This is Versailles. They tell you that Versailles is completely lavish, over-the-top and stunningly gorgeous, and it is. But they don’t tell you that the vast grounds also include precious cottages, which they do.

After a long Saturday trekking through the beast that is Versailles, we made it to Paris, and a couple friends and I celebrated with a walk along the Seine.

At night, Paris easily lives up to its nicknames of the City of Lights and the City of Love. With every archaic monument glittering against the river, and the Eiffel Tower always teasing in your field of vision, the city truly is one of lights. And while all sorts of canoodling can be seen all over the city as well, the feelings of love are eminent regardless of your relationship status. With my three completely platonic pals, I felt the romance, and they felt it too.

Paris at night. Absolutely captivating.

I spent four nights in Paris, and each one was spent walking through the city’s various quarters. I couldn’t bring myself to enter a bar or even a cafe. I couldn’t waste a night indoors when I could be out in the love- and light-filled air.

My days were brutally packed with museums, churches, and general sightseeing with my art history class. Normally this is painful, and of course, my feet did hurt constantly, but Paris has the world to offer. Being herded from place to place in an organized fashion was actually worth the frustrating herding experience. There is no way I could have seen so much without this class. The lines for The Louvre, alone, would have severely cut into my weekend.

As to not completely be a bore, here’s my trip’s general trajectory in list form:

Saturday: Versailles, Montmartre, Sacre Coeur, Seine stroll, Notre Dame

Sunday: The Bastille, Hôtel de Sully, Place des Vosges, the Marais, Centre Pompidou, the Sorbonne, Jardin du Luxembourg, Panthéon, Eiffel Tower

Monday: Opera, Palais Royal, the Louvre, Sainte Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Les Champs-Elysees, St. Germain des Prés

Tuesday: Musée d’Orsay, Tuileries gardens, Place Vendôme, Place de la Concorde, the Invalides, Latin Quarter

Paris is Paris. It lives up to all the hype. It deserves its hoards of tourists, and the hoards of tourists aren’t even as bothersome as they should be. There are hundreds of books written about Paris, and there are even more love letters. There is nothing new I could say. You know exactly what’s waiting for you. One question remains: when are you going?