On the 11th we woke up pretty early, which was tough b/c we got in kinda late from the airport. We booked it over to St. Pancras/King's Cross station and hopped aboard the Eurostar train to Paris. The journey was smooth and quite comfortable, and I must be honest- I prefer traveling by rail to traveling by plane. I get airsick and I have terrible anxiety when flying, plus the trains have so much more space and fresh air circulated in. We got to Paris around noon and upon disembarking from the train realized that we were in fact in a VERY foreign country with no guide, no idea where we were, and no ability to speak the language. Our hotel that day was located about 6 blocks from the train station, but it took us an hour of wandering around- maybe 2- to find it, because in France there are no road signs, just tiny placards about 2 floors up on the walls of buildings that are often faded or obscured by branches... and roads change names every 3 to 4 blocks. I will never forget that when we got of the train we wandered around the station for 20 minutes trying to find a map (no such luck. The French don't believe in maps!), and then just wandered outside. We must have looked lost b/c some old guy on a bicycle came up to us and asked us if we were lost in French. We asked him if he spoke Spanish (also in French) to which he excitedly said "yes!" He then spent about 6 minutes yelling at us in French with some broken Spanish mixed in, pointing and waving emphatically and then instructing us to go get on a train. Yikes. We finally made it, though, and found to our delight that we were in a part of town I've always wanted to see but that is located a ways off from the major touristy part of the city- Montemarte. Our hotel was literally a block and a half from the Sacre Couer! We dropped off our stuff, took a little nap, and then went out to explore. We ate lunch at a sidewalk café across from the basilica- I had a croque monsieur and Luis had the French version of a hot dog, which I must say is much tastier than the American kind. We ate as we were climbing the mountain, which I found ironic since it was another totally unplanned climbing/meat eating experience. We took some photos and wandered around inside the cathedral. The sun was setting and the brilliant light perfectly illuminated the beautiful stained glass. I must say- I do not agree with a lot of Catholic doctrine, but those folks sure know how to make a chapel! It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, but sadly since the chapel observes perpetual adoration visitors are asked not to photograph the inside out of respect for their religion's holy place, which I understand and respect.
We also went to visit the famous Abessess, where we stopped for crêpes (Nutella and Créme Marron) at a small park with a rather infected looking carousel. We saw some dude wandering around eating this HUGE baguette like it was a banana, wrapped up in foil, just munching away at it plain. It was hilarious.
We went back towards our hotel and stopped at a grocery store where we bought a large assortment of delicious edibles for dinner, which we ate in our hotel room. Afterward we went out again and wandered around Montemarte, which is kind of a skeezy part of town, but very colorful and exciting. It is where the famous Moulin Rouge is located, which I was pumped to be able to see.
We climbed the mountain again to get a better view of the city of lights at night, which I must say did not disappoint. I got some cool photos of the city all lit up. We went to bed around 1 a.m., I think.
June 12th: On Friday we woke up super late- around 10:30 when the maid walked in on us, which kind of freaked everyone involved out. I guess we slept through her knocking b/c we were so tired. When we finally got our stuff together we went directly (with a short stop at a boulangerie for breakfast) to the complete opposite side of town to our 2nd hotel. We dropped off our stuff, walked through a street market, and then headed into town. We went to the Museé de Orsey first, but didn't have time to really go in. We caught our tour bus outside the Museum and spent about 3 hours driving around the main part of Paris. We got to see pretty much everything of interest with only a few exceptions. We saw the Arc de Triomph, the Champs Elyseé, the Opera House, the Champs du Mars, The Eiffel Tower, the Trocador, and Notre Dame (and everything else in between!). We got off of the tour at the last stop- the Louvre, which we were very happily surprised with. Unlike most of the city, the Louvre is relatively well organized, mapped, air conditioned, and clean. It was Luis's very most favorite thing that we did during our entire 2 weeks in Europe. We got to see the sculpture of "Winged Victory", a ton of ancient awesome stuff like the stella with Hamurabi's Code scrawled on it and a bunch of mummies, we got to tour Napoleon's apartments. Most importantly, we got to see the Venus de Milo (the real one- not the gummy one!) and the Mona Lisa.
