It's one of those places that you dream about going since you see a picture of the Eiffel Tower, hear that it's the most romantic city in the world, or, for some of us really special ones, watch Mary-Kate and Ashley's Passport to Paris for the first time.
When you get there, it can be magical. But also...it's a real place.
Now I hate to buy into stereotypes, but the whole thing about Parisian people not being the nicest, especially to American tourists, is kinda true. Our trip got off to a bit of a rocky start. The first mishaps was nobody's fault but my own-I arrived at the airport only to realize I forgot my passport. Two hasty cab rides and one new cab driver friend/hero later, I made my flight. First hurdle conquered. Then we got there. I was traveling with my friends Emily and Olivia who you are likely well acquainted with by now if you've been stalking my pictures. Emily had a skype interview set up that night which we thought she would be able to do at the hotel. Apparently, transport from the airport took a little longer than we thought so we hopped off the metro and ran to the first place we could find with WiFi. Low and behold, a McDonalds. We're so French. After fighting with WiFi and some diet cokes, we got back on the metro. Sounds simple right? HUGE mistake. We used the tickets which we had bought at the airport which let all three of us through the machine. A French security guard then proceeded to stop us to check our tickets and surprise surprise, they were the wrong ones. It's strange that they let us through, but the whole her barely speaking English and us not speaking any French and her yelling at us at French and seemingly growing angrier when we tried Spanish and us desperately trying to explain that no, we did not break into the metro with all of our luggage while a metro employee was sitting there watching and her calling the police.....eventually led to us paying a 40 euro fine. For doing nothing wrong. Welcome to Paris.
But seriously, after that night, the whole trip turned around. We headed out in perfect weather to our first big tourist destination--the Louvre. It was huge and grand and surprisingly not overcrowded. We of course saw the Mona Lisa and a variety of other paintings that I recognized from my intro to art history class from freshman year (listen to your mom when she tells you to take those things. I did). We also had Olivia as our very own art history master to inform us on some backstory. Besides the classic Renaissance art, we also checked out the Ancient Egyptian art and got to see the first written law in history. Super cool. After the Louvre, we walked across the romantic lock bridge and down the river to Notre Dame. No hunchback, but beautiful stained glass windows. There was a choir singing and people taking communion (I think) which made picture taking a little awkward. I can't imagine someone photographing me praying in my synagogue. But then again, my synagogue looks nothing like Notre Dame. We then proceeded to head back to the hotel to "get cute" and scurried off to the Eiffel Tower. Now, I know we all like to think we're not cliche, but the Eiffel Tower lit up at night was truly like a dream. We climbed to the top and overlooked the gorgeous city. We then bought some grapes and wine and cheese and picnicked in perfect view of the tower. All the frustration of the night before melted away as Paris won our hearts. 3 more suckers pulled into the magic.
That night, we dined outside at a French cafe. I almost don't want to admit this, but I feel the world must know that I tried escargot...and it was kinda good. But then I think about it and I'm slightly appalled at myself. The restaurant was fun and was followed up by a swanky bar where we met some cool French guys who were actually really great to talk to. And spoke English. So basically major winners. Yay for international friends!
On Sunday, we took a small day trip to Versailles. This place is something to see. Gold everywhere, breathtaking rooms, the infamous hall of mirrors, and a garden full of daffodils that may be one of my favorite places in the world. The long lines and train ride out there were totally worth it. The town was really cute too. Kinda felt like a mini Paris right outside the city. When we got back to Paris, we made a quick stop at San Chapel, a church with wall to wall stained glass windows, before Olivia flew back to Madrid. That night, Emily and I went to a fabulous 300-person restaurant called Chartier with no English menu and a super friendly waiter who explained everything to us. It was reasonably priced and beyond delicious. I loved that there were a lot of actual French people in there as opposed to just tourists. I highly recommend it for when you go to Paris. It was a perfect ending to what turned out to be a fantastic trip.And now, I'm sitting in a hostel in Barcelona at the beginning of my Spring Break aka Semana Santa. Not feeling 100%, so I've decided to take it easy tonight. I have a long and exciting week ahead of me. Then it's just 2 more weeks of class, my parents visit, 1 week of finals, and May travels. I can't believe how fast it has gone and yet, I know I'm going to be ready to come home to my friends and family. Amargo-dulce~bittersweet.
I suppose for now, we'll always have Paris.
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