Bonjour, Paris!
After Dad left for the day, Ashley and I got packed for the flight to Paris that night. That was about the longest day of public transportation I've had yet...car, bus, plane, train, and Metro all in about 8 hours. The whole fact that I can't speak French added a bit to the adventure. I spaced the time change between France and Ireland, and we ended up getting to France more than a little bit after dark. Poor Jillian had to wait in Gare du Nord trying to fend off skeevy, forward French men to pick us up and lead us back to her apartment for the night. We also learned that my phone is stuck up when it comes to foreigners. It is near impossible to call my mobile if your phone is not Irish, but I can call international numbers with no problem whatsoever. We were beat by the time we straggled back down the dark road to Jillian's. Ashley & I piled into the smallest elevator ever (max capacity 3 people...erm, yeah, if you all suck in and think thin on the way in) to avoid the first 5 flights of stairs up to the apartment. We squeezed out of the elevator, up another flight of stairs, and went to the bathroom...not for the usual reasons, but for the view of the top of the Eiffel Tower all lit up with the spotlights at the top flashing over Paris from out the bathroom window.
The next morning started out properly Parisian, with freshly baked croissants and baguettes from the boulangerie down the street. With stomachs full of delicious French pastry, we meandered to République to catch the Metro towards École Militaire to see the Eiffel Tower up close and personal. In spite of Jillian's directions and a Paris map, Ashley and I ended up taking the longest route to the Eiffel Tower. Between all of the buildings and trees on the street, you can't actually see the Eiffel Tower from too far away when it's within a few blocks of you. :P We meandered up a street, attempting to follow signs, and ended up at a park where we got our first daylight view of Eiffel's gigantic metal creation. Ashley was really in touch with her French blood that day...she cried when she saw it. Some peddlers (our first encounter of the day) immediately spotted the blatant tourists and promptly convinced Ashley to buy their goods...thanks for the keychain! :) Now that we had the Eiffel Tower in sight, we walked toward the bottom to see how long the line to get to the top was. The whole garden below the tower is covered in guys trying to sell you all of the cheesiest souvenirs ever. Some Jamaican guys came up to Ashley and I, tied these yarn bracelets around our arms, and would not leave until we paid them...totally got ripped off, but we learned not to make eye contact with the peddlers quick! We lined up to get the lift to the top of the Tower and were periodically entertained by the bicycle cops cycling as fast they could to drive off the peddlers. I've never seen such a wave of people running from the cops and yelling out warnings to one another all at the same place, only to come harass tourists again 5 minutes later.
Eventually, the lift took us to the bottom level of the Eiffel Tower (about 20 stories up), where we could see out over the city in every direction. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately, all 500 plus pictures of France are those trapped on my camera until I can clear up some computer memory, so you'll just have to imagine the view for now. The clouds started to roll in, so we took the second elevator to the very top of the tower in order to beat the rain, which we did by about 5 minutes. The view from the top was shrouded in clouds and the rain started to come down after we had a few moments to appreciate what sights we could still see through the fog. Once we made it back to earth, we headed off in search of a slightly less touristy patisserie for lunch in PARIS! It still hadn't completely set in that we were in France. Ashley had some cheesy, oniony bread thing that we ordered by pointing at (could've used a real Parisian at that moment). I had a filled baguette, and once those were demolished, we went back inside to order strawberry tart and pain au chocolate. I don't think my taste buds have ever been so happy.
Jillian spent the evening accommodating her fellow Americans by taking us to Notre Dame and the Padlock bridge over the Seine. There was a random blood/organ donor festival going on on the way there outside of the Hotel de Ville, with clowns (Ashley's favorite), a French band, and a crazy confident old lady dressed up as a human heart dancing and spinning around. After we saw the gorgeous flying buttresses and the garden behind Notre Dame, we got our snap-happiness out and went to the concert at the donor festival. The band wasn't too bad and Jillian danced with a clown. Walking back to the apartment, the other two had to wait for me as I took pictures of everything (including the gargoyles on the church that I had to draw for class last year). Thus ended day 2 in Paris...really didn't mean to write this much about a day and half. If you aren't bored to death yet, I'll have a couple more posts about Paris done in the next couple of days (cross your fingers that procrastination doesn't set in again...).
SWAK,
A.
Irish-ism of the day:
puffed - exhausted. It sounds a "loads" cooler than worn out.
More Irish words...
Dia duit. - Hello. (Literally, God with you.)
Dia is Muire dhuit. - Hello back to you. (God and Mary be with you.)
No comments:
Post a Comment