Pizza in Paris might sound like a good idea, but it isn't. This four cheese pizza was more like four-year-old cheese pizza.  Worst thing ever.  But, the trip was great!!

Weekend in Paris

Bonjour!!! It all started at 5:00 a.m. on Friday the 13th. After breakfast, my housemate Veronica and I walked to Norbiton train station and bought a one-way ticket to London Waterloo (the train station in Central London). It was very easy getting our tickets with our verification number and going through what I guess you would call customs. However, the security guard wasn’t very pleasant to Veronica when she set off the metal detector. The guard treated her like she was a little kid by saying, “These keys are metal; this is a metal detector.” But we laughed it off and proceeded to find where we had to go. Just an FYI, finding your way around the train station and through the Eurostar stuff is very easy and much more convenient and time efficient than flying.

We arrived at our gate far too early, so we tried to find a place to sit and get some caffeine. Two teenaged girls waking up at 5:00 a.m. without their Starbucks, to which they are addicted, is not a pretty picture. We ended up, somehow, getting into, or maybe it was sneaking into—I can’t recall ;-)—this private VIP lounge that was awesome and had some pretty sweet chairs. I was able to go on a computer and get FREE internet access. I didn’t think anything here was free. So far so good, and we were already having a ton of laughs. We took some magazines from the lounge (with permission) and boarded our train. I sat down in my comfy seat, better than an airplane that’s for sure, opened up my Vogue magazine and, go figure, it’s in French. With that, I just looked at the pretty pictures.

The train ride went by quickly, about two hours. There was an hour time difference. Along the way, we saw a lot of the French countryside, which made me think of home a lot—especially seeing the cows, horses, and sheep grazing and the farmer Joes working the land. I thought to myself that my dad would love this place. We arrived at the Paris train station around noon and walked around looking like tourists carrying our heavy bags, because we couldn’t find our darn hotel. We found it at about 1:45, which worked out good because check-in was at 2:00. We went up and showered because we were sweating to death. And, let me tell you that I was in love with that shower! I didn’t have to hold the showerhead; it actually hung on the wall, had pressure, and was hot :-) Our room was on the fifth floor. We almost died when we saw the elevator. Veronica and I were cramped inside of it with our backpacks and it was super small and freaky. We had a sweet balcony off our room and a TV with one English-speaking channel—CNN. I must say that I laughed at all of you back in the States when I saw that Buffalo had 14 inches of snow, Chicago was currently 11 degrees and, well, Paris was 68.

Ready to conquer our new location, we headed out of our hotel lobby to find that our neighborhood wasn’t what we expected. We were in the minority and I didn’t speak French. Thank the good Lord that Veronica did. Friday night we basically just walked around forever and we accidentally ran into Notre Dame. Once inside, I was a bit disturbed at the lack of respect people displayed in a holy place, such as this church. There was a little market outside and people were reenacting the gypsies and their lifestyle. We continued to walk around and try to handle all of the excitement we had. I mean, after all, we were in Paris. As we walked we’d look at each other and laugh, because we couldn’t believe that we were really here. We ventured down a street off the main drag and that is where we found our lifesaver, Haagen Daz. We made it a point to get ice cream every night and people watch. Food was very expensive everywhere we went, but, hey, you can’t worry too much about money when on vacation, right?

On our walk home we were crossing over the Seine River and got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, talk about two girls freaking out. We were incredibly excited and took lots of pictures, even though they weren’t turning out very well. We were careful to walk with other people, as we returned to our hotel, so we didn’t stick out as two teenage tourists. Street people are more abundant in Paris than London.

