So after the awfulness that was Rome, I was more than a little apprehensive about Paris. I had never heard anything particularly bad about Italy and the negative stereotypes I had heard about Italians had all come to be from the English so I was pretty skeptical about them. I had always heard that Paris was dirty and that the French were horribly rude, so I was really worried I would have three more days of the same kind of crap that Rome had been.
Thankfully, Paris was amazing. We got there pretty late at night and took our long coach ride into the city. As we exited the airport the first thing I saw was a giant restaurant called “Buffalo Grill” and a big McDonald’s. It honestly just looked like a part of Texas at that moment which made me really homesick. That’s right, a Buffalo Grill and a McDonald’s make me yearn for home. Anyway, we got into the city and we couldn’t figure out if we were at a metro so I asked a man in as much French as I knew and he very cheerfully said yes and pointed us to the right place. I already felt better about Paris. We took the very efficient metro to our stop and since it was very late and we were very tired, we ate at the big McDonalds right outside our stop. We obviously couldn’t order very well in French but the lady was very nice and tried to help us in English as much as possible.
Anyway, we headed down a slightly shady road but then we were at our hostel. It was midnight but there were like six people working on the door and we just kind of stood awkwardly waiting to see if we could go in. One man noticed us and called to the others to let us pass and helpfully told us reception was inside.
We checked in, got into our little room and passed out, exhausted.
I’m adding in a lot of detail about how helpful everyone was on purpose. In Rome there was literally ONE person who offered us help. In Paris, on our first few hours there, we received considerably more help from people than we did the entire time in Rome.
Anyway, the next morning we got up and headed to Sacre Coeur. It is a beautiful cathedral meaning “Sacred Heart” (or something like that) and it is situated high up in the city. We, idiotically, climbed all these stairs to get there without realizing there was a trolley up. But we got there, took photos of the beautiful cityscape and then visited the chapel. We took some photos and bought the requisite post cards then we heard singing. Mass was beginning. We listened for a little while. It was really pretty to hear them say the Lord’s Prayer in French and the singing was lovely. Afterwards we decided to pay 5 euro to climb to the top of the dome. So we climbed up this little spiral staircase for what seemed forever and then light broke. It was the midway point. We huffed and puffed our way up to the top and finally got up there. We had a panoramic view of the city. It was beautiful. We huffed our way down and then took the trolley down to the base. We wandered around looking for a cheap meal and finally settled on a not so cheap meal. I tried to order beef tartare, not realizing what it was, but the waiter tried to explain it to me but he didn’t speak any English. I finally just pointed to steak and garlic sauce. It was good but way too expensive for a little steak. Michael ordered sausage and it was vile. Vile.
Anyway, afterwards we headed to Notre Dame. It was impressive but considering we had already seen five churches in the last week it was much of the same. Afterwards we stopped and paid 5 euro for two espressos. Good, but not as good as Rome and very expensive. Anyway, afterwards we headedto St. Chapelle, another church. It was one of my favorites actually. Very pretty. Afterwards we exhaustedly walked to the Pantheon which held the tombs of Marie Curie, Rousseau, and some other important people whose names I can’t remember right now. Foucault’s first pendulum was there which was pretty cool.
We were exhausted so we decided to get a snack and head back to the hostel. We rested for a little while but were too worn out to go out and do anything else so we just went down the road about two minutes and ate at a “Indian Restaurant Palace.” No one else was there and we couldn’t figure out why because it was amazing and not that expensive. Afterwards we went to bed.
So the next morning we woke up and got to our metro only to discover that there was a 23 minute wait for the next train. We couldn’t figure it out since the day before it had been so efficient. We waited and watched a drunk foursome (it was like 10 am) hassle people for money for a while and then the train came. We got to the Louvre and were in awe of the beautiful glass pyramid and walked up to the line, happy to find it quite short. It wasn’t until we saw the sign that said, “Permanent Collections Closed due to National Transport Strike, Temporary Collections Open” that we realized. For whatever reason, the Louvre and other museums close down if there is a Nat’l Transport Strike so we didn’t get to visit the Louvre. We’re going back to Paris in a few weeks so we weren’t too concerned about it and instead headed to the Arc De Triomphe. We ate at a Quick (like a McDonald’s) and Michael tried to order my meal for me but she couldn’t understand him so I said the same thing only with a better accent and she understood. She told us our amount in English and seemed so excited that she had gotten it right…lol it was really cute.
