Pondering Paris

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We left Paris yesterday with mixed feelings. Overall, Paris seemed to be a city of contradictions; it was a beautiful city full of amazing architectural feats and extravagant gardens, yet it seemed dirty and foul smelling. Paris was huge and full of people, swarming in your face, yet we left feeling lonely and somewhat frightened by Paris.

Our first day in Paris, we arrived early and got our tram tickets and found our hotel. To our surprise, our hotel was very nice and in an ok location. Culture shock hit us hard here and the language barrier wasn't completely isolating, but we felt separated, especially because we stayed in a hotel and not a hostel. Interacting with only each other and the odd American didn't quite cut it.

We pushed it, hitting several sights for three days. In total, we saw the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Cathedral of Notre Dame, Museum of Invalides, the Arc, the Catacombs, and Moulin Rouge. Our favorite had to be the catacombs, which were a creepily unreal experience. Several feet underground, surrounded by the skulls and bones of thousands of real human bodies was spooky, but soooo fun.

For those of you that knew our schedule, might be wondering why we left Paris after three days when we had planned to stay for five. Although we can see the beauty in Paris, it is not exactly a backpacker's dream (with a tight budget) and a couple of experiences unfortunately put a bad taste in our mouths. For starters, after the first night our hotel raised the price 20 Euros when we were already pushing our budget. We stayed one more night and then booked a night in a different hotel. On the third day, when we found our new hotel, we were really excited - it was beautiful. However, we booked online and they were overbooked, even though I had already paid for the night. The front desk agent said no big deal, and sent us for a night in the sister hotel, closer to the center of Paris. We thought, ya this will be even better and set off to find it. After a good hour looking, we found it. Squeezed around a corner of a common prostitute alley, we cringed to walk past the prostitutes who disliked our presence, and we are sure they were cat-calling us in French (ps: 1pm on a Sunday afternoon). Once inside, the front desk agent watched us in a way that made us feel like we would be the next girls to be sold to the prostitute ring, re-enacting a scene from the movie "Taken". Up the stairs, we looked at each other and both said "no". As a result, we caught a night-train to Munich that night rather than staying in Paris another night. Munich however, seems to be more promising..... so far.

Final Thoughts About Paris:
- do not be afraid of PDA, you can't go anywhere without seeing people groping each other.
- always fill your water bottle and go to the bathroom when it is free, or this can really add up in Euros.
- eat your full meal at a restaurant, we learned you can't "get it to go".
- book accomodations ahead of time or be prepared to pay!

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Comments

[Mom]

Sandles
To bad Paris wasn't enjoyable, but I'm sure the rest of the trip will be wonderful.....I see you are wearing my Sandles...lol