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Published: April 16th 2008
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I arrived in Paris on the Eurostar on Saturday night. My first task was to figure out how to get from the Gare du Nord to my Hostel. It took me about fifteen minutes and several failed French conversations to figure out where I had to go and how to buy a ticket. My hostel was next to the Crimee train station, which may mean "crime" in French, I'm not sure. But I did manage to arrive to the hostel safely and with all my belongings.
I got up on Sunday morning at 8:30 for the free breakfast at the hostel. Turns out that when I arrived in Paris I changed my watch in the wrong direction, so it was actually 10:30 and I had missed breakfast. Shit. So I went off on my first mission in Paris to find something to eat. I wandered down the canal in Paris 19 and found a bustling market. It was quite an experience, I hung around for a while watching the locals, and then bought an apple. I then walked around a bit more and found a boulangerie patissier (a bakery) and successfully ordered my first ever baguette in French (une baguette
l'Escargot
More commonly known as "snails". Mmmm. sil vous plait). I then showed my ignorance by eating it as I walked down the street, which I later learned is a bit of a faux pas in France, because they take their meals so seriously.
I had a pamphlet from the hostel about a free Paris walking tour from the Latin quarter that left at 1:00, so I aimed for that. I managed to get to the meeting place five minutes late, so I missed the tour. I decided that I would conduct my own Paris walking tour, picked a direction and set off. I found a place called the Luxembourg gardens, which is very beautiful and has a palace within the grounds. After that I did a lot more walking and checked out a big chunk of the middle of Paris. There are a lot of very narrow and winding streets in Paris. I then went into a cafe for a hot chocolate. I didn't know how to order in French, but afterwards I asked how much i owe (je vous dois combien?), which the waiter didn't understand, but clearly appreciated my effort. I then succesfully asked (en francais) where the toilets were, and was fairly
pleased with myself. I finished the day by walking up the Champs Elysees to the Arc d'Triomph, and refusing to pay the nine euros to go to the top.
I had only booked three nights accommodation, thinking I would play it by ear when I got to Paris, but on Sunday I learnt that my hostel was fully booked so I couldn't extend my stay. It seemmed this was also the case with every other hostel within thirty kilometres of Paris on the first week of the easter break. Bad move. I spent my Sunday night on the Internet frantically trying to avoid joining the ranks of Paris' homeless, and as a result I spent the four nights from Monday to Thursday in four different hostels.
The next morning I met a couple of American girls at breakfast who were going to the same walking tour as me that morning at 11. Apparently the tour guide comes to the hostel to pick up the group, so this time I managed to make it on time. The tour was really entertaining, and we visited all the major Paris attractions; Mont St Michel, Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, Le Louvre, Jardins
Luxembourg Palace
In the Luxembourg Gardens des Tuilleuries, The Place du Concorde, Bastille prison etc. After the tour, the girls and I went to Pere Lachaise cemetary to see some graves (good times). The French really know how to look after their dead. Walking through the cemetary was like walking through a village (of very short zombie types...). We saw Jim Morrison and Chopin's graves.
We decided that we wanted to eat snails that night. So I asked at the hostel and found a place on the canal that serves l'escargot. I felt like such a tourist. We shared a plate of six snails as an entree. I went first. The snails were ok, they were drowning in a garlic pesto sauce and that's all I could taste. The snail itself was very small after being cooked and was kind of rubbery. I pissed off the waiter by asking if he was going to charge us for the bread (Combien???). He didn't seem to like that. I think my southern american companions and I amused the waiters with our blatant touristness. So I feel good about that.
On Tuesday morning I got up early, packed my bags and headed for the train station, bound
for Normandy.
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