Paris

Wow, I can't believe I just took a little weekend trip to Paris!

This week is known as GIS week (guided independent study). Instead of midterms, we get the week off to read, relax, and catch up on anything if need be. It's a fantastic system :)

I'm going to start by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed every part of my trip. The good, the bad, and everything in between. It was a fantastic experience and really put me out of my comfort zone and made me learn how to adapt and live and have a good time in a place that is totally different than I am used to.

I went to Paris with my friends Ellen, Izzy, and Kate (all from ISA) and then Mike (from Kentucky, hence him being referred to as Kentucky from now on), and Brendan. Our trip began at 4am on Sunday morning with catching the night bus to Victoria Coach Station where we would pick up our coach bus to Luton (about 1 hour from downtown London). We caught the first leg of out city bus trip just fine, and made it to Oxford Circus around 4.36am, where we then needed to catch the N73 to Victoria. Unknown to us was the fact that the N73 left Oxford Circus at 4.35 and didn't come again until 5.05, meaning we couldn't wait otherwise we would miss our coach to Luton. As most of you probably know, I HATE traveling. Everything about it is horrible to me. Once I'm actually on the plane I am fine, in fact I love flying, but everything else about traveling stresses the hell out of me. For this reason, it's safe to say that I was freaking out internally (and it was only 4.45!). Any way, we got 2 cabs to Victoria, and caught our Coach in plenty of time. We got to Luton, and Izzy and I were the only people who had printed off boarding passes beforehand, so the others all had to wait in line. We go there about 1 hour and 45 minutes before my flight, but the fact that we didn't head straight for security (Like I would have done on my own) freaked me out even more. So anyway, by the time we got through security, we had about 30 minutes to spare, and walked to where we had to wait for our gate.

The flight was fine and we go to our hostel in Paris around 1pm. That afternoon we went to Montmartre, which is a huge church on top of a hill that over looks all of Paris...about a 10 minute walk from our hostel. It didn't take long for things to get interesting, let's just say that.

As we walked towards the stairs leading up to the church, there was a group of African men standing near the bottom of the steps, almost creating a wall, which people needed to walk by in order to reach the church from the front. As I walked towards the stairs, one of them men put his hand against my chest fairly forcefully and requested/demanded that I put my hand out. I sternly told him "No Merci" (no thank you) and tried to continue walking up the stairs. He didn't like that. I pushed me in the chest harder a second time, and demanded that I put my hand out. I put out my hand (luckily my right, and not my left which had my watch on my wrist), and he began to make a bracelet on it. As he finished I pulled 30 pence out of my pocket and tried to hand it to him, to which he replied "no change, paper money only". At this point I was slightly flustered and pretty annoyed, so I told him I had just gotten to Paris and that I didn't have any money, and pushed my way past him. He tried to say that I had to pay for the bracelet he had made, so I took it off, tossed it back to him, and walked confidentially up the steps. I wish I felt as confident as I looked ha, because as we continued up towards the church I could feel that I was noticeably shaken by what had just happened. Anyway, we went into the church, which was beautiful, and then stared out at the view before we went to search for food.

Before I continue, I need to explain a couple of things about Paris. First of all, there are refugees everywhere. They come from all over Africa mostly, and peddle goods on the street. As well as refugees there are gypsies (nomadic people that also peddle goods). Another thing that I noticed that is different between London and Paris is that Paris is very dirty and crowded...overall, Paris is unorganized compared to London (I know part of this has to do with the language barrier, but I'll explain everything more later).

We went to this small cafe type place near Montmartre, where I ordered a Croque Madame. This is pretty much an open-face ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on the top...it was so good! Before the end of the trip I think everyone in the group had at least 2 of these. Anyway, after that we went to see the Eiffel Tower briefly as well as the place where Napoleon is buried. We went to the hostel around 6, got reorganized, and went out in search of a place to eat. We went towards the Louvre and Notre Dame, and ended up at another small restaurant. It was delicious again...I had salmon with green beans and rice (this was our splurge meal, about 20 euro). After dinner we took some night time pictures around Notre Dame, which is absolutely amazing. We went back to the hostel pretty early, as we were all exhausted from being up so early and traveling.

