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ATTENTION: If you are between the ages of 18 and 25, get yourself a visa and get yourself to Europe.  For citizens (permanent or temporary, which includes visas) of the European Union, there is a such thing as a Young Person's Discount, which applies if you are between those ages previously mentioned.  (Unfortunately, it's only for the EU instead of all 18- to 25-year-olds.)  I know this is easier said than done, but really, you need to capitalize on this opportunity if you can.  For example, this weekend in Paris (yes, Paris), Meagan and I both got into the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay for free.  That's right, THE LOUVRE FOR FREE.  We simply had to flash our visas and they were more than happy to give us tickets.

But if you can't do that, you should still visit Paris, if you're over here.  Visiting the city is almost a prerequisite if you're coming to Europe.  And I will tell you right now: it is worth it.  And even though it's the most expensive city in the European Union, perhaps in the world (although I find that hard to believe after having visited NYC twice and having been financially gutted both times), you can still survive it by hardly spending anything.  (The discount mentioned above certainly helped.)

And while I'm sure it would be wonderful for me to describe the entire weekend to you, I'm not going to do that.  I know I sort of did it with Barcelona, but we weren't really there for a whole weekend.  We weren't even there for a whole two days, really.  And that post was long.  So!  I'm going to rein in my unwanted talent for superfluous description and stick to the highlights of the weekend, good or bad.

Starting with: the airport bus.  Sevilla has a really proficient bus system.  They go everywhere over the city and they're usually pretty reliable...unless, evidently, you're trying to get to the airport on a Friday night.  The airport bus is really quick and efficient, and it only costs 2,40 euro, which is much cheaper than taking a taxi.  However, taking a taxi is exactly what Meagan and I had to do after the bus never showed up after waiting for the better part of an hour.  Granted, we got to the stop pretty early, but there's still a big difference between 2 1/2 hours before take-off and 1 1/2 hours before take off.  The ironic part is this, though: once we finally flagged down a taxi, got in, and got situated, we look out the rear windshield, and a bus that looks awfully like the airport bus pulls up to the stop.  We kind of hated ourselves for that decision, since we had to pay 22 euro instead of 2,40.

But all's well that ends well.  We got to the airport with plenty of time, got through the (strangely) busy security line, and got on our plane to take off.  Everything on the flight was in French and heavily-accented and hard-to-understand English, but that didn't matter, because we were going to Paris!  (Though, it was hard to tune out the entire field trip of French elementary schoolers that continued to run up and down the aisle playing with their friends.)

The next morning we got up bright and early to go to the Louvre, where, given the hour, hopefully there would be fewer people.  Turns out we were right!  We were able to get inside the museum fairly quickly (and, let me say again, FOR FREE) and get to exploring.  Of course, the museum is famous for being the king of all museums, but let me reiterate: this place is HUGE.  It is chock-full of so much art and history that you wouldn't be able to find in very many other places.  Examples of things inside the Louvre: a section of an ancient Egyptian tomb, a section of an ancient castle's moat, the Code of Hammurabi, and of course, paintings like the Mona Lisa and the Wedding at Cana (which is huge, by the way).  And the Louvre lets you take pictures!  Here are some examples:





At that point, we were pretty hungry and grumpy from not having eaten yet.  So we sought out a cafe that wasn't too expensive and found success!  Breakfast in French is petit déjeuner, and we got to have half of a traditional one: toast with jam and butter, served with coffee or hot chocolate.  While it was good, it was one of the last times we wanted to spend money at a cafe, so we went grocery shopping!  And by grocery shopping, I mean bread shopping.  If you go to Paris, I highly recommend buying two or three baguettes (depending on who's with you) and just munching on them all day.  Couple that with some strawberries, some cheese, and maybe some juice or wine, and you're set for at least two meals if you can stand having the same thing for both meals.  Meagan and I did this and we were set for the day.

So we proceeded onward with our exploration of the city!  One of my favorite parts was visiting Le jardin des Tuileries.  And my real reason for doing this was because a part of Mussorgsky's symphonic work, Pictures at an Exhibition -- which is divided into movements based on paintings he saw at...an exhibition, of course -- is based on these gardens.  (You can listen to it by watching this video; the Tuileries movement lasts from 0:29-1:37.)  And the gardens certainly weren't a letdown!  It was very grassy and beautiful, with statues and ponds and rows of trees everywhere!  We had a lot of fun watching everyone run around.  Also a plus: evidently, we went on a day where it wasn't very crowded.  So props to us!




