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We arrived in Paris Saturday just after one and made our way to our hotel. Poor Nate had to drag his suitcases up and down flights of stairs (are there elevators in Paris anywhere?), but he was able to manage. We stayed at L'Hotel de Notre Dame, which was right across from Notre Dame. Our room was lovely, two comfy beds and a marble bathroom. Of course the shower was French which meant no shower curtain and no place to hang the shower head, but c'est la vie.
We started off the afternoon by walking to Notre Dame, where there was a line at least an hour long. We opted to skip it since we were so close and could come back at any point throughout the weekend. We then walked to Le Louvre to check their schedule. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous...blue skies and hot...so we didn't want to waste the day inside the museum, but wanted to make sure it was open on Sundays. We then ventured a bit around the city, stopping for slushies and crepes when the mood struck. We went back to the hotel for a quick nap and to call our moms and then headed out again to find dinner. We ate at a Columbian restaurant called the Sun and the Moon (in Spanish...I don't remember the translation). Our table was literally like a picnic table and Nate and I were placed in the middle, with two pairs of girls on either side of us. It was uncomfortable, we were squished and didn't really feel like we could have a conversation because 4 people were practically sitting on our laps and could hear every word we said. Two girls that were sitting to my left came in a bit after we did and were clearly American...Loud, with upstate New York accents, and talking about the personal details of their love lives. Clearly they didn't think that anyone else in that restaurant would speak English...finally I leaned over and said 'where are you girls from?' The one girl looked a little thrown off by my mad English skills and said timidly, 'umm, well, I'm from London'. The other girl fessed up to being from New York. I looked over at Nate and I could tell it was all he could do to not laugh. This girl was so obviously not British...not a hint of a British accent, she didn't even throw in any 'bollocks' or, a 'bloody' just for effect...nope, she was 100% through and through American but did not want to admit it. It was entertaining anyway and gave something to laugh at hysterically as soon as we were away from the restaurant!
We hoped on the metro after our chili con carne and headed for the Eiffel Tower. Earlier in the day we had seen it from a distance and Nate was like 'oh, it's not even that big'. I knew how far away we were, and how big it actually is, so I was ready to see his response. Of course he realized its enormity and we began snapping pictures, as we were there just at the end of a sunset. We walked up underneath it and as we were walking away, the lights show started. There's just something magical about a sparking Eiffel Tower. From the time I was 14 I dreamed of seeing Paris and the Eiffel Tower, so I know I'm a bit biased, but it truly is magic.
The next day we both slept in. I woke up at 9:30 and played on the internet for a couple of hours while Nate slept. After 4 months with such limited internet on the ship, I was so happy to just read the news and basically do whatever I pleased! We grabbed a kebab for lunch and walked over to Notre Dame again. This time there was no line, so we filed in and found ourselves at the beginning of afternoon mass. We only stayed for a bit because we couldn't understand any of it and we had other plans for the day, but I can always say I've been to mass at Notre Dame!
After stopping for another slushie, we arrived to Le Louvre. We wandered the halls of the museum, becoming epically lost and ocassionally making fun of some of the ridiculous poses of statues and people in paintings for hours (I know they're beautiful pieces of art, but really...some of them just look silly). We (of course) saw the Mona Lisa, which was just as I expected...a small painting in a giant room with tons and tons of people around trying to snap a photo.
From the Louvre, we found an Indian restaurant for dinner...Nate and I really do love Indian food! We spent a small fortune on chicken masala, nan and rice, but it was well worth it. We called it a night early because we knew the alarms would be going off early to get Nate to CDG for his 10:40 flight.
We woke up at 6am on Monday. We were out of the hotel by 7 and to the airport by 8. We had to wait in line for about an hour and finally it was Nate's turn to check-in. We knew his bags were overweight...he was allowed 80 pounds free and had 100. The airline's website says bags up to 100 pounds would be charged $50. We get to the counter and the lady tells us it will be 80 Euros. Nate and I both put on our game faces, asked to see a manager, and offered to show them online where it should only cost $50. They looked at us like they really couldn't care less and then Nate has the brilliant idea to whip out a 50 dollar bill, show it to them, tell them he had his wallet stolen and this was the only money he had. They conversed with each other, made some phone calls and told him to go to the bank and have it changed to Euros.
We walk over to the bank which of course isn't open. I had Euros on me, so we decided to just make it seem like we had exchaged money at the bank...but who knows how to divide 50 by 1.55? I surely don't remember that kind of division...I've used a calculator every day since the 9th grade. After racking our brains, we finally got the correct conversion and went back with 32 euros in hand. Nate just handed the money to the man, with a pathetic look on his face...the man gave Nate his boarding pass and just whispered, don't worry about it.
Moral of the story is if you ever want to get your bags on an airline for free, throw them a pathetic story and pout. We justified it by reminding ourselves that Nate got 150 euros stolen from him...airlines make tons of money, they'll be fine without that 80 euro!
I got myself to the train station to head back to Limoges. I was happily gazing out of the window on train 3637, car 7, seat 22, marked to leave at 12:50 when a woman and her 5 or 6 year old daughter comes up to me. In French, she asked me what seat I was reserved for. When I replied 22, she said, shocked, 'moi aussi!' She asked to see my ticket, which I showed her and then she went rambling on in French. I must have looked lost because finally she stopped and asked me if I spoke English. In English, she then told me I was on the wrong train...the train I was on was leaving at 12:47. Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap! So now I'm freaking out...it's 12:48, approximately...I was not about to get off this train and miss my other train, especially because she told me this train was also headed to Limoges. I just decided to stay on, if it was going to the same place I would be fine. I had a rail pass, there wasn't much they could to do me. She and her daughter sat behind me and when the conductor comes on to welcome us aboard he says MY train number! THAT lady was on the wrong train, not me! She gave me a panic attack for nothing!! Whew.
So that was our weekend in Paris, in a nutshell. I spoke lots of French and was happy that I could remember so much.
Nate emailed me yesterday saying he arrived home safely. I also had a phone interview yesterday with that school in Morocco. I was conditionally accepted over the phone, and will get full acceptance once my grades come through from TSS. It's a huge relief and I'm pretty happy... I still have to come up with the money somehow, but that doesn't worry me as much as it used to. I'll find a way to fund this...I told myself if I was accepted, I was going. So I guess that means I'm off to Morocco in August!!!
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mom
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glad you stayed on the train!
I'd probably still be trying to get you out of Paris! Sounds like a good weekend for you and Nate. xo