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Well, my arrival in Paris was much appreciated after being in a sleeping car for about 13 hours from Madrid. What to do with 24 hours in Paris?? I never really wanted to come to Paris, but had to catch my flight home from here so i decided to get there a day early to explore. Not needing a room for just a day, i checked my luggage at the train station lockers (which cost just as much as my hostel room in Budapest by the way....f*cking French). First thing's first- i was off to see the Eiffel Tower! I chose to walk up the stairs- you're only young once right? I got up to the platform (which had an amazing view of Paris) only to find out that you still have to pay more to ride the elevator to the very top of the tower... I know this is an extremely touristy thing to do, but the views at the top of the Eiffel Tower were amazing and it was probably the coolest view from up high i would see in all of my European adventure. You can see everything you'd want to do in Paris from up here and
gives a great orientation on where everything's located.
After this, i hiked to see the French Statue of Liberty. This was kind of cool to see, but not nearly as big as the one they gave us. I continued to hike along the river, eating lunch at a cafe, and soon arriving at the Louvre. I've always dreamed of seeing the Louvre- i just had no idea how big it was! With my camera battery dead and me not having any more picture taking ability of the sights i would see, i decided to venture into the Louvre. Now, i would end up spending over 7 hours inside the Louvre. My main focus was to see paintings, as that's my favorite kind of art. In the 7 hours i spent inside, i didn't even get through all of the paintings the Louvre has on display. I did see the Mona Lisa (which isn't really all that overwhelming) and i learned of the tatoo i would get if i were to ever get one- Raphael's depiction of St. Michael overwhelming a demon. I also came to appreciate an artist i didn't know much about beforehand, Jacque-Louis David. His works all
had a hint of homo-eroticism to them. Also, i got to view Caliari's Fresco that was missing from Doge's palace (from the first sight i saw and now the Louvre- my last...hmmm). The paintings that actually took my breath away to see in person were Panini's tributes to ancient rome and modern rome. These were truly magnificent works...And of course- all the Monets, Da Vincis, and any other famous historical artist has something on display at the Louvre.
I left the Louvre really hungry. I ventured over to the gay district to sit down to a nice meal (my last in Europe). I had some veal with Kroenenburg (french beer) and got to see some Capoeira (brazilian fight dancing) going on outside. After dinner i ventured over to the gay district, where i actually met some cool Americans (one from San Diego, one from Chicago, and one from Hawaii). They were all friends from the military. We ended up barhopping around all night. When the scene closed down, they let me crash at the apartment they'd rented until i had to leave for my flight.
The next morning i got an early start because there was no way
i was going to miss this flight. I took a cab to the train station to pick up my bags, grabbed a quick quiche for breakfast and got onto the metro platform to get to the airport....This is when tragedy struck. The metro line i was on in order to transfer to the train that goes to the airport got delayed. I don't know if someone committed suicide, or what, but the train was stuck between stops for over an hour underground(F*cking FRENCH!!). i was so annoyed!!! I ended up arriving at the airport luggage check-in 10 minutes too late to check in for my flight home...arrghhh!!! Needless to say, i threw a fit!!! (My sister Mo said, "so what was this, Euro-Freakout number 4 or 5 for you?") Anyways, i got re-routed to a direct flight to LA 3 hours later, with a 2 hour layover, and i would get into SF 7 hours later than scheduled...all for $100 extra. THis turned out to be a good deal, as i received an emergency exit row seat with all the leg room i'd want. Besides the crazy French B*tch behind me that annoyed everyone in my row by bumping our
seats the whole damn flight, it was a fantastic ride home ( i got to enjoy the flight attendant arguing with her and telling her off in French later on- then, she turned and apologized to me for her rude behavior).....just like that, i'm back in the states! feels good to be home...
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Meghan
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Wow what a trip! I followed the whole thing and found it very entertaining- thanks for sharing!