Paris!!

I finally got to Paris! For my 19th birthday, my grandmother planned a week long trip to Paris for us to spend together. But, I lost my passport the day I was supposed to meet her at the airport, causing considerable anguish for both her and myself. I've spent the last year kicking myself every time I was reminded of Paris or passports. However, I, and my passport, have finally been to Paris!!


So Paris sucks. Honestly - it's not all it's cracked up to be. I will say it's pretty cool to have been to all these famous sites, but I think I've had my fill of Paris. You must to have serious money to enjoy this city. Now, this is not true for New York or Rome, or any other reasonable city where if you plan ahead you can see the sites on a student budget. Paris is ridiculous. Everything is top dollar - there is no "cheaper" section of town. So if something seems inexpensive, there's something wrong with it.

Take the example of my arrival into Paris. I booked my hotel through hostelworld.com, and chose it specifically because of it's location near my friend's hotel, which unfortunately had no other vacancies. However, there was some mistake, because it wasn't near my friend's hotel at all - in fact, it was 9 kilometers out of Paris. So, three subway transfers an hour after I finally figured this out, I stepped off the last train this is what I saw:


At which point I am thinking: "Where the %$&*! is my hotel?" Pardon my French, but it was one of THOSE moments. I know a very small amount of French, but I did manage to ask the only people in the parking lot where this hotel was. A French man explained: I happened to be standing in a mall parking lot, and the hotel was on the other side of the mall under the overpass behind the McDonalds. Yes, overpass. For the highway. Hmm. And after that exhhausting (and frankly scary) trek under the overpass, I saw my hotel at last:


Yeah, definitely not what I was expecting. But still, I had a warm bed and a warm shower, and since it was so much cheaper than any other hotel I could find, I figured It couldn't be that bad. More on that bit of naivety later.

The next morning was a beautiful new day, and I met up with my buddies by Notre Dame Cathdral (meaning "Our Lady"). It is one of the first examples of Gothic architecture, and is interesting because it took so long to build that it demonstrates the evolution of Gothic Architecture through many different stages. It's famous for its huge stained glass windows and massive flying buttresses.






Inside the cathedral:










My favorite part, however, was the view across the river:


That is a Subway sandwich shop. Where I had myself a footlong stuffed with all things American and unhealthy. This is, incidentally, also the cheapest and most delicious meal I found while in Paris.

Bellies full, we took a long stroll down the Seine River. Notre Dame is actually on a large island in the middle of that river:


We found ourselves unexpectedly here:


The Louvre Museum. But before you visit Paris you should know:


Damn. I went to another museum that is inside a beautiful old train station. They had a neat exhibit on the excavation of the Alexandria Bay in Egypt, but it was really, really crowded. Too crowded to have a relaxing time. I couldn't get any pictures of the exhibit without getting yelled at, but here is the beautiful building it was in:




I then headed back across the River to see the Eiffle Tower.










Now, I had with me both my digital camera, to take blog pictures, and my manual camera, to take real pictures. But on the way to the Eiffle tower I ran out of film. I had assumed there would be some place I could stop and buy film, but the Eiffle tower is really, really out of the way. In fact, it sits in the front yard of the French Military academy and there's nothing but expensive private residences around it for blocks. It's prettymuch the outskirts of Paris. I had kind of expected that it would be right in the middle of Paris in a big city square. But apparently, it was built to be a temporary structure for a World Fair, and cities tend to shove their World Fairs into manageable corners of their city, not put them in the middle. (New York's world's fair remnants are now rotting in Queens.) So I suppose it makes sense that is was way out here. And film costs something like $20 a role under the tower because there's no other film vendors around.

Then I headed for the Arc de Triomphe. Now, this is something that I've been hearing about my whole life and figured it was one of those must-see kinda things. I coudn't find anything affordable to eat so I stopped at a supermarket and bought a picnic lunch to eat outside the Arc. However, again the French have dissapointed me because the Arc de Triomphe is in the middle of a giant, noisy, dirty traffic circle that 12 big streets dump cars onto. So here she is:




My picnic lunch was, again, not nearly as relaxing as I had intended, but I did get to see the big famous landmark. Lots of important things are here, evidently despite the horrid location: underneath it lies France's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (a poetic momument to the Fallen French of both World Wars), lots of show-y national pride stuff happens here with presidents and flags, and this is also the finishing point for the Tour de France bicycle race each year. It is the largest Triumph Arch in the world, commisioned by Napoleon to praise his troops and modeled after the many triumph arches found in Rome.

It also sits on one end of the Champes d'Elysee, a famous road in Paris.


It's also an extremely short road with a lot of VERY fancy name-brand shops on it. It wasn't nearly Times Square of Fifth Avenue, but I think that's what they were going for.




