Day 70: Paris, France

Friday, March 26, 2010

This morning, Ashley and Cyntia and I woke up super-early for our 12-hour day trip to Paris. We had had a big slumber party in Christine's  living room the night before, since Christine's friend was staying in the spare bedroom. We quickly got ready and Christine graciously drove us to the train station about 6:30AM! We were so thankful we did not have to walk, even though its only about ten minutes from her house. After we had checked our train times and Cyntia had gotten her tickets arranged, we stopped by the train station kiosk and got some French pastries for breakfast. Taking Ashley's suggestion, I had pain au chocolat and hot chocolate....best breakfast ever! I must admit, the French definitely have a way with pastries (and food in general!).

After our two-hour train trek to Paris, we were happy to finally arrive at the Paris Gare de Lyon station and hop the Paris Metro. We had some minor issues buying tickets for the metro, and I experienced my first encounter with a rude French woman who was aggravated because we were taking too much time to buy our tickets. I was thankful we had Ashley there, not only to speak French and sort things out, but to guide us through the metro. She says its not that complicated, but I don't think I would ever be able to figure it out on my own!

Our first stop in Paris was a metro station in the French Quarter. We got out of the metro station and promptly saw Ashley's good friend, Gaby, from the Kemper Scholar's Program. Ashley and Gaby spent last summer together in Chicago living together and working on individual internships in the area. Gaby is studying in Rome, Italy this semester and was in Paris for three days during the same time we were planning on coming. Ashley and I had planned to meet up with her while we were there. Gaby was there with two of her friends from Italy, Kim and Liz. We all introduced ourselves and began to talk about what we wanted to do for the day.

Since eating crepes was on everyone's agenda, our first stop was the amazing crepe place next door to the hostel that the girls were staying at in the French Quarter. It was called Crocodile, and Ashley had been there many times already when she was in Paris for a week in January, so she knew that the crepes were reasonable and delicious. We all feasted on crepes and chatted; Gaby, Liz and Kim told us all about Italy, which Ashley, Cyntia and I  were all thankful for, as we were all planning on visiting Italy in the following weeks. I had a gruyere cheese crepe at Crocodiles....YUM! I was able to use my newly acquired French skills to understand the man when he told me that my crepe cost trois euros...three!!

After finishing our crepes, we hit the metro again and took it to Pont Neuf. This is where our morning boat tour was leaving from. The cruise, recommended by my French friend Christophe from Tilburg, took us up the Seine River to see all the highlights of Paris. Although the weather was a bit less than desirable, we were all thankful that we had the opportunity to take this cruise. It was so great seeing everything from the water! And we got tons of pictures, despite the rain!

After the cruise, we began our walking tour of Paris, led by none other than Ashley herself! As I mentioned earlier, she spent a whole week in Paris when she first arrived in Europe in January, so she was pretty familiar with the city. And, as an Art History major, she knew a lot of facts and details about the various structures and buildings in Paris, so she was able to relay those to us. Before we got too far into our tour, we stopped for lunch at a petit corner cafe. I had a croque monsiuer, an interesting sandwich warmed with ham inside and cheese all over the top....delish! After enjoying our outdoor lunch, we headed to Notre Dame Cathedral, which was nearby. We were all astounded by the magnificent structure and awed by the interior of the cathedral. Ashley explained to us about the architecture of the building and the rose stained glass windows.

After viewing the Cathedral, we headed down another rue (street!) and did a bit of shopping...mostly postcards and other Paris paraphernalia. A bit further down the street, we stopped for crepes. Ashley and I split a Nutella and banana crepe. Utter deliciousness! We walked by, but unfortunately could not go in, Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie (where Ashley informed us that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned). It was great to see all these historical structures!

We crossed over the Seine and began walking in the other direction. We walked through the Tuileries from the Louvre, then took the Champs Elysees from Place de la Concorde to l'Arc de Triomphe. While this was a super-long walk, it was totally worth it! We could not go inside the Louvre, as it would have taken hours to get inside the massive museum, but we marveled at it from outside and took lots of crazy pics in front of it! The weather had been pretty good up to this point. After we got off the boat cruise, it had grown sunny and pleasant, but as we walked away from the Louvre, we got a little surprise....HAIL! We burst out our umbrellas and scurried to the small Arc in front of us and huddled underneath for cover while we waited out the hailstorm. It did not last long, thankfully!

Once the hail subsided, we continued walking. We walked through the Luxembourg Gardens to the Obelisk that Napoleon stole from Egpyt, through a rockin' shopping district (complete with a massive Louis Vuitton!), all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe. I was impressed by its magnificence and immense height! We could not go underneath or climb it, as there was some kind of military funeral thing going on. The police would not even allow us to cross the street to get closer to it!

It was nearing 5 o'clock, so we decided to make a quick break for the Eiffel Tower and catch a bite of dinner. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower stop. I was so excited to see the famous structure up close! We got tons of pictures with it, from every angle! At this point in the day, we were all pretty fatigued from constant go-go-go, so we decided to head back towards the hostel area and have some supper.

Ashley took us to a Brasserie near Oops! (the hostel the girls were staying at) where we had a lovely French dinner...a great end to a spectacular day of sightseeing! I had a delicious French omelette, along with a nice glass of rose wine. We all split a French cheese plate, as Ashley wanted her friends to try some of the deliciousness that is French cheese!

After dinner we said our parting good-byes. It had been a long, but great day! Ashley, Cyntia and I headed back to the metro to go to the Gare Lyon, while the others decided that they would go back to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. We arrived early at the train station and bummed around for a bit before boarding the train back to Besancon. During the two-hour ride home, we mostly slept, as we were all super tired!

I really enjoyed Paris! Perhaps not as magnificent as I had anticipated, but I think a lot of that had to do with the crazy weather. However, we got to see and do a lot, and we had really nice company! I hope to go back to Paris some day (perhaps when I know a bit more French) and see and do some more things that we did not have a chance to do. Til that day, I have my own miniature Eiffel Tower to remember this wonderful city by!