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The Eiffel Tower
Our first glimpse... and what a glimpse!Yeah, I know, I'm behind. But I have a travel journal, and I write it all down as I go. So don't worry, I'll get it all down eventually. The Paris blog covers four days, so it's long.
First off, I'd like to say thanks for all the positive feedback on the blog. It's really cool that everyone's reading this. I'm sorry that I haven't replied to any messages. This is for two reasons: My time with the internet is limited, and I haven't figured out how... well, ok, I haven't tried at all. I'm sure all I have to do is click reply and type a message, but for now, I'll just have to let the blog do the talking because of that time issue.
Second, I'd like to disapoint all of you. It doesn't seem like I'll be able to post pictures while on the road. I haven't seen any place where I could access the USB ports. It's probably better that I don't risk erassing the memory card, because there are some very sweet pictures. Instead, I'll guard my camera with my life, and post like crazy when I get back, or get a real chance.
I'm up to something like 600 pictures, so it'll be pretty sweet when it does finally happen.
Finally I'd like to talk about Paris. When I returned to Paris, I thought back on everything I'd ever heard anyone say about Paris. The sum total of all of that heresay is it's one of the greatest, if not the greatest city on Earth. So naturally, I assumed it was significantly overrated in my mind.
I was dead wrong.
In fact, if anything, it is somehow underrated, most likely because there's no way to explain how great it is. Everyone should go to Paris. Don't put it off. You probably don't understand what I'm talking about if you've never been, and it may take a couple of days to figure it out, but something is calling you to Paris. Trust me.
Actually, we thought it was so great, that we coined a new term for greatness experienced while travelling: Travel Boner.
So I guess, friends, fanily, total strangers, if that offends you in any way, I apologize. But I would like to take some time to explain the term. Perhaps if you come to understand the term,
Sailing the Pond
Jardin du Luxembourg you will be ok with it. We think it's hilarious. Maybe someday, you'll even experience one for yourself in all it's wonderful glory.
The origin of the term? Well, "travel" is standard, and needs no explanation. In this case, "boner" may derive from "bonheur", which is French for happiness. So there. Travel happiness. Get your mind out of the gutter. Not offensive in the least. It's a lovely French word that us Anglos can mispell and pronounce incorrectly. Typical.
Let's use the term in a sentence, shall we? "James and Amy went to Paris and thought it was so amazing that they said they had travel boners. Neil said his was just a pants tent." So really, a "travel boner" just refers to that feeling that you get when you travel somewhere that is so completely amazing, and so far beyond your expectations that there's just no other word to describe it.
Alright, so back to our travels already in progress:
Neil and I boarded a train from Oostend on Monday (May 5) and made our way to Paris to meet Amy at the airport. Oh, our hostel in Oostend was empty that night. We shared
The Arc de Triomphe
Way bigger than we expected. an 8 bed dorm room with exactly 1 other person. So, basically the opposite of what we'd just experienced.
Overall, I'd say we really enjoyed our time in Belgium. The beer, chocolate, and fries (with mayonaise, of course) were delicious.... especially the beer. The wierdest thing we say (which I forgot to mention previously) was a couple of young guys in a white Volkswagen Golf with the windows rolled down, listening to French gangster rap, and driving around a giant stainless steel model of the atom. Cruising for chicks at the Atomium? Really?
Anyways, we met Amy at the airport. Charles De Gaulle Terminal 3 to be specific, which is apparently the ghetto terminal, as it looked like it used to be a bus station, and Amy deboarded the plane using a staircar, and then walked across the tarmac.
But her flight was direct, and cheap, so there, I guess. Also, her direct flight meant that she had spent less time in transit, and actually had a bunch of excitement, unlike us on our first day.
To close out her first day, we checked into our hostel, which was definitely more of a hotel (and a
pretty nice one) but at the price of a hostel. We then wandered the neighbourhood and ate at a neat café (one of the 65 million in Paris). It was very good food, and our server gave us all kinds of sigthseeing advice (all in French) which was fantastic! Actually, my level of French seems to be pretty adequate. I can understand it pretty much fine (not word for word, but close) and I can communicate if I think about what I need to first. It's all coming back slowly, which is really cool. Neil is much better. Amy understands little, but it doesn't matter. We'll make her learn Italian to balance it out.... She has about a week and a half to get it mastered...
We tipped our server about 3 euro, which was roughly ten percent. Not great by our standards, but she seemed very surprised and thrilled, and offered us some coffee or dessert, which we declined, because we needed sleep. But that was a pretty good clue that we were overtipping. She was super helpful though, so it was warranted.
You cannot see Paris in a day. But I tell you this: I believe
The Louvre
It is HUGE! we came closer than anyone ever has before.
On her advice, the next morning we went to the Eiffel Tower and approached it from the West. Amazing. just amazing. I'd like to issue a challenge: take a bad picture of the Eiffel Tower. I don't think it can be done. Maybe that's why there's billions of photographs of it out there?
