Parigi

Sean and I went finally made it to bed at 2:30 after our night out in Florence, but then her alarm rudely woke us up at 4:40 so we could catch a taxi to the airport. European airports, we soon learned, are not like US airports where you need to be there 3 hours before an international flight. No, in a total of 36 minutes we made it across town, checked in, went through security and were sitting with espresso and croissant in hand at our gate. Later that afternoon we arrived in Paris to meet Alex and her parents at the Weston Hotel (it's going to be hard to go back to hostel living after this weekend). It was Alex's 21st birthday so we slipped on our little black dresses and all went out for champagne then a MAGNIFICENT dinner where Sean, Alex and I happily did not order yet another pasta dish. We then went out to Club VIP where we started the dance party (and by "we" I mean Alex's parents who probably out danced and drank us girls). After a long day and fabulous night we crashed on our very comfy, 5-star, down feather beds.

The next morning we got up early to visit the Louvre. Alex, Sean and I are all Art History majors so it was the equivalent of a trip to Disneyland for us! I had visited the Louvre in 7th grade on a family vacation so I was old enough to remember seeing some of the pieces, but definitely not old enough to appreciate it! We then just walked around Paris for the rest of the afternoon, ate some crepes, did some shopping (no, mom I was good and didn't buy anything!), walked past a Starbucks and didn't get anything - big step for me, and then headed back to the hotel to take the most epic nap of our lives. Unfortunately later that night Alex and her mom came down with the stomach flu so Sean and I set off to lazily stroll the streets of Paris for the rest of the evening.

Sunday was a long day of traveling and we were a mess! We got made fun off by the security guy for each having mismatched sox, then I set of the metal detector, had to be patted down, and have my bag searched. The rest of the day just followed suit including spilled drinks, chocolate stains on the blouse, tripping over boots, and almost leaving tickets and a blackberry on a bus- so we were happy when our bus pulled into Siena at 8:45 last night!