Paris

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My first night in Paris wasn’t exactly the best. I just ran into too many bitchy people and all I wanted was to get out of here. I’m desperate to phone home, but I haven’t been able to find a phone that supports phone cards and I learned today that France apparently doesn’t have Vodafone! Right on! So, once again, I’m hooped for phoning home, unless a bloody miracle happens. I’m even willing to phone collect and pay for it when I get home. Today was a good day. I met up with Laura and Alastair and we went down into the Catacombs. It was pretty effing creepy. Apparently there are 6 million people down there. It was chilling to see all the skulls empty eye sockets looking back at you. And how they’re all so intricately placed together. I wanted to touch them, but I didn’t. It was just too creepy. The Catacombs were sweet ass. After that we took a train all the way too the outskirts of Paris to the Palace of Versailles. That place wasn’t on my list of things to see but holy shit am I ever glad I did. It was just amazing. The palace itself was massive, and the gardens in the back stretched as far as the eye could see. It was all velvet and marble walls and paintings everywhere. The ceilings had amazing murals on them. There were statues and busts everywhere. Everything was gold. There were a bunch of fountains out in the back garden, even an amphitheatre so people can watch the fountain show. It was caraaaazy! After that we came back and stopped off at the Eiffel Tower. It was also amazing. You don’t really realize you’re in a place until you’re standing at the feet of its most well known land mark. We walked around and got a few shots in of it. There were armed guards walking around everywhere with huge assault rifles. Scary shit. There were like 3 different kinds of police there. I had no idea the Eiffel Tower was such a high risk place, but I guess better safe than sorry. It was a long Metro ride back to the hostel. Apart from getting groped by some gross Indian dude, it was a pretty good ride. When I got off at my stop I saw a McDonalds and went in. Laura told me about the Touch of Britain burger they have and she’s right, it’s bloody delicious. It actually tasted like it was real cow. Go figure! Tomorrow I’m meeting up with Laura and Alastair again and were going to see the Louvre. I’m hella excited to see the Mona Lisa. I’ll letcha know how it goes.

Today was a pretty kick ass day as well. I met up with Laura and Alastair at the Louvre and we got right inside, no lines or anything which was sweet. I absolutely loved it. I really loved the sculptures. They’re just so beautiful and detailed. I took a billion pictures in the Louvre. We were walking through all the painting galleries when we turned a corner and there she was, hanging on the wall, surrounded by pexiglass and surrounded by people, the Mona Lisa. It made my heart skip a beat knowing that I was in the midst of one of the most famous pieces of art, ever created. I’m happy I got to see all the things I wanted to see. I saw the Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, The Raft of Medusa, Psyche and Cupid, and of coarse Mona Lisa. After the Louvre we went and checked out the Arc de Triomphe. It’s the Arc that Napoleon built. It was HUGE! I guess you can see the best view of Paris from the top of the Arc but we didn’t go up there. Then we went to a huge ass church. I think it was called Montmartre, I think. We climbed up SO many stairs! Since I’ve been gone I’ve literally walked up and down thousands of stairs. There is 70 stairs just to get up to my hostel room. No wonder the French are so frickin skinny. I’ve only seen a handful of escalators in the whole city. I’m going to have the firmest ass in Edmonton when I come home. So that was my day so far. I think I’m going to have a bit of a power snooze and then I’m gonna go find dinner and then sit and chill in the hostel bar for a while!

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