We wanted to go up it, and found a secret way up that no one else seems to no about: the stairs. Seriously, what is wrong with people? Who would line up for two hours to pay 8 euro to go to the top when you can walk right onto the stairs, get some excercise, and feel like we accomplished something that entitles us to the view (plus the view on the way up is pretty swell), and only pay 3.10 with our student discount? Some people... I'm pretty sure we went up and down before some people even made it through the line for the elevator. And it was only 674 stairs to the second level anyways....
We walked through the park out front, and took a pile of pictures, and then headed over to
Glass Ceiling
Looking out of the entrance to the Louvre the famous Arc de Triomphe. It's actually quite a bit bigger than we all expected. We didn't waste money going up it, but it was pretty cool from underneath anyway.
We ambled down Champs Elysee in search of some food (passing by McDonald's) and ended up eating a picnic in a beatuiful park along the way. Then to the Louvre!
...Which is closed on Tuesdays...
But we knew that, and it was a good time to see the grounds, which, again, were way bigger than expected. We walked along the Seine to Pont Neuf and headed over to Notre Dame (passing by the Canadian Consulate on the way). It was all so cool. Notre Dame is also free to enter! Travel bonus!
Then we walked to Place de la Bastille, saw that it had in fact been destroyed in the Revolution (there's nothing there except a relatively small monument) and took the short metro ride home. We closed out our day with a bakery based dinner, and did some much needed laundry. Oh, and some wine. We drank some wine. Did you know that wine is extremely cheap over here? You did? Good. It is. And
Champs Elysee
Looking all the way down Champs Elysee from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe. We walked about 20km that day... it's tasty.... mostly. Neil thought that one bottle we bought tasted like the zoo.
That was a long day. I think we walked 25 kilometers. We slept very deeply that night.
The next day we went over to Gare du Nord to buy train tickets overnight to Barcelona. Wait, what I should say is that we stood in line for half an our and tried to buy tickets on the night train for Barcelona... They were definitely sold out. I guess there's another long weekend.... I'm pretty sure there are no regular weeks over here. Ok, so we don't have accomodations for Thrusday night, and we have no way of getting to our Friday night accomodations in Barcelona.
Crap.
Alright, can we get a train during the day on Friday, and stay another night in Paris? Or take a train on Thursday during the day and spend another night in Barcelona? Well, the trouble was, we couldn't book our train ticket and our accomodations at the same time, so we had to roll the dice. We decided it would be easier to find accomodations in Paris while we were already there and new the city. So
Cimitiere Pere Lachaise
Where rich people go when they die. Very rich people. we went off to find a train to Barcelona on Friday.
It took about 15 minutes of searching, but they eventually found us a combination of trains that got us to Barcelona. We were going to have to leave Paris at 8am, and wouldn't arrive in Barcelona until 10pm.... with an 8 hour layover in Montpellier. Fine! We'll take it.
The only other problem to solve was accomodations for Friday night in Paris. So, since it only takes one of us to do that, and I enjoy these kinds of adventures, I offered to go figure that out while Neil and Amy went to Montmarte and Sacre Couer, and went to check out Moulin Rouge... or at least where it used to be.
The short story: No problem. We were able to stay another night in the same room, and we could check into our Barcelona room until 11pm. We dodged another travel bullet.
We met up at the Catacombs. The Catacombs were originally quarry tunnels in the southern part of Paris, until the cemetaries got full (thanks to some nifty diseases). So they dug up all the old bodies to make room for the new
Creepy/Cool
Ummm.... he did the mash? ones, and carted all the old bones to the quarry and arranged them in neat piles. The bottom line: it's creepy and cool at the same time. And when you leave the Catacombs, you end up on some random side street, in the bright sunlight.
.... and then we went to McDonald's. It's the little differences. Example: The have McDonald's in Paris, and at McDonald's in Paris you can get a quarter pounder with cheese, except they don't call it a quarter pounder with cheese. They call it a Royale Cheese.... Pulp Fiction? Anyone?
And of course, you get mayonaise for your fries, which are not as super salty as back home.
Ok, so we went to McDonald's... but we scored some big culture points by going to the Louvre in the evening. It was really cool, and really huge. I don't think you could ever see it all.
We were told that the Eiffel Tower is really cool at night. It turns out, it is. It's all lit up, and the park is full of young people drinking with friends, and young couples trying to be romantic. We drank a bit, just to fit in.
Pile 'o bones
So many bones How did we start our final day in Paris? In a cemetary of course! But not an ordinary cemetary. I think you have to be rich and possibly famous to get buried here. And it's the most visited cemetary in the world. We checked out the graves of Chopin, Jim Morrision, and Oscar Wilde before heading across the river to the left bank.
We walked through the Latin quarter and saw the Panteon before hanging out in the Jardin du Luxembourg for a while. All in all a pretty relaxing day.
We also spent some time booking hostels in the south of France. Beach time!
I think I took 300 pictures in Paris. No joke. There's still a ton of things we didn't do. I don't think you'd ever get bored there. Perhaps I will purcahse a summer home there, should I strike oil in my basement suite...
That blog got a bit long. Sorry team. Ok, a bunch more blogs to come. It's catch up time.
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Bevan
non-member comment
bonheur...
I'm loving the blog. It's vivid. Almost like I'm actually there. Almost like I get to have the very special experience of a travel boner all my own. Thanks for keeping us in your travel-loop, James!