Saturday morning we woke up a bit later than we had wished. Our breakfast cost 35 euros (about $42) for two coffees, two pastries, and two omelets. Our first priority for sightseeing was the Louvre. We took the underground train and then walked for a bit to it. The side we approached was a bit dull, but as we came into the center all I could do was laugh because there were no words to explain how I was feeling. It was gorgeous with all the pyramids and fountains. Finally after about 200 pictures we went inside and bought our tickets (approx. $10). First priority, the Mona Lisa!!!! On our way to it, however, we saw some pretty cool stuff. There were a lot of famous paintings and statues that I would tell you about, but I’ll admit that I am terrible with that kind of stuff. I did get excited when we saw paintings and sights that I knew from the movie “The De Vinci Code” and just famous artists and such that I was sort of familiar with.

 We spent a lot of time inside the Louvre, actually until they kicked us out. After dinner we were off to see the Eiffel Tower at night. We wanted to go up it at night and during the day, but when we got to it the line was very long. So we just walked around snapping a million pictures and then ventured through the park behind it. We sat on the lovely green grass and waited for 9:00 p.m., because every hour, on the hour, 22,000 lights flash and sparkle on the tower for ten minutes. It was a sight I will never forget. I felt like crying with happiness it was so great. We stayed for about an hour on the grass and decided to head home, because we knew we were going to have another long day on Sunday.

However, before calling it a night we couldn’t pass up ice cream—on our little side street—a gyro, and a drink. The gyro was a bit different, but I knew I had to try one before we left. It’s meat off of a huge spigot that is put into a taco shell type of thing with fries, lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream. Looks crazy but tasted good and the best thing about it was that it only cost 4 euros. There’s never a dull moment watching people on this street, because there are street performers showing off their talents, Finally at about 11:00 p.m. we started our walk home, exhausted and dreading the fact that we had to wake up early in the morning.

Oh yes I forgot to mention that we discovered a humungous mall within walking distance of our hotelJ. Not good, because come to find out Meghan’s credit card was maxed out!!!! (Mom, Dad a little HELP, please!) 

But, anyways, Sunday morning we had breakfast at our hotel, which consisted of coffee (finally real coffee, not espresso and milk) and a pastry. Back to the Louvre first thing, we took pictures of the upside down pyramid without a million people around. Then we were off to the gift shops for postcards we could write and get postmarked from the Louvre. Our next destination was the Eiffel, but we got sidetracked into taking a beautiful (yet long) fall walk to “Arc De Triomphe.” Our feet were very angry with us, but the scenery was very nice. On the way we got to see “Place de La Concorde”. Also we noticed while walking through the gardens of the Louvre that there were a lot of runners. Thousands. We caught the beginning and then the end, at the Eiffel, of a 20-kilometer race.

We ate our lunch standing in the long lines to go up the tower. Timing could not have been any better for us. The third floor had been closed off, we assumed because of high winds, but literally right when we stepped up to the ticket booth they changed the sign and we were allowed to go all the way to the top. First we got off at the second level and walked around snapping pictures. Then we got back on the elevator and went all the way up. I thought Veronica was going to cry, because she is terrified of heights, but she made it. Our pictures at the very top didn’t turn out well at all because it is way too foggy that high. However, we got a very good view of “Sacre Coeur” (The church that is built on the highest point in Paris). Back on the first level, we bought more postcards so they could be postmarked from the tower. I felt like an Eskimo in Florida, because I was just in jeans and a little T-shirt when everyone else were wearing winter coats and scarves, but I guess that’s how it is when you come from the U.P.

Next stop was Sacre Coeur, and the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre. We walked all the way up the hill to the church and it was worth it. We walked around while mass was going on and then sat and prayed for a while. People were much more respectful here than at Notre Dame. We were a bit disappointed with the Moulin Rouge. It was covered in sex shops and just not a very nice place. I guess I was expecting it to look more like that movie, but oh well. Our little side street was calling our name for ice cream so we couldn’t pass it up on our last night.

We were satisfied with our trip; we had seen everything that we wanted to in the short amount of time that we were in Paris. Overall, Paris compared to London seems to be more dirty in the outskirt area. But, our trip was an amazing experience.

Have a great week,