By the time we were done with that we were super tired, had walked literally about 11 miles, and hadn't eaten since the morning. With critically low blood pressure, we stumbled back to our hotel to find that sadly the restaurants in the non-touristy parts of Paris all close at like 8:30. The only thing we could find open was a Greek sandwich shop, which luckily had the most delicious kabob pitas of all time. We showered (a MUST after wandering around Paris all day long) and went to bed around 11 or 12.
On the 13th we woke up late again and had breakfast at a boulangerie and then wound up at the Champs du Mars metro station wondering how in the heck to get to the Palace of Versailles. Paris's metro system is one of the only organized and well marked things in the city, but to get to Versailles you have to take a good ol' fashioned diesel engine train out of the city, which was poorly marked and difficult to figure out. After 2 wrong trains we wound up in Versailles around 1 p.m. The palace was packed and we waited in line almost 2 hours to discover that there was no line at all and the regulars just wander up to the ticket machines cutting in front of the unwitting tourists that assume that the place is an orderly and well maintained establishment. In a very French fashion, the police just ignore the chaos and line butters.
I almost have no words that can accurately describe the Versailles. It was filthy (had not been dusted probably since they filmed Marie Antoinette there in 2006), HOT (about 85-90 degrees inside), smelled of urine and BO, and was literally jam packed with tourists walking as rapidly as possible to rush through and get out as fast as possible. It was like being on acid or something- so much visual stimulation, noise, and confusion! It was hard to take it all in, but I did get some cool photos to remember it by. It cost 13.50 Euro to get in, and we were out in 40 minutes. In contrast, the Louvre costs like 7 Euro and we were there for like 4 hours almost. Needless to say, Luis was disappointed, and I was jazzed, but highly disoriented and distracted by all of the shiny things. We snapped some photos in the small part of the gardens you can see without having to pay an additional 8 Euro then went to lunch at a Crêperie.
Lunch was kinda pricey, but delicious. Luis was so jaded by his Versailles experience he was pissed off at spending so much money on pancakes. I was mostly just sweaty. It was so hot that day that I literally did not cool off until after we got back on the Eurostar around 9:30 p.m.
After the Versailles we went back to Paris to buy some souvenirs and take some close up shots with the Eiffel Tower, then back to Gard du Nor to get on the train. As we were passing through British customs the customs agent asked where we were from. We said "Utah" and he asked how that was. We explained that it was pretty quiet and not nearly as exciting as Paris. As we explained this, screaming, sirens, whistles, drums, shouting, and singing were drowning us out- so loud we had to shout. In typical British fashion he pretty much summed up our experiences by dryly commenting that "Sometimes Paris is a little too exciting." We got back on the fastest train in the world and booked it out of there, happy to be in one piece. Luis was mostly just excited to be returning to a place where they have cold beverages. Apparently in addition to maps, France also has a staunch anti-refrigeration policy and he was seriously non-plussed at all the room temperature beverages. I was just glad to be alive.
I love Paris to the bottom of my soul. It is like no other place on earth. If Las Vegas got married to L.A. but then had a love child with New York, that city would be Paris. The three days we spent there were the wildest, craziest, goldenest, most exciting days of my life to date. I may never return. I am not sure if I could handle it again.
I'd like to close with a letter to the city of lights.
Dear Paris, You exceeded my expectations in every way. Not only are you the most beautiful city I have ever been to, you are also the nosiest, most crowded, and dirtiest... and I spent 10 days in pre-Guliani New York! Your pastries really are the most delicious, and your restaurants the most expensive. You glitter when the sun shines and sparkle when the sun sets. I have never seen so much gold in my life and after seeing the Versailles am seriously considering redecorating my house to include more crystal, velvet, mirrors, and naked gilded babies. You could use some more ice, but I will always love you and my life will never be quite the same again. Never, EVER change.
Love, Camille
1 comment:
it was the most I ever sweat and it changed my life forever
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