I have realized that I have never actually written about the day I spent in Paris. I should be writing this on my other blog, Bethalona, but I suppose I will just copy it there and get on with life.
I spent my day in Paris with Esther and Victoria- fitting that both of them have royal names and so do I, and we spent the day wandering around a city that has a way of making one feel like a royal. When we arrived, it was late. So dark we could not tell where we were or what direction we wanted to go in. Other tourists helped point us towards the metro line where we could at least find a map of the city and figure out where our hostel was. Somehow I became the tour guide (I was the only one of the three of us who actually wanted to spend time in Paris and the only one with a little bit of French to rely on).
After safely navigating Paris at night and getting us from Metro to bus to the hostel, we ventured out for pizza. A small place, tucked away in what felt like a slightly unsafe neighbourhood, but the pizza was good and we were all too tired to care if it wasn't. Back to the hostel for sleep in our cramped three-person room where Victoria and I shared a bed and Esther was on the bunk up top.
Morning showers in a cold hostel, bundled up and hungry we left the hostel ready for a day of adventure. We found a bakery (one of many, and not-so-few-and-far-between) and bought some pastries for breakfast, and the much needed coffee. We bought some apples from a local vendor and carried on our way. Me, being the tour guide again, had asked in very broken French (after reciting in French that I don't speak the language) had asked for directions from a very large man at the reception desk in the hostel. He had told me in simple terms to walk down to the main road, turn left and walk to the MacDonalds. We would find it from there.
We did, thank goodness. And still having my map, I found our way through the spiders web to a metro stop close to the Louvre. (I should mention that on the Metro the three of us saw the most attractive, well-dressed man we could ever agree on as being the most attractive man we've ever seen. He looked as though he stepped out from between the pages of a magazine cologne ad and onto the Metro. None of us were close enough to smell him, but I assume he smells like something that would have most women losing themselves in and falling victim to his European allure. From head to toe: perfection. And I said "bonjour" to him on the way out of the Metro car and giggled like a school girl with my friends all the way to the top of the stairs!)
Out on the street, we met some Australians who gave us a tip about travelling in Europe, and most importantly in Paris: keep your purse under your coat and your valuables where you can feel them on your person. Past a church and down the street, we got out first glimpses of the magnificent museum. Truthfully, I thought it would look different, and once inside the confines of the buildings it did. The old style architecture and sculptures were beautiful and as many have said, I found the glass structure in the middle to be starkly out of place, despite how beautiful it can be in photos (something not unlike the structure built onto the ROM in Toronto- completely unnecessary and mostly out of place, but trying to tie in old world with new and modern). We of course took pictures, and once inside, wandered our way around the Greek sculptures, Egyptian antiquities and still life paintings. We found the Mona Lisa which is actually a lot smaller than I had imagined it to be, and the Venus de Milo. We left around noon as we were all beginning to get rather hungry, and found a little shop to buy sandwiches in.
After our snack, we wandered in a tourist fashion all the way up the Champs Elysees, going into shops along the way. We went into Yves Roche, a store I happen to quite like, and purchased a few small things and while the store clerk was quite pleasant to me, she was quite rude to my friends, who again, do not speak any French.
We found the Arc de Triomphe and took a siesta on a park bench nearby. Another lovely tourist took our photo because the occasion was simply entertaining.
From there we took a bicycle taxi to an attractive photo-perfect spot close to the Eiffel Tower. It was 15 euro but well worth the money for the somewhat romantic ride and the laughs along the way.
Photos, photos, photos and lots of posing. Another walk had us standing right under the tower, looking straight up. We didn't take the opportunity to walk up the tower because it was already getting late in the day and the wait was 2 hours. If we had another day we would have planned to be there early and go up, but alas, maybe next time.
We had been recommended a place to eat for dinner by a friend of ours, so we decided to try to find it. It was across the city: another Metro ride and a walk through the narrow streets to find it. Once there, we tried to get in. We were declined. The man at the door said it was because we didn't have reservations and they were quite busy. The place was empty from what I saw. I think it was because we didn't speak French.
Another place around the corner was quite a bit more hospitable. I tried escargot! It has much the same texture as mushroom, surprisingly, and I found it to actually be agreeable. Though, the amount of garlic and the overpowering taste of salt prevented me from wanting more than a few bites.
Dinner was delicious and fanciful as any dinner in Paris should be. Afterwards, we decided to take a stroll and find a store for some sweet treats. We purchased a box of cookies and some bottles of water and kept on walking. I had spoken to a friend of mine from Canada who said he would be in Paris the same weekend, but we hadn't been able to get ahold of him all weekend. That was perfectly fine with all of us. We ended up sitting on a park bench on a small street, looking at an old building and just talking into the night. We didn't have energy after our long day of walking to go out partying, and we didn't care to go back and change and go out again. We were perfectly content to eat our cookies on the park bench.
We got back to our room late that night again, and went to bed. That night I dreamt in three languages and woke up feeling rather confused.
After a quick breakfast and purchasing a few items to take on our train ride, we headed to the train station to continue our trip around Europe. Baguettes, apples and coffee. The perfect end to our short stay in the city of love.
