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Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting two of my best friends from Penn State who have been studying in Paris for the semester.

When I arrived in the city on Thursday night, my friend Jenny met me and showed me some of the main sights at night, such as the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Louvre museum. She took me on a long walk through the city, and I was able to map out in my head the places that I wanted to be sure to visit during the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, however, Jenny was leaving early the next morning to go to London, so I was not going to see her again until Saturday night.

The next morning, I met my other friend, Juliana, at the beautiful Eiffel Tower. Although I knew that it would be incredible, I was still amazed at exactly how breathtaking it really was. The monument was colossal and unbelievable to look at with its intricacy and height. For the rest of the day, we toured the streets and Juliana showed me other important landmarks, such as the Dome des invalids, the Arc de Triomphe, and of course, the famous shopping street Champs-�lys�es.

The next day, Juliana and started our day in the early afternoon at the Fontaine Saint-Michel to have lunch and wander the little alleys of shops. We even came across a church that Juliana had never seen or heard of before, tucked away behind the various shops and restaurants.

Then, finally, we went to see the Notre Dame. Although I had seen it at night with Jenny, I wanted to see it in the daylight and go inside. The cathedral was beautiful, and it was exciting to go inside and see all of the famous architecture and sculptures. After we went though the whole thing, we were excited to climb to the top and look out over Paris. Sadly, however, there were too many people in the line, so we were turned away. Still though, it was great to see such an important part of history.

After the Notre Dame, we took a long walk through the city during which Juliana showed me some more interesting sights. One of these was the Pont de l’Archevech� bridge, on which lovers go and attach their “love padlocks” to symbolize their everlasting love (aww!). She also brought me to see the Louvre in the daylight, which looked so cool because of all of the pyramids outside that it is known for. I did not get the chance to go inside of the museum, but to be honest, I did not want to go in because I would have wanted to see the entire museum which is impossible to do in just a few hours. It is probably even impossible to see it all in a few days because it is so enormous!

When it got dark out, Juliana and I rode the Roue de Paris, an enormous Ferris when that was set up at the enf od Champs-Elys�es. From the top of the ride, I was able to look out and see all of Paris, which was really a beautiful sight. Afterwords, we went to Pigalle to see the Moulin Rouge cabaret. As a fan of the movie, I decided that I could not leave Paris without seeing it. This area of Paris was very interesting and reminded me a lot of the red light district in Amsterdam (only not quite as intense, if you know what I mean).

Finally, at the end of the night, I met up with Jenny again to spend my last night with her. I met one of her friends from her program, and the three of us had a nice relaxing night. This was just what I needed, because I was tired after such a busy weekend, and my flight was leaving early the next morning.

I enjoyed my trip to Paris. It was great to see my friends, and it was so much fun to see all of the major touristy sights with what seemed like my very own personal tour guide. However, as far as a big city goes, I have to say that I like Barcelona better. It’s so scary to think about how I have less than three weeks left!

Location: Paris, France