My Day In Paris

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First stop this morning: Notre Dame.

As a child I loved to watch Disney's the Hunchback of Notre Dame, so I was quite excited to see the building in real life. The inside was just as impressive as the outside with its ridiculously high ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows. As well as being beautiful the Cathedral has a spooky side with its tombs of Famous Kings and Priests and the gargoyles who sit above, giving menacing looks to those that enter.



Having had not quite enough of the creepier side of Paris, I decide to take a visit to the Catacombs. Deep below the depths of Paris, millions of dead Parisians bones are stacked in underground passageways across the city. After a long wait and meeting up with two other kiwi girls from my tour in the line, we go down a seemingly neverending staircase to the catacombs entrance. It is here that we read a sign above the doorway:

"Arrete! C'est ici l'empire de la mort." - Stop! Here is the empire of the dead.

If the thought of spending about 45 minutes walking around viewing over 6 million dead Parisians stacked like jenga hadn't scared me a little, this sign definitely did the trick. The whole atmosphere was extremly sombre and although it was one of the most bizzare sights I had ever seen, I was happy to get above ground, see sunlight and be around the living once again.

I then decided to spend some me time in Paris by going off to explore the streets of Paris. A few streets away from the Eiffel Tower I found a cute little street with fruit stalls, Fromageries (cheese shops) and this beautiful patisserie, where I endulged myself in a coffee cream éclair which I more than happily ate on the Champ de Mars with the Eiffel Tower as my backdrop.

As I was about to enjoy a river cruise on La Seine, I realised I left my ticket back at the hostel. I, of course, got lost and learned the hard way that being alone in a big city was a bad idea. The hostel was in one of the less desirable places for a tourist to be lost and I caught the eye of a way too friendly local man. After having him trying to convince my hostel was right through this alleyway (even I'm not that gullable) and then following me all the way back to the metro station, offering to spend the day with me the whole way, I got on the train and I thought I was safe. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. In my haste to get away I caught the train on the wrong side so I asked a man which train I was meant to catch at the next stop, to get back to the Eiffel tower. He then led me onto a empty end of line train. After pushing the man away when he began to try to kiss me, I ran into a crowd of people and eventually found my way. If this is what they meant when they said Paris was the city of romance, I have no interest in the slightest!

After meeting back with the others I had a large glass of much needed wine. That was the last time I went on the tour by myself. A bit shaken, but I still went to the caberet, got a bit tipsy on red wine and had a night out with the people on tour. A good way to end my slightly bumpy trip to Paris!

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Photos

Parisian Catacombs
Chilling Experience