Tacky Louis Vuitton store:


This crazy building was at the end of the street:


And here is where the adventure began. I bought myself a bottle of Bailey's and some more snacks to enjoy once at my hotel. It was about 9:30 pm and I had decided to head home early, get some reading in, paint my toenails and relax. So I caught the subway, made the appropriate transfers, and finally got to the train station at which I was to catch the E train out of town to my hotel. There was a door between the subway and the big train station, blocked by a bum. I walked past him and tried to open the door, but it was locked. The bum then explained in French, "Oh yes, the Train station is locked, I don't know why, I guess I can't sleep there tonight - Oh what it would be to be a bird or a squirrel and fly away or sleep in the trees, yes a squirrel in the trees..." Happy that I understood him but pretty terrified that I was alone underground with that guy, I decided to find the above ground entrace to the train station since this one was locked.

Now, you'd think a train station would be something you can't miss, right? I mean, if trains can fit inside it, it should be pretty visible! Well, I couldn't find the damn thing once I got above ground even though I'm pretty sure I was right next to it the entire time. So I asked another French guy who was backpacking where the train station was, and he walked me through a maze of streets to the entrace. When he saw it, though, he put both hands on his face and said, "Oh no!" because all the windows and doors to the train station were completely boarded up with wood. There was a sign that said it would be closed for emergency repairs until an indeterminable time, but it didn't say anything about the fate of the train schedule. So the backpacker told me to go to a second train station that the line runs to on the other side of town. I took the subway to the second train station, where a obnoxious women at an information desk pretended not to understand me, then angrily shoved a sheet of paper into my hand with instructions in many languages about how to get to the E line. Those instructed me to take the subway to a third train station, which I did, at which point I did find the E line stop - 2 minutes too late to catch the last train. It was 12:02. That's also when my phone died.

I had bought my roomate a bottle of Bailey's to celebrate her 2 year anniversary. Realizing that I, too, would be sleeping in a train station that night, I started crying and cracked open the Bailey's, which is just not something you want to drink straight. Now - and this is true, cross my heart - an old gypsy man in a purple velvet Prince outfit rode by on a unicycle and sang out to me, "Bella, ça va?" meaning "are you alright, dear?" Turns out he spoke fluent English, and he called out "Anyone that speaks English, this little girl needs your help!" A young couple and two older ladies came over to see if I was okay. Evidently, they were also on the hunt for this elusive E train. I told them we had just missed the last one and I was trying to get to my hotel. The two old women both lived at the same stop I was going to so we decided to travel together, and the wonderful old gypsy man and the sweet young couple went on their way.

So now I'm holding up a tired old lady on each arm, and they decided to go back to the second train station to see if we could take a bus there. Evidently, the busses weren't running either. So we headed back to the third station. Now, the entire subway car was filled with people trying to find the E line or an alternate route, and they were all talking animatedly and loudly and pointing often to me, all trying to glean the most information from each other that they could, and everyone was very much concerned for me because I obvioulsy didn't know what the hell was going on. There was a lot of yelling, and the two women I was with got mad at each other. Then they didn't want to travel with each other anymore, but they both wanted to take care of me, so I had to choose an old lady. I felt horrible. They were so sweet to me. I choose the one that was less upset because she seemed like she'd be better company, and I made sure the second one had someone else to travel with and that they had a battle plan for getting home before I left her.

Lady #1 and I decided to take a taxi. I wasn't sure until she told me that this was an option - in Italy, for example, there are taxies but you can't just go hail them like you can in New York, you have to call ahead and book it. Now, there is a 40 euro flat rate for a taxi if you go from Paris to any point outside the city line, plus however many miles you go outside the city. Very, very expensive. I was honeslty willing to pay any amount of money that would get me out from underneath the ground at that point, but the lady I was with had a brilliant plan - we took the subway to the one farthest point on the lines, which was outside of the technical city boundry, so the taxi was only 14 euros split between us. Turns out she works for the Brazillian Embassy and she said she dealt with students who were lost and confused all the time, but she had never had that experience herself and she realized now how scared they must be. She was wonderful. If it weren't for her I probably would have slept in the train station. I got to my room at 1:30 am - 4 hours and a half bottle of Bailey's after I began. It was like being in the frigging twilight zone. I did not stay at this hotel another night, even though I had to pay for it.

The crazy part is that no one who worked in the subway or the second and third station even knew that the first station was closed, and absolutely no one knew why it was closed. Something pretty serious must have happened. I also don't have pictures of this adventure because I didn't exaclty think it was wise to sport my digital camera in the middle of the night alone in the subway. My advice to you if you are staying in Paris: splurge on the hotel. It will be expensive to stay in Paris, just accept that. Don't try to find a cheap hotel. You will not enjoy the experience.