On Monday we woke up with no real plan in mind as to what we wanted to do. We decided to head towards the Arch de Triumph, which is very impressive. It is situated in the middle of the Champs Elysees, which is a prestigious street, and huge, street that leads up to the Louvre. The round-a-bout here is insane, and cars just weave in and out of each other like madness. It's mental. After looking at the arch for a while, we walked down the length of Champs Elysees towards the Louvre. It was similar to Regent Street in London, except everyone was speaking French lol. At the end of the street there is a large ferris wheel which we stopped at and took a ride on...it offered great views of the city (as well as a much needed sit). After the ferris wheel we decided we were going to go to the Louvre...we got inside and got in line to buy tickets, only to find out that it closed in about 2 hours. 2 hours is not near enough time to spend at the Louvre, I'll touch on this later, however. Instead we went to Notre Dame, and this time went inside. This place is, like a lot of things I've seen, amazing. It is huge, majestic, beautiful, literally indescribable. After spending a good amount of time in the cathedral, it was time for dinner. We found this small hole-in-the-wall restaurant off the beatin trail...fantastic idea! One of my favorite parts of Paris.

The two women working there must have been around 60, and were soo nice! We spoke almost completely in French to them, and they appreciated it so much. I had an Omelette Complete (egg, cheese, potatoes, homemade tomato sauce, and ham). It was sooo good. And huge, I was sufficiently stuffed. After dinner we decided to try and find a place where we could take a river cruise/tour of the Seine. Our search lasted about 2 hours, and we finally found what we were looking for at about 2145 (9:45pm). The last boat took off at 2200 (10pm), so we were just in time. The cruise was very relaxing and beautiful, and took us past things such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, as well as a lot of other things not normally seen from land. Well worth the 10 euro. Again, after a long day in a new city, we retreated to the hostel and went to bed at a reasonable hour.

On Tuesday we had a plan...We headed straight for the Eiffel Tower (around 11) and were going to make it to the top! The lines were long, refugees were everywhere, but it was well worth every second of waiting. We decided to walk to the first 2 levels of the tower, which was very cool. We literally walked up through the center of the Eiffel Tower, which is HUGE! On the first level there is a small ice rink, restaurant and cinema. As our journey continued to the second level, I began to feel a little nervous and thought that actually going to the top might phase me a little bit. However, as we stepped out of the elevator on the top of the tower (more than 1000 ft in the air), I was fine. The views...AMAZING!!! It was such a cool experience. Whilst we were up top, a little girl ran into a cabinet type thing that she didn't see, and I sprang to her rescue and managed to coral some ice for her from the champagne bar using a combination of French and English...what I like to call Frenglish. We also saw an Italian man propose to his girlfriend (she said yes) which was very cool. We must have been up top for a good 45 minutes ha. When we got back to the bottom, we took some classic tourist photos in front of the tour, and then headed back to the hostel for a much needed nap.

Tuesday night was the only night we really went out while in Paris, and we just went to a bar that was near the Louvre and hung out. Wednesday morning we had to be out of the hostel by 9, which was really early! We wandered around by the Louvre looking for a place to eat, and finally settled and had our last delicious french meal around 11. After that, we headed for the Louvre (I forgot to mention, on tuesday we went to the Louvre first, planning on doing that, but it was closed). The Louvre itselt (the building) is massive. I mean absolutely huge. You could literally spend days in there. We focused on the main pieces of artwork (as art doesn't move me as much as it does for other people). We saw the sculpture "Winged Victory" (Ellen's favorite piece of artwork), the Mona Lisa, "Madonna on the Rocks" (my favorite), "Lady Liberty Leading the People" (Kentucky and Izzy's favorite), and the Venus de Milo, just to name a few. It was definitely cool seeing some of the most famous pieces of art in the history of time. After the Louvre we headed back to pick up our bags from the hostel, and headed to the airport earlier than we originally planned (Thanks God!!).

Our flight ended up being delayed about 30 minutes, and we got on the bus at Luton airport in London around 2300 (11pm). By the time I walked into my room, it was around 0030 (12.30am). I was super tired, and crashed right away.

Paris was a fantastic experience. I'm very glad I went. However, saying that, I have no burning desire to go back any time soon. In Paris I almost constantly felt uncomfortable (which is fairly normal when traveling in a very different and new place), but it stressed me out a little bit. Going to Paris made me realize how great London really is, and how comfortable and at home I feel here. Everything seems so much more perfect for me here, from the tube to the people, the atmosphere to the lifestyle, it fits me very very well. Like I said, Paris was one of the best experiences of my life, and I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to go and visit, and to be able to compare first hand two of the most iconic cities in the world and say "yeah, I think I like London a lot better, I'm glad I can call this home".

That's all I have for now, let me know if you have any questions, as I could have very easily left something out.

A very, very appreciative "Cheers"