Elliot and I had to wake up very early on Friday morning to be at the Tube station by 5:00 am. I had looked up the Tube routes to the airport online and it said that the first train running to the airport left at 5:05. Well something went wrong with scheduling or what not because Elliot and I waited until 5:38 before the first train came to take us to the airport. We were officially behind schedule and we were pretty sure we would miss our flight as it takes an hour to get to the airport by Tube, plus checking our bag, going through security, and finding our gate. We got to the airport at 6:38 and had to be through security by 6:50 and boarded by 7:05. We literally got off the tube running. Thankfully we had done online check in the night before, so we just had to check our suitcase. The clerk checking our suitcase told us that we were probably too late for our luggage to make our flight. He said to check for it on the carousel in Paris just in case, but we would probably have to file a missing baggage claim and then have it delivered to our hotel when it arrived in Paris. At this point I didn't care I was worried about making the plane. Then we ran to security. We got through fairly quickly, except I kind of tried to cut someone in line and a very nasty airport security guy caught me and made me wait twice as long. I was not a happy camper. However, we made it to our gate and everyone was just starting to board. It was such a relief to sit down on the plane after quite a stressful morning. The trip to Paris was only about 50 minutes and we got some breakfast on the plane which really pleased Elliot. This trip we didn't fly through the budget airlines because I booked the trip with a student travel agent to ensure everything went smoothly!
Our bag ended up making it to Paris on our flight and I was so happy when I saw it cruising down the carousel with its little American Tourist logo on the front! We had to take a train from the airport to the center of Paris. I was really tired from everything that had already taken place in the morning, but so excited to be in Paris. The first thing we did was to find our hotel. We were both surprised when we found it right away. We were not able to check in right away, but we could at least drop off our luggage. I found the Metro (Paris' public transportation system)really easy to use. I had heard that it is less confusing than the Tube here in London, but I also think it was easier because I have mastered the Tube and have to use it to get around every day. The first thing we did in Paris was go to Place de la Concorde. This is Paris' largest square. From here we could see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre Museum. It was the first stop on the tour of Paris that our travel book recommended. It was a great start to our weekend. From here we walked through the Garden of Tuileries to the Louvre Museum. The garden was lined with Chestnut trees and there were statues all over. It was so wonderful, but the weather was not. It started to rain fairly hard as we were walking through the garden. When we came upon the Louvre Museum we were both amazed by the pure size of the building. This Museum is larger than any Museum I have been to in London and houses some very famous pieces of artwork. We hadn't planned on going to the Museum until later on, but since it was raining we just dove right in. I actually got in free with my visa for my internship. Finally the $250 I had to pay to get it paid off a bit. The Louvre was so immense; we didn't know where to start. Elliot and I walked around like lost kids just admiring the different pieces of artwork. Finally we found the famous Mona Lisa. Yes, I actually saw the original copy of the Mona Lisa. I couldn't believe it. However, it wasn't as impressive as I had imagined. The painting was actually quite small and dark, plus the area around it was crowded with tourists. Some of my favorite things in the Museum were the huge paintings that covered an entire wall. We didn't even make it through the whole place before we were exhausted and starving. I don't know if it would be possible to get through the entire Museum in one day. Below is a picture of the Lourve Museum.
Afterwards we went back to our hotel to check in. We stopped at a super market across the street from our hotel and got some supplies to make sandwiches. Our hotel room turned out to be pretty nice. The building and furnishings were old, but it was clean, which is all that matters to me! After a little nap and freshening up, we were ready to hit the city for the night. Of course we headed to the Eiffel Tower. What an amazing place. I loved the Eiffel Tower. It was so impressive. I never got tired of looking at it. It had stopped raining at this point, so we really enjoyed the view and the area. While we were taking pictures all of the sudden the Tower stated to light up all over. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The Tower looked like it was sparkling! This lasted for about 5 minutes. It turns out that this happens every hour on the hour at night, but Elliot and I had no idea and it was a great surprise. We enjoyed the area for a while before heading home. On the way home I decided I needed a crepe. Crepes are the famous food in Paris and there are crepe stands all over. Crepes are just really thin pancakes wrapped up with delicious food inside. My Granny used to make pancakes similar to crepes and my Grandma made them all the time for me when I was little. My mom has even mastered these thin pancakes. Normally on my pancakes I use sugar or syrup. There are many toppings for crepes though. The most popular is nutella, a hazelnut chocolate, famous in Paris. The first night I got a crepe with nutella and carmel. It was amazing, definitely one of my favorite foods. However, I ended up spilling all down my coat and it was a little bit of an ordeal. I was just hoping that I could get the stains out. The hotel manager saw me scrubbing my coat in the kitchen back at the hotel. He offered me some detergent and it did the trick. This gave me a very pleasant impression of the French people, after previously hearing that they were rude and snotty. Once my spillage was taken care of we crashed after a long day!Below are pictures of the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night and a crepe stand.
