Hello all!
Today is my last day in Paris 2.0! That's right, you read correctly... 2.0! I shall explain that later...
Flew into Paris on Monday! After a few attempts to understand the transportation system we finally get to our exit to the hostel. We come out of the metro station to see in front of us... the Moulin Rouge. My first Parisian landmark! Our hostel wasn't far up the road from there. We got all checked in, my classmate on the trip with me had some problems as she had booked the wrong dates for the hostel... unfortunately she had to check in and out on a daily basis; but luckily they had openings everyday for her to do so. We hung out in the lounge and met a few people: 2 girls backpacking around Europe from Canada, a guy from London here for a concert/vacation, and a man from LA also backpacking around Europe. Then after a glass of red wine (which is amazing in France!!), we went back to our rooms and slept.
The next day we had breakfast at the hostel. We had what you would think, by stereotype, you would have in Paris for breakfast croissants and juice! :) I read in a pamphlet that the "Sandemans New Paris" company gave free tours around Paris. So we went and I am SO glad we did! Our tour guide, Fiona, was both hilarious and well informed. The walking tour was around three hours of sight-seeing around Paris! Then after we were done with that we had a French meal and went to the musee d'orsee and then to l'arc de triumphe. (This was probably my favorite thing we did while in Paris... the view was AMAZING!) But it is a job to get up there as there are a gagillion stairs, believe me I lost count, counting. (haha) Later on we went to a pub crawl (sponsored by the same tour company we went on earlier) that had discounted drinks and we got into a club for free (normally the door charge is like 20 euro). I tried Absinthe for the first time which is a story that you should ask me about... not my best moment nor my favorite drink.
Wednesday we went to the Cathedral de Notre Dame which was huge and beautiful! (We didn't go up though, just walked around the main area). Then after Notre Dame, we hit the Louvre and then spent a good 5-6 hours looking around. Exhausted after this long day, I simply rested at the hostel for the evening.
Thursday we went on a little souvenir shopping trip and then went to see the Opera house where the story of the Phantom of the Opera come from! :) Sadly we didn't go in and I
didn't get to meet Gerard Butler... I mean, the Phantom. ;) Then we went and saw the Eiffel Tower with plans to return to see it all lit up at night! Later we walked through the Catacombs! Which at first they are just a bunch of tunnels with words on the wall... then you hit a point where the walls upon walls are just lined with skulls and bones. (I'll post pictures of these sites when I get home) BUT it was crazy-cool! Then we went back and climbed up the hill to the monmartre district and saw the Cathedral of Sacre Coeur which was REALLY pretty and HUGE! Then after that I went to dinner with my roommate at the hostile Sabrina from Argentina! She was a hoot! She made me order because of the little french that I speak (which got better the longer we were in France!) Funnily enough, the waiter comes out with this huge pan of muscles, I froze in shock because it is nothing like the crepe avec jambon that I ordered. Luckily, when I asked if there was a mistake he realized he gave me someone else's meal and I got the meal that I ordered. BUT I totally thought that a) I was being played a joke no or b) I had somehow botched my order up SO bad that he thought I said muslces...
Last day (1.0) in Paris!! (from the same company we took the tour around Paris on Tuesday) It was SO beautiful and the weather was great. My only regret is that we went on a Friday and not a weekend when the fountains were on because I'm sure it would be even more beautiful. After this tour, I went back to the hostel and took a small nap to recuperate... then went back to the Eiffel tower to see it at night. It was all lit up and eventually did this shimmery-sparkle things which was SO cool!!
Last day (2.0): Well, after discussing what time we should leave for the airport last night I thought we were leaving a bit late, so missing my flight is more than 1/2 my fault for not speaking up... But after a delay in our train and I still had to print off my boarding pass I missed the boarding time... thus missing my flight. The classmate that I went to Paris with somehow managed to talk her way on since she had her boarding pass already...
SOoOo I'm all alone, in Paris, no reservation for a place to stay, flight got switched but it wasn't until 6 the next day... Lemme just tell you words cannot describe the panic that set in. BUT after that passed, I recollected what bits of sanity I had left and jumped back on the train and headed back to the hostel I'd stayed at this week. As luck would have it, there was a cancellation and I got a room.
And I have time for a tour of the Montmartre district at 6 tonight which I was bumbed that I didn't get to fit in to the trip... I'll blog about this tour when I get back to Hull. So everything has virtually worked out. I have a plane ticket back to the UK... a place to stay tonight for not an huge cost...
The Mont Martre tour was so cool! We got to see where it was where Van Gogh lived in Paris and where traded Picasso traded art work for food (which was the cabaret called the Agile Bunny)! What Van Gogh's favorite flavor was: Yellow (which is jokingly referring to his paint of which Van Gogh ate). All of this was blocks away from my hostel! So neat to get the extra info of the area. I also made some friends on the tour and we went to a crepery and enjoyed a delicious crepe! :)
Problems to face tomorrow: getting a train back to Hull.
As I said, I shall post about this adventure when I get back into town, but for now I am choosing to look at it as that I am lucky and get to be in Paris for another day! :)
