Paris, France.

Paris was four jam-packed days of sight seeing and having fun. I really wish I could have wrote about these things as they happened, but life feels like it is going full speed, and I can't slow it down.
I went to France with my friend Laura, that I met on the farm in Tuscany. It was a spur of the moment, spontaneous, poorly planned adventure. And dare I say, it was amazing.
Travelling in Europe can be very cheap if you are willing to travel very light, fly in and out of remote airports, and spend the night with about fifty other people on the floor, awaiting the earliest flights possible. And yet those, are the things I remember most fondly. I remember how comfortably I arranged myself with my two bags, one under my head and the other under my feet, that way I could feel it if someone tried to take them away, threw my jacket over my face, and fell tenderly to sleep to the lullaby of conversing strangers and snores from my neighbours. Let's just say I've slept better.
Getting to Paris was an adventure in itself, as was getting back to the airport. But what happened in between are memories I will cherish for the rest of my life. What I have been through on this gap year will be stories to tell my grandchildren. I can't wait to over exaggerate and manipulate my recollections of this experience then.
Laura and I were expert tourists that day. We hit all the main sights to see in Paris, and conquered the French metro system like no other. The first day we were there I was in a daze. Sleep deprived and tired, we set out to find the Eiffel Tower. I was cranky, tired of walking, and was starting to think that this whole sight seeing thing was anti-climatic. Until I saw the Eiffel Tower.
It was illuminated as it tends to be at night, and colossal compared to what I imagined. I teared up. I kept saying to myself: I never thought I would come here, I never thought I would get to see this in person. And there I was, freshly turned 19, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The smile never left my face. The tears made their presence known and I was like a little kid who had just met their favorite movie star. I kept announcing that this was the Eiffel Tower, as if everyone there didn't already know that. Wonderfully happy is how I felt.
And to top it all off, they set off a bigger light show and the Tower glimmered in the night sky so romantically, I cried some more. That was what I needed. I was ready to take on the rest of Paris.
The next three days, I saw everything. I went to the Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Arc of Triumph, the Sacred Heart cathedral, and even stumbled into the red light district and ended up right in front of the Moulin Rouge. It snuck up on us like only a series of not covert sex shops can.
Still, it was awesome. Some of the best pastries I have ever had came from a bakery called Paul. Chocolate Croissant, so delicious, unmatched world wide.
Paris was everything I hoped it would be and more. I made friends, stayed in my first hostel, and made memories of a life time. Definitely don't regret that spur of the moment. And my poor planning, learned a thing or two about booking flights earlier than the metro opens. Lesson learned Paris, lesson learned.