I didn't see London, I did see France...

When you take off for a year of travel, there are certain places you're almost required to stop at...Paris being one of them.  The Eiffel Tower is one of those landmarks that have always symbolized travel to me, much like the Colosseum in Rome.  We took a flight from our month in Croatia to Paris and arrived to our apartment near the Montmartre neighborhood.  The apartment was great and we couldn't really have picked a better location in my opinion.  We spent a total of 4 nights in Paris, and although you could stay there months and still not experience everything, it was still a good amount of time.  The obligatory first stop upon arriving to Paris was to go to Chipotle, as I had been craving that for the last 3 months.  It was good enough and it definitely fulfilled my craving.  The first full day we set out walking, sweating and being your typical tourists.  We walked for probably 8 miles that day but it was great...and even after sweating for 8 hours, we still didn't smell as bad as the people on the subway.  Side not: Europe, deodorant is your friend, not your enemy, please learn to apply it.  France was especially smelly which is strange because they dress so nice there and you don't expect it.  Whenever we came across the "smell"much like Lady Gaga's meat dress, we would say, "Okay, who's wearing the onion dress?!"  Sorry, kind of got off base there, but it happens.  Paris is a beautiful city and walking around I almost thought I was in Buenos Aires at times as the architecture is identical.  The French language is very beautiful, especially when spoken by females.  This is definitely a city I could see myself living in, IF I learned the language.  If you don't know the language they just look at you like you're an asshole for even being there, but I can only imagine what people in the US would do if you started speaking a foreign language in a restaurant, expecting them to understand.  So, that's our fault.  Below are some of the pictures from the days in Paris:

First meal...ahhh!

I really liked this building as it was so modern in the middle of a city that is so old.  Centre Georges Pompidou.

First good view of the Eiffel Tower!

This was the view looking from the Pont des Arts bridge.

ATG + Eiffel Tower

Can't remember what this is and I'm too lazy to Google it, but it was beautiful none the less.

Looking down La Seine

Notre Dame Cathedral, very beautiful outside but it was too hot to wait in a line for an hour to go in...maybe next time Jesus. 

In the Louvre

ATG posing in the Louvre with his murse.

Pont des Arts Bridge, where the new fad is for everyone to write their names on a lock, lock it to the bridge and throw the keys in the water. It's a sure fire way of having ever lasting love, as there's no way ANY of these people have broken up.

Walking down Avenue des Champs-Elysees

Aaron tries, but he'll never be able to compare to Emily and I imitating statues. 

I spy ATG & Drew, can you?

I had to take a picture of this because it blows my mind.  This is the Abercrombie & Fitch entrance on Champs-Elysees.  It's pretty much a palace and just like in Amsterdam, there's a line to enter.  I thought it was a joke and I started questioning if these people knew there were going into a store for tweens, but I guess A&F is not only popular in the midwest, it's popular in Europe.  Another thing is you can be within a 2 block radius and still smell the stench of the cologne pumping from the store. 

ATG in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

Oh hey, Eiffel Tower.

Moulin Rouge

This is my favorite photo from the trip.  The last night, we packed some wine, charcuterie & music and headed to the park in front of the Eiffel Tower.  The park was packed and it had such a good vibe.  Everyone was having their picnic there and having the Eiffel Tower in the backdrop definitely didn't disappoint. 

Sacre Coeur which was near our apartment.  The view from here was spectacular. 

Here's the view from the Sacre Coeur.

A photo of us the last night in Paris.

PS: I forgot to add this and I don't know how. So we were staying on the 5th floor and since it was hot we kept the balcony door as well as our bedroom window open at night. At 6am one morning, Aaron jumped out of bed and it scared the crap out of me so immediately I begin to think someone was in the apartment and I jumped out as fast as I could. This is when I noticed a freaking pigeon (rat with wings) flew into our bedroom. I threw the comforter at it and ran out of the room slamming the door yelling, as anyone else would. During this episode I'm pretty sure I chipped a part of my shin as it still hasn't healed 3+ weeks later. Luckily, the thing flew out of the room probably due to my panic. Sorry neighbors. Hands down one of the worst experiences of my life. Those things are nasty.