"There is an admirable fact about the psychology of France: she knows no half measures, loathsome or sublime, she forges the thought and the beauty of a world or of a dung heap; her destiny is never to be mediocre." - Joséphin Péladan (Goodreads)

There was a time in my life when I was in middle school, where I didn't appreciate going everywhere with my family. I would complain and whine about how I didn't want to be there and would always want to stay at home or somewhere inside to read a book or be alone. That was me as a middle school girl. Flash forward to a few years later, as a rising senior in high school in which I was able to experience one of the most memorable moments of my life and enjoy it. My summer of 2014 in France was an early graduation gift given to me by my granduncle who lives there. The trip consisted of my grandmother and me along with her sister and her family coming from Canada. It was a family trip but it was an amazing experience.

The minute we got off the plane, I was so excited that I couldn't wait to go out and explore around France. My granduncle lives in a small suburb called Lognes. It is thirty to forty minutes away from France which was totally fine with me. When we drove out into the streets from the Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris was pretty crowded. Every corner was filled with people walking, cars sticking together in traffic, and motorcycles going in between the lanes. To me, the streets of Paris were very impatient, or rather, the people on the streets were impatient. Every person has their own story. They were impatient. Not my family. We took our time to drive back to Lognes, to my granduncle's house. There we rested before we decided to go out that day.

Because it was the day we arrived, we decided to just stay in Lognes and explore around the town. That night, there was a festival called "Fête de Lognes". We decided to go there. It was a lot of fun! There was a band playing, people dancing, and many children enjoying the night. There were lots of food to eat and many beverages to drink as well. Overall, it was a fun night to experience. When the music and dancing stopped, the fireworks began to happen. Sadly, the pictures that I had taken that night did not turn out so well so I don't have any to show you. *sad face*

The next day marked the first day of sightseeing around Paris, France. We were exploring the many monuments in Paris such as the Statue of St. Michael at St. Michel's Square which was a beautiful sight! We also witnessed little children going on a field trip and attached together by a long string. What a cute sight to see!

The next place we went to was to see was "L'église Saint-Eustache " or the Church of Saint Eustace. Beautiful church with architectural designs that are to die for! That day, they had closed a tour of the church so we weren't able to enter in. Even just being outside was an amazing experience as well. I had researched that the church is a part of the 1st arrondissement of Paris, which is the home to royal palaces and gardens. This was definitely one of those moments where I was like, "Wow! I'm standing in front of a church that many French nobles and royals must have attended!"

Next, we went to visit the Louvre, which is the most popular museum in Paris for tourists to go to and it is also part of the Louvre Palace, which was once the home of the royal family. The museum is also popular to one of the most famous paintings: the Mona Lisa. Not known to many people, the painting is actually really small. That day, it was very crowded so I wasn't able to snap a picture of the Mona Lisa. I was, however, able to take a look around the Palais Royal or the part of the museum in which the kings had resided in. I had so much fun touring the museum!

Next on our list of tours was Notre Dame. As we were walking toward Notre Dame, my grandmother thought it would great to take a picture on the bridge with the trees and part of the building. At that time, I didn't think it would look so great but after taking a look at the picture, it turned out awesome! I loved it! Needless to say, the line to view the inside of Notre Dame was so long that we were unable to go inside.

As we were roaming the streets of Paris, I saw the many differences compared to things I saw in America. For one, the cars there was super tiny. There was also a Paris-Turf car, in which Paris-Turf is content for horse racing, that was very tiny. It was cute and adorable. My most memorable moment that day was when we walked onto the Pont des Arts bridge which crosses France's most popular river called la Seine. The bridge is home to the famous lock and key love icons which have made a romantic impact throughout the year.

A tradition in which couples put locks on the bridge to show their affection or one another and throw the key into the Seine, leaving their love on the bridge for eternity... or at least until they break up with one another. Sad to say, France had the love locks removed a year after because the bridge got too heavy.

And that marked day one of our Paris tour. Until next week my friends, my journey in Paris will continue then!