The second day, I met up with my friends again after getting lost in the subway AGAIN. The subway lines are deliniated with separate colors on the map, but these colors are not the same on each map. In New York, each line has a color and a number, and I'm not so good at remembering the numbers, so I was going by color... I pretty much hate the Paris Subway. With a violent passion.


But I FINALLY got to the Louvre. Yay!!


Inside the pyramid (which is the main entrace, although not the only entrace. If it is crowded there are many other ways to get in.)


Statue of "Victoire de Samothrace," also known as the "Nike of Samothrace" because the Greek goddess of victory is named Nike. I really loved this one. She's missing her head, obviously, and they believe her arms were originally outsteched.


And here is an illegal photo of the beautiful Mona Lisa:


Please don't sue me, France. That would just be the cherry on the sunday of the many pains that country has caused me. But, this painting is BEAUTIFUL. There really is some ellusive "it" about her expression. She stares straight into you no matter where you are in the room. It is amazing. Unfortunately, they have a piece of glass over her that reflects the overhead lights so there is a sort of glare on her forehead.

Here was the other most notable piece there: the Venus de Milo. (I'm the more pale on in the right corner.) She's actually... kind of manly looking. Hmm.


And here we are, in the middle of all this elegance and knowledge, playing with the floor vent. We're so mature. :)


Egyptian stuff:






Now, my incredibly smart roomate is an anthropology major and she is taking a class on the Etruscan civilization right now. She gave us our very own guided tour through the Etruscan wing of the museum. It was so thorough and so fascinating that I am going to make it it's very own blog post when I have a little extra time.


The Louvre used to be a palace for the kings of France, so it is incredibly fancy:


And tremendously huge:


We then headed back over the River to that same Subway sandwich place. :) That night I stayed at my roomate's hotel in Montmart, the part of Paris known for being rather artsy. They only had one room left and it was huge, but the guy at the desk gave it to me for the lowest price after I told him my situation. That was really sweet.

And our dinner, at the "Rendevous des Artists:"


I set a trend: Mic found himself some American fast food also. It was much, much more expensive than I'm used to (6 euros for a 5 piece chicken nugget meal.) There is evidently no "99 cent" menu in Europe.




This is the Sacre Couer ("Sacred Heart") church. It's on a hill overlooking Montmart, the highest point in all of Paris.


The inside has some very modern and beautiful stained glass windows, and a beautiful rotunda that lets in a lot of light:




I found God:


And some gargoyels:


I was hoping to see a great view of the city from the highest point of the hill, but I could barely see through the smog. The air in Paris is terrible.




And lots of street vendors were VERY PERSISTENT. It was infuriating, actually. They ask everyone is they can draw you and then try to charge you massive amounts. There are lots of scams around this area: just say "no thanks" flatly to anyone who approaches you up here.

Montmart is right next to a district called Pigaille, the "red-light" district where the Moulin Rouge is. I, of course, thought it would be really cool to see the Moulin Rouge. However, it wasn't - it was disgusting. The entire area around it is filled with sex shop after sex shop after sex shop.








And the Moulin Rouge is pretty dissapointing:


That's it. The windmill kind of looks like it's from a put-put golf park. It's a little bit more interesting at night:


I heard from two elderly British ladies the next day while eating crepes that the burlesgue show at the Moulin Rouge was amazing, but it was very expensive. So perhaps the show would have been cool but I couldn't afford to go after the hotel catastophe and I didn't really feel like hanging out in Pigaille anymore.

That night I stayed in hotel #3: the cheapest one I could find.


Look at that, bathroom and bedroom in one! Toilet was down the hall. Unfortunately, the nice hotel I'd been in the night before didn't have any rooms that night. I did effectively book this room entirely in French, which I was pretty proud of. The lady at the desk didn't speak any English at all but she was very impressed with my French. :)

The next morning I got up early, walked around Montmart for a little bit. Montmart is fairly artsy, but it wasn't nearly as cool as Soho in New York.


They have a lot of neat stores there, like this one:


But they were all things I'd seen in New York already with better prices. I must be awfullly jaded, haha. I walked around a bit more to see as much of the city as I could before I left and never came back again: I had wanted to see two more things in Paris: the palace of Verssailes and the Chataeu d'If, an old prison where the story of the Count of Monte Cristo takes place. However, those both unvolved taking a train out of walking distance of my hotel which I was too petrified to try again. But here are some buildings of note in the central Paris area:












I couldn't wait to get out of Paris. Here we are, back on the bus to the airport, ready to head to Scotland.