France was the first European country that I ever visited. Paris, France was the first stop during my Europe trip that I took with my high school. The first day in Paris was hard. I did not sleep at all on the plane. As soon as we landed, we started touring. I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I was bumping into people because I could not keep my eyes open when I was walking. The Champs-Elysees was definitely really cool to see. This is a long shopping street in Paris where one can see the Arc de Triomphe on one end and the Eiffel Tower on the other. Both of these French landmarks were interesting to see in person. I was able to go partially up into the Eiffel tower. The Eiffel tower was not as exciting as I had imagined but was still pretty cool. One of my favorite days in Paris was visiting the Louvre. I was fascinated by the glass pyramids. Additionally, the Louvre is home to the Mona Lisa. Disappointing is how to describe this painting. It is really small in real life and there are hundreds of people in front of the painting trying to get pictures. 

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I also visited Sacre Couer Basilica which is a beautiful church on Mont Marte- a town overlooking Paris. This is when I had my first crepe and I saw the cabaret show at the Moulin Rouge. The next day, I went to Claude Monet's house and saw where he got inspiration for his lily pond paintings. I then went to Normandy and visited the American Cemetery Memorial, the Cemetery, and the beaches. Normandy was beautiful to see but I had to remember the awful events that took place on these beaches. Next, I visited Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey. I loved this kind of tower island. The abbey was once used as a prison and is now classified as a historic landmark. The last destination in France was the Notre Dame Cathedral.

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France was not my favorite country. I did not enjoy French food, I thought that the people were quite rude, and there was too much smoking. I would probably not go back to Paris but I would love to visit the South of France.