Saturday was a very busy day. We really dominated the city. We started off back at the gardens and the Louvre, just to take pictures of the outside since it was raining the previous day. Then we walked along the Siene River, the main river that runs through Paris, to the Notre Dame Cathedral. We saw a lot of great sights on the way to the Cathedral and the walk ended up taking a while as we took our time taking everything in. The weather was a quite brisk and I wished I had brought my mittens. For some reason I thought Paris would be warmer than London. I was wrong. Elliot and I were both very impressed when we eventually arrived at the Notre Dame Cathedral. The architecture was incredible. There was so much detail on the building. We looked around for a while and got some pictures. We considered going inside to see the interior, but the line was horrendous. At this point it started to pour rain anyways. We both got soaked even though we had umbrellas. This made for a cold rest of the day, but there was so much to see that we didn't mind. After the Cathedral we walked around the area for a while. We visited a quaint little park nearby. Then we headed down a busy little street and I got my second crepe. This time I had sugar and bananas. It was delicious as well. Elliot doesn't like crepes and I couldn't even get him to try one with meat and cheese. So I basically indulged in these tasty treats for the both of us! Below pictures of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe, which is a monument to Napoleon's conquests. The Arc is in the middle of a huge roundabout which cars drive ferociously around. Elliot and I couldn't figure out how to get to the middle where the Arc was without crossing this incredible traffic hazard. There were no stoplights or cross walks and cars were coming from what seemed like every direction. So we waited about 5 minutes until there was a clearing, then we ran as fast as we could. We made it and it was actually a thrilling experience. The Arc was massive. We spent a little bit of time admiring the monument and getting some pictures. Then we saw people near the Arc taking steps going underground. There was a walking subway that went beneath the crazy roundabout. Apparently we totally missed this on the other side and wouldn't have had to almost kill ourselves crossing the first time. We used this to get back across and found it was a much safer option. Next we went back to the Eiffel Tower to see it in the daylight and get some pictures. It was still just as impressive. The sun even came out for a while. We got some great pictures. I am so glad I had my new camera for this trip. Below pictures of Elliot and I at the Eiffel Tower and the Arc.
Next we headed to a district in Paris called Montmarte. This was recommended by our travel book and by the French student in my London program. The area was full of steep hills and staircase streets, but the views were fabulous. There were a lot of restaurant and food stalls, as well as souvenir shops. There were small paintings of the Eiffel Tower for sale all over. At the top of this districts' hills sat Scare Coeur, a white basilica that hoovers over Paris. The views from the Church were incredible. We could see all over Paris. There were music performers and artists all around. It was lovely. This was my favorite thing in Paris, besides watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle. We spent a while here just taking it all in. On the way home Elliot got a hot dog that he had been craving and I stopped in a bakery for some bread. The bread in Paris was wonderful. We returned to our hotel for a little bit to regroup after the long day of sightseeing. We went back out that night to the Eiffel Tower. We watched it sparkle again. We also bought some souvenirs this night. There were a lot of guys all over the the Eiffel Tower area selling little Eiffel Tower souvenirs. They had silver, gold, rustic, light up, key chains and every thing you could think of Eiffel Towers. Elliot and I thought it was very strange that all the men selling these souvenirs were black. There was not a single white guy doing this. We also noticed that most of the people with the dirtier jobs in Paris, like cleaning the Metro, were black as well. This was very different from London where I feel like the lower jobs are equally shared by different races. It was very easy to bargain with the sellers and we got some good deals on souvenirs. We would learn more about these sellers later on. On the way home I got my third crepe, nutella and carmel again. Yum! Below picture of the basilica.
