Day 22 – Paris, France

This morning I woke up to my mom rushing me out of bed. I did not get out of bed, though – I fell asleep. Once she came in for the fifth time telling me to get up, I slowly stepped out of bed and started getting ready with 15 minutes left before we had to leave. I hopped in the shower right when Mamafer was finished, and then I finished getting ready.

Once we left, most of my family had had yogurt and honey for breakfast, but Kate and I hadn’t eaten, so we got croissants while waiting in line at the Louvre. When we entered the museum, we ran straight for the Mona Lisa. Once we got there, there was barely even a line. We pushed past other people and got to take our pics, and everyone rushed out, and I was left behind. I felt saddened.

I caught up, and we walked around for a bit, looking at different paintings, and then we made a plan. We split into pairs, so Katie and I went off with the plan to meet back at the Winged Victory of Samothrace at 11am. For the first 30 minutes, we sat on every single bench we saw. Kate dragged me into this room that looked like it was full of gold. The walls didn’t have many paintings, but the details were divine.

After we’d sat on our second bench, I wanted to leave the room, but Kate pulled me over to this huge tour group huddled around a glass case. Beside the case was a gorgeous bedazzled crown that some important woman wore. The crown reminded me of the crown that my mother had that I used to play with when I was a child.

Kate dragged me to the end of the room, but there was just a table, so we turned back around and went back to meet everyone because we realized we only had 15 minutes left. But then we got there way too early, so I looked at my map, and we set off to the gift shop. Our plan was to go to the gift shop and then the cafe.

We looked at many items and decided on medium-sized snow globes with an Eiffel Tower in the center. We realized we did not have enough time for the cafe when we checked out, so I texted the group chat and asked for more time. I was only going to ask for 10 more minutes, but luckily Mamafer instead on 30. This was good because the cafe line took 30 minutes! We got an iced tea with a souvenir cup, chips, a croissant, and Kate got a pyramid-shaped chocolate mousse cake.

After we ate, we returned to the meeting point, and we were the first ones there even though we were a little late. Mamafer and Evan arrived about five minutes later, but Mom and Priscilla got lost and were very late. We left the Louvre and went to lunch. The waiter at lunch was super funny and nice.

Afterward, we walked to Notre Dame, where you can’t go inside anymore because of the fire a few years ago. Instead, we visited Sainte-Chapelle, a small cathedral nearby. It was amazing because there was stained glass everywhere.

We hopped back on the metro, and Mamafer got us lost – but then we figured it out and went to catch our boat for a tour of the Seine River. Before we got there, we got gelato! It was very yummy and just what we needed.

It was so nice to sit and see the city from the boat. When we passed the Eiffel Tower, Kate and I did a little photo shoot.

When the boat cruise finished, we Ubered home because we were exhausted. Mamafer and Priscilla grabbed groceries to make dinner at the Airbnb, and we are getting ready for the most important day of the year tomorrow – my birthday!