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Published: April 23rd 2008
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it's Dec 2007, and i'm about to leave in a couple weeks from Italy. I was living in italy for like a year and half; i did the study abroad thing, tried the job search thing but it didn't pan out so well. trying to travel as much as possible during my stay in europe; usually i tried to go somewhere at least once a month. made some impressive trips so far; been to like 4 different countries in europe and all different kinds of places in italy. been dying to go to paris for AGES, and i couldn't find anyone to go with me. so i would take my first trip COMPLETELY by myself.
it was actually a tiring week for me cus i had just gone to vienna a couple days before. went to see to my austrian / german friends 1 last time before going home. i had actually been to bergamo airport like 4xs that 1 week. but i was excited to go to PARIS..!!!!
the flight from milan to paris is really brief actually; i think it was like 1 hr. the actual ride on the bus from the airport to the city was
a long one.. i think it was more than an hour b.c we were stuck in traffic. when i was in paris it rained half the time i was there which made the trip LOVELY.
the subway in paris is confusing as f***. i'm sorry, but if i ever meet the bastard who created the subway in paris, i will kill that motherf****ing ass****. it's like you get off the subway, you want to transfer, you walk down stairs, through a tunnel for 5 min, and then UP another set of stairs.. and then down another set of stairs.. i think 1 time i wanted to change subways i think i walked inside the subway tunnels for like 10 min. i thought NY was bad.
i finally get to my hotel which was a nice deal. the walk to the hotel is like a 20 min walk from the subway stop, i've been up since 3am, my flight was at 6am, and i arrive at the hotel after all that garbage maybe around 10 in the morning. they said that none of the rooms have been cleaned yet, 'can you come back at 3?'
WHAT? i haven't
slept all night!!!! so i go d**k around paris til my room is ready. they didnt have any single rooms at the moment, so i got a double for the same price. NICE... what i've yet to find out is that my room is on the 4th floor.. and the elevator's broken.. so i have to lug my luggage upstairs all by myself. uggh...
i take a silly double decker bus tour of paris, cus it's raining. and also i was too tired to figure out how to get around paris by subway, having not slept a wink... i see some cool things, the paris opera house, the eiffel tower, the notre dame cathedral, and the long avenue des champs-elysees, that leads up to the arc de triomphe.
when the tour was over i went back to my hotel to knock out for a bit. when i wake up i get a text message from my room mate katja telling me that there was a bombing in paris, and if i was ok. i was fine; supposedly like a small bomb went off in someone's office. *shrugs*
even though i'm exhausted i still get up to take
like a night tour of paris. i end up taking the subway over to monmartre, the famous old artist neighborhood, where the sacre coeur and the moulin rouge are. the sacre coeur church is actually really beautiful at night; on the tallest hill in paris.
it was a bit sad to see the moulin rouge and where it is.. the street that it's on in montmartre, is full of sex shops and strip joints. i take some pics, i hop back on the subway back to the arc di triomphe, and i take some more pics.
Dec 7th, 2nd day in paris i get up and i can't decide whether i should go to versailles, or the louvre. i'm only in paris for like 3 days and i dont have time for both. i finally decide on the louvre. when i get there the louvre is MASSIVE.. it is SEVERAL football fields long!!! imagine all the art there is to see!!! i figure there's no way i can see all of it my trip here.. i break out the map so i just see the
important the works of art.. i see the mona lisa and ALL the people clamoring to see it.. and the painting is TINY... they have a roped off section for the painting.. so no one can actually go near it.. ALL these people are snapping photos and their flash is going off.. which doesnt make sense actually.. that such a famous painting n people get to take flash photos.
i take some pics of other da vinci paintings, like virgin of the rocks, and other famous ones like the venus de milo, and the winged victory.
the pyramid by i.m. pei is really impressive.. most of the museum is actually UNDERGROUND.. and the pyramid is ABOVE the entrance to the museum.. fascinating... i take some pics of the museum at nite, and i also hop over to the eiffel tower to do the same. and i call it a day.
dec 8th, last day in paris i actually try to be ambitious and todays' the day im going to climb up the eiffel tower.. and it is a LONG walk.. i finally make it and i take pics of the paris skyline. it's also kinda murky
day and raining on & off..
i never really actually had french food til i came to france. they eat a lot of things w. french fries / mashed potatoes.. i dont speak french, maybe i should, b.c i would look at the menus and understand nothing. 1 time i ordered a fish dish and it turned out to be a smoked fish. i mean i like sushi/sashimi and all but it turns out i got a WHOLE fish nearly completely raw. and i forced myself to eat it. *yum* to stick to the safe side i mostly ate chicken all weekend. i kept asking for "un poulet avec salat"... the phrasebook helped.. hehehe
figuring i dont have much time left on my last day i head over to the sacre coeur, take some last photos and finally do a little bit of shopping. i buy some souveneirs for friends, and some light shopping on the avenue des champs-elysees. i really only have time to go to 1 store (which sucks) and i finally head back to my hotel to check out. i end up taking a cab over to the bus stop (for the bus to the
airport) b.c i didnt want to haul my luggage up & down stairs in the subway. it was a LONG weekend.. the cab was overpriced.. b.c it was raining and we were stuck in traffic... *sucks* all in all it was a nice weekend in paris.
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