London CallingPrehistoric JourneyThe Long and Winding RoadEdinburgh on the FringeSeeing DubleUn Beau DésastreA Walking Tour of BarcelonaThere's No Place Like RomeRome part 2Pretty...Reichenbach FallsOktoberfestNo Museums In MuseumTownThe OperaI Expected More Buddhas
 | apdelong |  | Europe 10.0 |  | Un Beau Désastre |
Not enough votes to display rating.
Sep 8 2010, 11:22 AM
6 photos
Embed trip
View in Google Earth
Rss news about this trip
GPX Track
Journal
Location
Paris, France
Paris. Where to begin? As an American growing up in a time where the French were seen as our reluctant allies, from both sides, I never really expected much from this city. It is wonderful to say the least. All around the city is beautiful. Only one non- monument building is over nine stories tall and I cannot argue with how pretty that keeps it. Even the people seem classy, Parisian street musicians tend to set up a mini orchestra, which I saw this on many occasions throughout the streets and metro stations. That is not to say all of them are classy, many were rude and if you look around some dark coners you could find unattractive ones.
We got in and went to our hostel, which made me yearn to be back in the Dublin one. This place has five floors with no elevator and a toilet and a shower to each floor. The only upgrade is that you can control the shower temperature, but you still have to push in a button the whole time. There are a few computers downstairs that you can pay €3 for a half an hour and no wi-fi. In the previous place we were supposed to be gone from 11-15 o'clock, but they didn't really kick you out. Here they open every door and tell anyone inside to leave. The people at the desk are rude too and some of the only unattractive people in Paris, quite literally I might add. There are more beautiful people here per capita than anywhere else except maybe Elon.
On Saturday we each went to a supermarket for dinner, seeing as the hostel only has a microwave and sink for a kitchen our options were limited. I got a carrot, a pear, a bagguette, and some brie. I went to pay for it, but I was supposed to print out a label for my produce and the ordeal was quite confusing. I ended up paying for the produce, but not the rest meaning it was one time that it pays off not knowing the language.
Later we tried to meet up with Amber Christino from Elon, but Alex and I arrived at the meeting spot almost 40 minutes late and she had left. So we went out to a few places for fun and ended up going to a really overpriced bar where a band was playing American music. And the bartender made us sit down in between two couples at a table. Awkward experience, but we kept to ourselves and it worked out.
On Sunday we did meet up with Amber and she showed us around Paris and explained the public transportation. She was very helpful especially when it came to a point where we went to a place to eat and Alex needed something without meat. It is invaluable to have someone who speaks the native language along with you. We went to the Eiffel Tower and Avenue des Champs-Élysées among other places I cannot remember because they are French.
That night we met up again and hung out on the Pont des Arts (the art bridge) drank wine and enjoyed the atmosphere. And some creepy, or funny depending on how you look at it, guy jumped at Alex and said, "Boo!," then walked away.
Monday morning we went to the train station to reserve seats on the trains we needed to take to Barcelona the following day. No dice, the attendant worked very hard, but said that Spain and Italy make international train travel difficult and said it was impossible even if we paid full price. That took much longer than I am writing by the way, it was a long and very frustrating time and again if Amber had not been there it would have been quite a bit more difficult. So we booked another night in our hostel and planes from Paris to Barcelona and Barcelona to Rome.
Then Alex and I went to Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, which is supposed to be the best view of the city for it is a church with a dome on top of a mountain. It was breathtaking. Then we went to the Red Light District where we saw the biggest sex shop in Paris, the Sexodrome, and Moulin Rouge.
On Tuesday Alex and I did the free walking tour of Paris where our tourguide, Alex, showed us around and gave a lot of history as well. It was well worth the money and very enjoyable. That night I went out to dinner with Amber and we said our goodbyes.
As we were getting ready to leave the hostel, the zipper on Alex's suitcase broke and was unrepairible. The best idea we had was to duct tape it because we didn't know where to buy a new suitcase; however, we didn't know where to find duct tape either. Alex had his own mini adventure, found, and bought duct tape. We bound the baggage to the best of our ability, and set off.
We got to the airport after a very long shuttle ride (I didn't time it, but I think more than an hour and a half). When we got to the RyanAir reception desk they informed us that it was a 40 euro fee to not print out your boarding pass. There was also a fee of 20 euro for even kilogram over 15kg for baggage. So my 25kg bag and Alex's 26kg bag along with the boarding pass charges were going to add up to 500 euro. We complained and the manager had no sympathy and said we could buy more bags and pay an extra baggage fee that would cost less than the overwieght, but still expensive; furthermore, she mentioned that RyanAir does not give refunds of any kind.
So after contemplating for a while, deciding we had to take the flight and cut our losses, we each threw out some of our baggage, and rearranged stuff for our carry-ons and went to a new attendant who said we could have up to 20kgs, I ended up having the perfect weight and Alex was 3kgs over. So we got screwed, but it could have been worse. After loving the sights and atmosphere of Paris, I was more than ready to leave.
Comments |
Log in to add comment |
No comments