Later, we braved the metro once more (we had bought the Paris Visite pass, which allows for unlimited rides on any public transportation system for 2 days), all the way from the Arc de Triomphe to the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  Which is situated on an island in the middle of the Seine, by the way.  I didn't know that until I was on the island.  Of course, many memories of Disney movies came flooding back to me as I saw the belfries and attempted to take good pictures of the gargoyles on the top of the cathedral.  (Pictures below.)  Meagan and I didn't go inside because the line was horrendously long, but that was fine by us.



Up until this point, we'd had really good weather, considering Paris has a reputation for being rainy.  But on our way to the Eiffel Tower, evidently the clouds opened up and rain started to pour.  So we had to change our plans a little bit, find somewhere to eat our groceries inside, and then go back later.  Well, that turned out to be a good choice!  Of course we were always going to go see the Eiffel Tower at night, but this just made it so that we saw it at night first before we saw it in the daytime.  And it was beautiful!  It was kind of difficult to take pictures, but we managed.

Later, we walked under the tower, where the finish line for some kind of race was, and saw it from underneath.  The views you get from underneath are crazy!  Also, the Eiffel Tower is always packed with people, either tourists, street vendors, or maybe the seldom Parisian.  Know this, though -- there are street vendors EVERYWHERE!  And all they sell are robotic pets, Eiffel tower trinkets (like statuettes and key-chains), and plastic glow-in-the-dark paratrooper type things.  There was one guy, though -- and this merits a story -- that was selling roses.  As you would expect, Meagan and I were approached by this man, who promptly told us that one rose was 3 euro.  I told him that it was too much, and so he asked me how much I was willing to pay, so I said along the lines of 1 to 1,50.  And while his price didn't go down that much (2 roses for 5 euro), it was perfect.  One rose for each of us!  So we got to hold our roses while the Eiffel tower sparkled above us.  It was wonderful!  :-)



But enough gushy details.  Later, we went back up to Montmartre where we were staying, and passed by the Moulin Rouge.  Which is funny, because the Moulin Rouge is in the middle of the Red Light District of Paris, and there are tons of tourists there trying to take pictures.  (Also, funny: because we didn't realize that the Moulin Rouge was a block away from where we were staying, we also didn't realize until we got there that we were staying a block away from the Red Light District as well.  Things you learn by wandering.)  My recommendation for you in regards to the Moulin Rouge is to see it, but then go to the crepe place on the corner of the street directly to the right of it (if you're facing it).  So good and so cheap: a Nutella crepe was only 2 EURO.  I REPEAT, 2 EURO.  This is cheaper than we found in any other part of the central part of Paris.  It was a deal.

The last thing I'll mention before I leave you wanting more details is in regards to the Musée d'Orsay, the other main art museum in Paris.  While the Louvre was cool (and humongous) and had amazing things in it, the Orsay was more interesting, in my opinion.  We honestly found that the Louvre's size was a hindrance, simply because it's impossible to see all of it at once unless you're really dedicated.  It's hard to appreciate that much art and history in such a large quantity.  The Orsay was better: it wasn't as big and it had a lot more modern-day art, such as Impressionism.  For example, Monet's Water Lilies is usually here (we didn't see it, because we think it was on loan), as well as Edgar Degas' ballerina collection.  All of it is amazing, and the museum itself is quite cool too.  There's a gigantic clock hanging above the main entrance (also the exit), but you don't see it until you turn around to face the exit.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us take pictures in the Orsay.  When we were about to leave, I wanted to buy art postcards, but they were pricey for postcards and we didn't exactly have a budget that allowed for excess spending.  ("Excess spending?!" you say.  "You were in Paris!"  Yes, but I was in Paris with a strict budget.  We still had to buy food for Sunday.)  Anyway, if I had bought postcards, I would've gotten one by Cézanne, who I am quickly coming to realize is my favorite Impressionist painter; and I also would've gotten this one (below), which is probably my favorite painting in the museum, for no reason that I am aware of except that I like it.  It's called The Snake Charmer, by Henri Rousseau:



Other adventures included walking down the Champs-Élyssés, standing under the Arc de Triomphe, and sitting outside the Palais du Luxembourg on our way back down to the bus that would take us back to the airport.  It really was a fantastic weekend.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures!


Nick