I love this city! After I wasn’t able to join my friend, Lisa in Paris for my birthday weekend, I thought my shot at getting to go was over, but when I found a good deal on flights and out of the small Granada airport (which is truly a treat!), I was able to get my roommate Becki to get on board with me. After the stress of purchasing tickets and booking a hostel, it was official—we were going to Paris! The day came quickly. After getting back from Morocco on Monday night it was incredible that just three days later we were on our way to Paris!
It didn’t really hit me until we looked out our window and could see the Eiffel Tower from the plane…there it was…even bigger and more brilliant than I had imagined!
Bless Becki’s heart, since I was so occupied with my midterms and she was done with hers, she took it upon herself to read up on Rick Steves’ Paris, research all our transportation options and plan a detailed, action-packed itinerary so we could fit everything into our two full days.
Our first task was getting from the airport to our hostel. Miraculously we were just in time to buy our tickets for the train that would take us to the metro, but we got a little sketched out when we were the ONLY ones on the train and kept stepping in and out checking to make sure there were no other options. Luckily we decided to try our luck and made it to the metro station without any other problems. Three metro lines later and just a few minute walk and we had arrived at our albergue. After all the scary reviews we’d read while looking to book our hostel, we were expecting the worst. Yet were pleasantly surprised—it was clean, the people were friendly, and we got a petit dejeuner in the morning so for what we were paying, we were definitely pleased. As soon as our heads hit the pillow we were asleep, knowing two full days awaited us tomorrow!
The next morning, we got up early and headed off to the Arc de Triomf, however as luck would have it when we tried to get off the metro at that stop the police wouldn’t let us exit and we didn’t know why. We figured it had something to do with the protest so we got back on the metro and rode a few stops down to Champs Elysses. From there we actually walked down to the Arc to see what was going on and found out that it wasn’t a protest, but a giant motobrigade/parade for the Chinese president who was in town (which explained all the Chinese flags alongside the French ones). As we walked, we stopped to admire all the brilliant window displays and decided to come back to the Arc later, once it was reopened again.
With Arc plans thwarted, we decided to go to the Musee d’Orsay which in itself was a really cool building that had originally been a train station. We saw a few works by VanGogh (althought most of it had been shipped out to an exhibition in SF...go figure), Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Degas, and many others.
 |
| Motobrigade + really happy man in foreground |
 |
| Musee d' Orsay |
 |
| Oops! |
After the museum I couldn’t wait for crepes! But first we went to a ritzy little restaurant called Angelina’s that Becki had heard about where they have incredible hot chocolate (though you pay the price!), then finally I got my chocolate and banana crepe…delicious! After gobbling that down we meandered through the Tuileries Garden admiring the fall colors and all the cute French children running around and playing with the leaves. We even stopped to play with the leaves ourselves! After a quick view of the Louvre from the outside we decided to make our way back to the Arc de Triomf to get a view of the Eiffel Tower and the rest of the city at dusk. Although with the Arc right in the middle of the street we weren’t sure how to get there until we saw the sign telling us to go down the stairs under the street that would lead us there, but then we couldn’t find the stairs! So we wandered aimlessly back and forth for a few minutes until finally stumbling upon the stairs that would take us there. We climbed up the stairs to a magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysses, and the rest of the city—a view even better than from the Eiffel Tower itself in my opinion!
 |
| Yay for crepes! |
 |
| Creepin' on some French kiddos |
 |
| Makin' a dash for it! Fearing for my life... |
 |
| Crystal staircase? Where am I... |
Then we rushed across town to grab some wine, bread and cheese for dinner and boat ride along the Seine River. This was the perfect opportunity to relax and learn a little about the history of the beautiful city we’d been exploring all day. Our boat returned just in time to catch the magical, shimmering display of lights from the Eiffel Tower. Then we jumped in line to make our way to the top only to find out that we could only go up to the second level. The line was long because only one tower and it was a cold night…by the time we got up there it was so cold and windy that it was hard to even move. We snapped a few pictures and then waited for the elevator to head back down and head home.
 |
| They love their merry-go-rounds! |
 |
| A well balanced French dinner |
 |
| Boat tour on the Seine |
We woke up the next morning for the Louvre and after loads of Italian Renaissance art we finally came to the Mona Lisa. This tiny painting behind a huge glass in this huge room filled with huge paintings. It was hard to believe that that was it! We also saw Venus de Milo, some African and Pacific Islander art and then we headed out, across the river to Notre Dame cathedral. It is fitting at this point that it started to rain adding to the ambience and mystery of the cathedral itself. Due to unforeseen circumstances the tower was closed, but we did get to walk through while a service was taking place, which was pretty incredible.
By then it was lunchtime so what better lunch than a crepe (this time lemon-flavored) and Berthillon ice cream (the best in town)? When in Paris, right? Then we popped over to the Latin Quarter, but with the rain it was kind of dismal so we jumped on a metro and headed over to the Montmartre District and Sacre Coeur. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the day…all the cute little shops lining the streets and the grand church at the top of the hill just waiting for us to approach. After exploring the area a little bit we went over to the Pompidou Centre and got our modern art on. We decided to turn in early and went back to shower and rest before going out for an Italian dinner. (gosh I miss Italian food sometimes!)
The next day we ate our petit dejeuner and while we were eating we met this couple from Australia! The girl was telling us about how she had bought an Around the World ticket...had started in San Francisco in June and had been to Central America, South America, and was finishing up her trip in Europe. It was incredible to hear some of her stories and her carefree attitude about travelling and just living life. Before we headed to the airport we stopped at the Père Lachaise cemetery…a final farewell to Paris. I didn’t know what to expect, but Becki had heard about it and really wanted to go so we went. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it…the grand tombstones and monuments erected by families, each telling the story of the person whom it commemorated. We even saw Jim Morrison’s grave, who admittedly I didn’t really know who he was except I was pretty sure he was a singer. He had tons of flowers and letters on his grave and a tree nearby was engraved with the initials and messages of people from all over paying homage to this young rock star.
 |
| The Adam's Family |
 |
| R.I.P. Jim Morrison |
A metro ride across town took us to the bus, which would take us out to the Paris Beauvais airport a ways out from the city center. Though I kept managing to fall asleep, I did get a few glimpses of the beautiful French countryside, a welcome change from the bustle of the city. We flew into Madrid and then took a bus back to Granada. On the bus I got to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks in Spanish, which got me in the Christmas spirit! Then a taxi and we were home sweet home! Paris was everything I expected it to be…glamorous and magical, rich with history and artistic brilliance, but it was also not what I expected it to be…the people were nicer for one, and I found that I enjoyed the things I didn’t expect to enjoy as much, most of all. I hope to return someday and continue exploring all that Paris has to offer.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete