Lost in the Louvre

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So if there ever was a whirlwind Paris tour, this was it. Our sleeper train ride was more eventful than before, because we both had top bunks, with missing security straps. Coupled with the bumpy train ride and the fact that we were tired enough to sleep through just about anything, we were a bit concerned that we might slide off at some point in the middle of the night and go kaplunking down the fifteen foot drop to the floor. Scary. But, we managed to stay put, and arrived in Paris around six am.....which gave us until about four thirty (when our train was leaving for Switzerland) to explore the city.

Paris is overwhelming!! Not really walkable, if you are wanting to see a lot in such a slammed together amount of time. So after wandering around aimlessly an hour or two, we decided to get our act together and take a bus to the Louvre. Luckily we got there early enough to avoid much of the madness that accrues throughout the day (by the time we left there were throngs of people forming zig-zagging lines in all directions). We saw tons of amazing things, but after a an hour or two my brain had reached it's art information overload level and we started searching for a way out. And we searched and we searched. I tell you, we probably did ten miles in that labryrinthy louvre, passing by massive marble sculptures, dilapidated egyptian papyrus manuscripts, mischevious cherubs and distressed women in oil paintings, and hallways lined with nineteenth century royalty furniture. Boy, we saw just about all of it.

Finally we saw a tiny little exit sign, and made a mad dash for it. We were exhausted! We ate a delicious and very un-french lunch of pizza (we were tired of croissants believe it or not) and made our way towards the eiffel tower. A gypsy woman approached us when we got there asking for money (her story involved needing food for her leukemia stricken son). Whether or not this was true, I have no idea but we handed off our last few slices of cold pizza and boy did that make her day. She took off running and smiling, yelling someones name and holding the pizza like a banner above her head. The Eiffel Tower was spectacular and made up for whatever dissapointments we might have felt about Paris a few hours earlier. We spent the afternoon just sitting in the park, enjoying the view, before catching our train to Switzerland.

I have only been here in the daylight for a few hours, but already I have fallen in love. We are surrounded by mountains, the sun is shining, and the air is clean and crisp. Everyone at our hostel is here to get out and explore and I love that. This afternoon we are heading off for a few hours of hiking that the receptionist told us about. Downsides thus far are only the ridiculously high priced everythings and superbly stinking and bare minimum hostel rooms. Let me explain. Imagine a cross between that strange hospital smell, dirty socks (there were some dangling above my bed), and either throw up or soured milk (we can't decide which). Our beds are flimsy foam pads with damp feeling comforters placed about six millimeters from the next one. There are thirty-two 'beds' per room. I thought I was prettz tough, and Molly was exhausted, but still we just sat there laughing at how ridiculously gross we felt. Which was nice because laughing made the smell subside a bit. One more night there, and were off to better accomadations hopefully. In the meantime, we are underdressed and underslept but excited to be here and taking off on an afternoon adventure!

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Comments

[Hannah]

hey!
sister bear!!! i'm going to be there tomorrow!!! i can't wait!!! hope your trips going amazing!!! i love you!!!

[forrest]

HA HA HA!!! the part about laughing to subside the smell cracks me up! I can totally relate..Glad you both experenced that.And how sweet of you two to give that lady your pizza....hike on!!