After our cheap lunch we walked down the Champs Elysees. I sat down to rest at one point and some creepy Dutch kid came and sat down next to me and begin speaking to me in awkward English for a while….lol it was kind of funny but weird. The bad thing about going to Rome first (other than going to Rome) was that by the time I got to Paris I was just exhausted from walking for four days straight and it made it more difficult to appreciate how great Paris was.
We stopped on the Champs Elysees to get a coffee or something bc it was so cold and we went to this nice looking cafe and a hot chocolate was 5.50 euro. I was like eff that so we walked a little bit more and saw a McCafe….lol so we bought some very cheap hot chocolate at a McDonald’s and walked along the Champs Elysees.
After walking for forever we tried to figure out what to do next. We had thought about going to the Musee D’Orsay but with the Louvre closed bc of the transport strike we felt sure that it would be as well. It was only like 2 pm but we didn’t know how long it would take us to get anywhere so we waited at a tube for about 15 minutes to head toward the Eiffel Tower. The train took longer than our patience did although we did enjoy watching a big black guy do ballet moves while listening to his iPod. We walked on to the next tube stop, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and waited for a while. It was as I smushed onto the train that I realized that people who travel for a living, like Anthony Bourdain or that girl from Passport to Europe, really don’t have the best jobs. It’s exhausting and there are always issues and even if they aren’t having to deal with all the crap, it is still an incredibly tiring experience. Anyway, we got out too late and had to walk some ways to get to the Eiffel Tower but we got there and got in line. It was funny watching the French guards with their giant automatic rifles running to kiss at puppies to love on the dogs around the tower….very strange. Anyway, we waited for a while then managed to go up. Michael had gotten it into his head that he wanted to take me to one of the restaurants on the Eiffel Tower but it was so expensive that I convinced him otherwise (with some aid from the menu). As I was sitting and waiting for Michael to do something I saw this little one-legged pigeon trying to get food. Another pigeon was eating everything he could get so Michael and I found some fries and made sure he got them. We’re softies for a pigeon. The Eiffel Tower is very impressive and lovely but at this point I was so tired and hungry I was ready to go. So we headed down and went to this gorgeous little restaurant. Our waiter looked so quintessentially French but was very nice and helpful. We ordered a 3-course meal each and I ordered some red wine and Michael got some white wine. I started my meal off with escargo which is of course snails with olive oil and pesto, very yummy. Michael had a hard boiled egg and mayonnaise which was actually really good. Then I had rump steak with veggies. It came with half a ton of mushrooms, green beans, cauliflour, and a very yummy sauce. Michael had “chicken supreme” which was actually chicken korma but still very good. We finished with Michael having toffee flan and I had creme brulee. We split almost everything and it was really good. It took us over two hours to eat but that’s just how it’s done there and it was really wonderful. As Michael gave his debit card to pay the waiter looked at it. It has the batman sign on it and he was like, “Batman? Are you batman?” and Michael laughed and said maybe. The waiter then looked at me and said, “That would make you….j’mappele….Cat woman!” It was really funny. It had already gone 9 by the time we left so we watched the Eiffel Tower light up for a little bit then headed home.
When we finally caught a train these two drunk guys, with one being pushed in a pram got on. They started to talk to Michael and me but obviously we didn’t understand them. I told them “Je ne comprende pas” and they were very nice (and very drunk). lol it was a very odd experience. There was also this woman sitting behind us the entire way who hadn’t moved at all. I got really worried about her so I asked a nice looking older couple next by if they knew if she was okay. They told me to try to wake her but that she was probably just really drunk and there was nothing to do (they literally told me all this in broken English and miming, we understood each other). I tried to pick her up and had to literally sit her up completely before she came to and said something to me angrily in French. I just let her flop back down and got off. We got out too early (my fault) and had to walk in the dark unfamiliar streets. We were kind of scared but there really were no problems and we made it back to our hostel with no issues.
We left early the next morning, got to the train station, got on for free because during a strike everything keeps running but you don’t have to pay for anything. So we saved 16 euro and got to the airport in no time. We finally got home, exhausted, dirty, and hungry for kebabs. It was a great week and I’m excited to go back to Paris. Don’t ever listen to anyone who tells you they’re rude or that it’s dirty. It’s amazing. As long as you’re polite and willing to take some risks and attempt some French they are more than willing to help you out and are really pleasant. The city is gorgeous, not dirty at all and it is just the most beautiful and enchanting place ever.
