Life in Paris: Day 3

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April 1, 2009
Today was our last day in Paris…sad! We got up and had breakfast; once again, baguettes and jam with coffee are amazing! After that we left our bags in the hostel and walked up to Sacre-Cure, which is a very old cathedral. It was very beautiful, but we couldn’t take any pictures inside because they still held services there and such. We walked up there and took pictures and then came back down and walked through the street vendors to buy some souvenirs. I ended up getting 2 shot glasses, and then a wallet. Then we walked back to the hostel and picked up our bags and headed for the train station to go to Notre Dame.
Before we did that, we stopped at a French bakery and I got a chocolate chip mini bread loaf that I ate later…AMAZING!
We were going to walk, but with our packs, it would have killed our shoulders and backs. We got to Notre Dame and it was absolutely beautiful! We walked up and there were tons of ladies, dressed in robes and had there heads covered. One of them walked up to me and asked if I spoke English. I thought she was asking for directions, but really she wanted me to read the slip of paper she carried around and then to give her money or food. I had at least 4-5 of these ladies come up and ask me and each time I said that I didn’t speak English just so they wouldn’t bother me. We couldn’t carry luggage in side the cathedral, so three of us went and then three of us stayed by the luggage. They also said no pictures were allowed inside, but EVERYONE was taking pictures, so I did too. This cathedral was amazing and very humbling. I couldn’t help but hum the song from the Disney version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame😊
After we got back, we wanted to go up in the top and look out, but the line was super long. We asked the others and figured out that we could go half way up for 5 Euros, but the line to wait was pretty long. We ended up making Jake and Sydney wait with the luggage while the rest of us went and waited in line. We waited a little over an hour, but it was very much worth it. I got some beautiful pictures! The walk up is a huge spiral staircase and then when you get to the top you are pretty much in a cage. Makes you feel very safe. Sarah is afraid of heights and she did very well with it!
When we got back down, we headed for the Eiffel Tower once again to see it in the daylight. We took the train once again and ended up eating lunch almost underneath the tower, about a block away. I bought a banana and nutella waffle for 4.50. DELICIOUS! We sat there and ate for a while, and then Sydney got pooped on by a pigeon. Not a good day for her! She had it in her hair, on her pants, her sweater, pretty much everywhere. Not fun!
When we were finished eating lunch, we headed to the Arc de Triumph. We had to buy one more train ticket. Once we got out of the subway, there were two street dancers right there, so we stood and watched for a while. VERY talented guys! The Arc de Triumph is huge and in the middle of a roundabout. To get there, we had to walk almost all the way around the roundabout and go through a little underground tunnel that popped up inside the roundabout. We took lots of pictures, and then decided that we had seen enough skylines for the day, so we didn’t go up.
We then proceeded to our bus stop and waited for our bus. It was a great feeling because on our way to the bus stop we had to stop and take off our jackets it was SO warm! When we found the bus stop, a couple of us went across the street to find a toilet, but with no luck. They take the toilet seats off and remove the toilet paper from the bathrooms so you can’t use them. UGH.
The bus ride ended up being a little over an hour, but it really didn’t matter because the Beauvais airport is one terminal and TINY. Security made me throw away my hand washing tide packets! UPSET! We were through there in no time and had about an hour to kill. Sarah and I got a salad and right when we were about to eat it, the plane started boarding. Of course! The flight wasn’t full, so it was nice to have some room to myself. I ate my salad and listened to my ipod and fell asleep. It was actually just wonderful!
We were 20 minutes ahead of schedule which was nice. Right when we got out of the airport, we got 2 separate cabs and headed to our hotel, called the Hinterland. Our taxi driver drove like a maniac and was quite upset that we didn’t speak Italian, but he got us where we needed to be. That ended up being 10 EURO a person, which wasn’t bad. We met Hollie in the lobby because the front desk man called her down. SO NICE TO SEE HER!! We decided to go to the hotel restaurant and have 2 pizzas for dinner. That ended up being around 7.25 a person, but the pizza was SOOOO good! The waiter had to go get the front desk man to take our order and answer our questions, because he spoke NO English. I would like to put a little note in here that the front desk man’s name is Luigi😊 A little frustrating, but it worked out in the end! Then we went our separate ways and now I am typing this blog.
Hollie said it was supposed to rain tomorrow in the afternoon, so we’ll see what happens. We are going to be up and out early to get a start on the day and begin relaxation.

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