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Published: April 23rd 2007
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I got to Paris from Barcelona by night train! And it was a really cool experience! I paid a little extra to get a couchette, which I thought was a chair you could put back, but it’s actually a proper (well kinda) little bed in a cabin, and because I’m over 26 I had to have a 1st class eurail ticket so I got a room with only 4 beds. A lot roomier then the six bed 2nd class one I thought I had, and lets just say I really appreciated not having to step out into Paris again smelling like eau de Urine, and really appreciate the funny little old French man who helped me find the right place to be.
Paris, again! I saw a lot of Paris last time I was there (For one day with Ally and Deb on an open top bus) but I didn’t get to experience Paris! This time I did, I had the time to walk around the streets, actually I did a free 4 hour walking tour that started near Notre Dame on the Ile de le Cite and ended at the Eiffel tower! It was an amazing walk, and
I got too met up with 4 fellow solo travellers who I spent the rest of the day with, and what a day it was. After finishing the tour at 3:30 we grabbed a bite to eat before heading to the catacombs, which we found out had closed a half hour before, so off we headed to the Pompidou centre instead to check out the modern art, and we had a great time doing that, I won’t say we actually ran a muck! But we came close too it, lets just say true modern art enthusiasts might not have appreciated our goings on and I’ll leave it at that. After that we headed on over to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees, while the others ran back to change for dinner, Sarah and I got started on a bottle of wine in the park and we all continued the night at a great little eatery place in the latin quarter. I had to do a mad dash after that to be able to make my way back to my hostel in the Montmarte area before they locked up, I didn’t really like the idea on sleeping rough in
Paris, when I had a perfectly good (but smelly, cause of the shower) room I had paid for.
The previous day (my first in Paris) I had to dump my bags at the hostel (no check in till 3pm!), so I took off to Versailles for the day! If your going to go, stuff the chateau I say (but then I have seen a heap of buildings all very similar), and just get the ticket for Marie-Antionettes Domain, it is amazingly gorgeous and you literally spend hours and hours walking around that area and Versailles gardens (which are free by the way).
My last day in Paris was a bit more restful, in the morning I just went up the hill to see the Sacre Coeur, a word of advice keep your arms close to your body and ignore all the African men who try to tie friendship bands to your arms and want to charge 20 euro! Oh and also if anyone rough looking asks if you speak English, just ignore them and keep walking! Most likely they are wanting to know which language to beg for money in! So anyway the Sacre Coeur! an amazing site!
This is one of the main reasons I had to come back to Paris, cause I didn’t even get to look at it from afar the first time I was here! It was Sunday when I went in, and in the middle of mass! Seriously all the tourists just file in and pretty much ignore whats goin on! I stopped for a while because there were 4 Nuns that started singing, it was a beautiful experience hearing them, and being able to see such a building in it’s proper use! I still felt really bad so said a few prayers while I was looking around, and left. Another thing you have to dodge in the Montmarte village area (if you want too!) is all the artists wanting to charge a phenomenal amount to do your portrait! When you ignore all the hassle Montmarte is a really great place to walk around, very touristy though lots of souvenir shops etc, but there are lots of little side streets and cute cafes to eat! I went back up the hill to the Sacre Coeur late at night with some others from my hostel, we made perfect time to see the Eiffel tower
Pomidou Centre
Making myself a part of the artwork light up and sparkle (which it does every hour on the hour for 10 mins, once the lights go on), it is a sight to see, really made for a perfect ending to my time in Paris.
Next Stop Venezia!
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