The third day we were in Paris, Easter, we took a train outside of Paris to Versailles. Versailles is the former palace of King Louis XIII. It was here that the French royalty lived their decadent life until their excesses spurred a revolution. The palace was extremely extravagant and the grounds surrounding the palace were as well. Elliot and I had to wait in line to get into the palace. Everything inside was over the top. Statues, gold trim, chandeliers, paintings, mirrors, and more decorated the interior of the palace. Nothing was left undone or skimped on. The gardens were my favorite. There were fountains, blooming trees, shaped ponds, sculpted bushes and more. It was nice to walk around in gardens, until it started raining again. Our weather in Paris was terrible, but we still had an amazing time. After returning to Paris form Versailles, we walked along the Siene River again. There were a lot of little vendors selling their paintings, as well as other souvenirs. I got my fourth crepe on the long walk and some paintings. Next we went to the cemetery in Paris where Jim Morrison is buried. Elliot is a big fan and really wanted to see his grave site. Unfortunately we got there right at 6 and the cemetery was already closed. There were huge walls all around the cemetery, so we couldn't even see inside. This was a little disappointing, since it was one of Elliot's important sights to see. On our way home from the cemetery we stopped at the main train station in Paris and bought our train tickets to the airport for the following morning. Below pictures at Versailles.
Our last night in Paris we visited the Eiffel Tower one last time. I was pretty excited that I got to witness it sparkle all 3 nights. Elliot even enjoyed it for the third time. I got my fifth crepe this night with just plain sugar. We decided to buy a couple more Eiffel Tower souvenirs. A seller approached us and we started chatting with him. He asked us where we were from. Then we asked him the same. He was from Africa. Elliot then asked him why he moved to Paris and he started telling us his story. He came from Africa to Paris in 2004 when he was twenty years old. He has a wife and a child that he has never seen. He has to stay in Paris for 10 years to get what he called papers (I am assuming these papers are citizenship). In 2014, after he gets his papers, he can go back to Africa and then move his wife and child back with him to France. He asked us what we were studying and we just stood there talking for a long time. His name was Samba. Elliot asked him if he had friends in Paris and he said no. He explained that it was lonely. Samba said he came with no friends and has only made a few that also sell the souvenirs. He sleeps in the Metro every night for €6, providing he sells enough stuff to pay to sleep there. He explained that he has to send money back to his family in Africa too. Wow! This was quite a humbling experience. Here I was eating a crepe and he probably didn't have anything to eat. We ended up buying a couple Eiffel Towers from him. We didn't bargain down very far because we both felt so bad for him. He gave us two little key chains for free too. Before we left, he wanted our cell phone numbers and email address. He was so happy to meet us. I think he was just incredibly lonely. He gave us great big hugs as we started to say goodbye. I gave him a couple euros for food because I felt really terrible for him. He said that he is happy because he is helping his family and he only had 4 more years until he can make it better for them. I couldn't even imagine being in his position. He was 26 and so lonely. I wanted to get a picture of him and Elliot and he was pretty excited about that. He put down his hood and wanted to look good for the picture. Then he wanted a picture with me too. He wants us to send him the pictures. So after some more hugs we said goodbye to our new friend Samba. Elliot and I both left him feeling pretty fortunate for everything we had. As we were walking away we heard someone yelling our names. We turned around and there was Samba. He wanted to give us a gift. He gave us the largest Eiffel Tower he had for sale. It was over a foot tall. We didn't want to accept the gift, knowing how much it probably cost him. However, he genuinely wanted us to have it. It was an incredible experience that made a lot of things come into perspective. Below pictures of us with Samba.
Overall I loved Paris. The language barrier wasn't that difficult. The food was great. The weather was unfortunate, but didn't hold us back. I thought the city was dirtier than London, but not horrible. It didn't find the city to be as fashionable as it is proclaimed to be, but still impressive. I was worried that I had too high of expectations for the city, as some people in the program told me that it wasn't what they expected it to be. However, I thought it was great. I can't wait to go back again!
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