Ah, the City Of Love with the love of my life. Where do I begin? Well from London we took the EuroStar to Paris. It was a fast and shaky time warping trek. My ears popped and I didn't have access to my mp3 player to keep my occupied with music. There was plenty of alcohol on board to drink so I had a cocktail or two. One thing I immediately noticed in Paris (or Europe for that matter) was that that Coca Cola tastes way better. It didn't cause me to have sharp pains in my chest as it does in the U.S. and it was delicious. Maybe it was the use of real sugars, I don't know.
When our trained pulled into the station, my bags were nowhere to be found which was a bummer at first because I knew for sure it was packed on-board. I remember going fiercely through the automatic doors that connected cabs several times and began to wonder if maybe the employees loaded it on another cab besides the one I traveled in to Paris. As the train begin to clear out with passengers, I began to panic. Suddenly my bag emerged, as did a sigh of relief.
We made our way inside the main hub of the station to gain tickets to board our connecting transit to our hostel which we purposed selected, Ooops! My man knew some French from high school so I heavily relied on him to translate and to navigate us through Paris. The machine wouldn't take our debit/credit cards to purchase tickets so we ended up going to a window and purchasing there.
The subway was packed with fast paced passengers and seedy characters. I immediately became aware of the invisible target we tourists had on our back. Homeless people laid on the ground day and night at the subway station during busy and non-busy hours with no shame. There were a host of gypsy women who went all out with their begging techniques. Some went so far as to kneel on the ground face damn near kissing the ground with an empty cup in their extended hand in hopes of gaining money from people passing by. It was quite dramatic and sad. As retro and hip our hostel Ooops! was, there were a number of vagabounds posted near our entrance. I had a hard time not wanting to stare out of curiosity yet minding my business just as I would in the states.
Our French first dining experience happened right outside our hostel at an Indian restaurant. When were started off with wine and an appetizer, I knew this was going to be a great dining experience. Our meals were delicious and filling. We had several glasses of wine as the night winded down.
We decided to trek to the Eiffel Tower at night as our stay in Paris would be short (1.75 days). The massive monument peaked from many miles away in the effect of a magnificent Christmas tree in the hub of a majorly populated city. I was so enthralled by it's grandeur that I even made plans beforehand to kiss my man under the Eiffel Tower (which did not happen because we forgot to). Even in the dark, I couldn't help but notice how squared off the bushes and trees were leading to the Eiffel Tower. We were bombarded with street vendors practically shoving their products in our faces while trying to make us make a purchase. We calmly declined every offer despite how intriguing some things were such as the mimes and seedy individuals with elaborate stories.
Paris most definitely paled in comparison to the golden treatment we received in London. Paris was painted in my mind as a wonderful city that maybe housed hairy women, musty humans and deep accents but some things were far worse than I imagined. Paris was in the dictionary next to "caution". My camera bag stayed at my side instead of directly on my back most of our time there.
I got scammed by a "member" of the "Deaf And Blind Society" in front of the Musee de Louvre. I felt so stupid afterwards because I don't blink and eye or come anything short of movement in the states when someone is stopping me with a clip board whereas in Paris, I stopped and was "concerned" and then ended up getting ripped for 20 Euros which is about the equivalent to $27 or so. I was NOT happy about that and had to pray on it. LOL!
There was not enough time besides dedicating a hole 10-14 hours to the Musee de Louvre. There was so much to see but we didn't have enough time for it. We did a quick but encompassing viewing of the museum and even got to see the Mona Lisa. For some reason I thought the Mona Lisa was about 36"x36" in size but in fact it was like a 18"x20". It seemed to small and almost suffocating to have others all around you fighting to get a picture of Mona Lisa.
After plenty of walking, we got to try some more French cuisine. I fell in love with the Peach Tea in Paris just as I did with the Coca Cola. It was so refreshing especially to type and walk as I connected to various free Wi-Fi through the Orange Network.
During our final night in Paris we got to see Moulin Rouge which would have been so awesome if I could have access to take photos. No photography was allowed and we sat VERY close to the stage. I was intrigued by all of the colors of the wings and moveable wardrobe pieces but slowly became sleepy, bored and annoyed with the lack of being able to take photos. The show began to fade to cheesiness with the acting, singing and performing.
The French cuisine was so good that even the hostel default meals were delicious. We consumed Crepes, pizzas and salads in our final meals in Paris.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
