Hello!

Josh and I have officially left London. Our time there was amazing and I can say that it has definitely been one of the best European cities I have ever visited. We took the Eurostar back to Paris with ease. Once in Paris, we headed towards our final air bnb by Paris metro. This always makes me slightly uncomfortable since we become targets with our travel bags. We don't have much but we are clearly traveling. Luckily, we found our place with no issues and met with the owner to grab the keys! The flat is beautiful! Very modern decor, hardwood floors and a beautiful view of the city. We can even see the Eiffel Tower in the distance from our window! We had a relaxing dinner and then rested up for our first full day in Paris!

Our first full day was wonderful! We woke up and ate a delicious breakfast of pastries in a cafe next to our place. Then we headed to The Pompidou which holds modern and contemporary artwork. We purchased 6 day museum passes for Paris so we can enter any museum we want for free. So far it has been a worthwhile purchase.... The Pompidou is a rather ugly building. I think it looks like a factory for children. The building is very large and industrial but it is painted extremely bright colors like blue and red and yellow and green AND orange AND yellow... Etc. At this point, the building is very dirty so the colors are looking especially grimy. The front of the building has an escalator on the exterior that zigzags all the way from the bottom floor to the top floor. This architectural design, I liked. The interior of the building is beautifully designed. It's just the exterior that bothers me. The interior has wonderful gallery space that enhances the work. The gallery is massive. We stayed for a few hours looking at everything we could. There was installation art, photography, sculpture, painting, mixed media, film and much more that was very unique in design/concept. I enjoyed myself immensely.

We left and headed to Notre Dame. You can't go to Paris and not see Notre Dame. After waiting in line for a while, we were allowed in. We climbed up and up and up an old, windy, stone staircase that made us slightly dizzy until we reached the top of the cathedral. At the top are many gargoyles and a fantastic view of the city. Josh and I walked around the top for a bit taking everything in. Once climbing back down, we walked through some shops until realizing how hungry we were and stopped for burgers. We had burgers, fries and shakes. Very French of us. Hahahhaha.

We also stopped by the Louve for a picture with the glass triangle. It was on our way home and almost no one was there. Tomorrow is our Louvre day!

All the best,

Lilly