing in the gear we had on. We managed to buy scarfs and hats from a street vendor to help keep us warm. 

We woke up saturday to a cold rainy morning.  Not ideal, but it wasn't so bad once we started walking.  We walked through a Christmas market and then made our way to the Metro to head to the Lourve! 


We wait in the long line to enter the Lourve, thankfully the line moved pretty quickly. 

Gorgeous Ceilings everywhere!!

After exploring the variety of sculptures, paintings and murals, we decided it was time to grab lunch.  Being at a restaurant in paris definitely makes me appreciate the service in the states! we would wait probably 15-20 minutes just for someone to take our drink order! Since it is not really customary to leave tips, they are in no hurry to offer quick service.  
Paris is extremely expensive! But we were able to find some fun gifts and such to bring home to friends and family!  
We made our way to Notre-Dame and then to the Eiffel tower to wait in line for a chance to ride all the way to the top! 

Notre-Dame was huge!

Freezing at the very top of the tower!

So very windy at the very top!

Overall a very exciting and fun trip to Paris.  Loved just walking around the city and taking in the sites and culture!  Very happy to back in the warmer Barcelona weather though! next time we'll be sure to google the weather before packing!