J'adore Paris!

Day 13. Sleeping at the airport wasn’t too bad. I lucked out and Dublin airport wasn’t very busy, so I pushed together some cushy chairs and made myself a nice little bed. I took care to mind my stuff and slept-ish.  I woke up every little bit or so and checked that my things were still safe, but I got more sleep than the last time I slept at an airport and I was far more comfortable too. I arrived at Paris Beauvais and then jumped on a bus heading to the city center. I was hoping to try out my French with the person I was sitting next to when I saw her text in French, but she turned out to be a very nice Irish woman. She actually had just moved to Paris pretty recently and we talked the entire way to Paris. She was so great and gave me some metro tickets, allowing me to avoid an enormous queue, and helped me find my bearings in the city. After getting in contact with Tom’s friend Emmanuel, I made my way to his apartment for my first couch surfing experience. Hooray for connections and amazing people! After showering (and putting on another set of big boy pants), and after settling in at Emmanuel’s flat for a minute, we set out to explore the city. Our first stop was going to be the Notre Dame and I was so excited!! We walked all along the river towards the massive cathedral and enjoyed the sun (seriously, who was I in my past life to be so lucky with the weather??) After pausing to admire the Notre Dame (the queue was massive and Emmanuel had to go meet up some friends in a bit), we got a ham and cheese crepe and walked to the pantheon. I went inside and said bye to Emmanuel, hoping I could find my way back to his flat later. Inside I explored the crypts of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Hugo, Voltaire, and many other influential dead guys, haha. I went back to go inside the Notre Dame and there was a sermon of sorts going on, but I still enjoyed the glorious building. Then I wound my way through the city and enjoyed the sun by reading in a park - partly because my legs were so incredibly dead and I was so tired from not getting a lot of sleep, and partly because the weather was so nice. I stopped for some ice cream and bought a sandwich for dinner and then headed home. Emmanuel and I watched a French film called “Les Chansons d’amour” (Love Songs). It was a great film and we turned on English subtitles so I could understand more than just 50% of the film. Haha, I thought I knew French…. And then I got to Paris and realized how fast they speak… and how hard it is to understand what I do know. Cool story, but I am surviving. I am so excited to see the Eiffel Tower tomorrow!!  Ahh, how will I ever sleep!

J’adore Paris! Day 14, already 2 weeks in! I woke up this morning to the best news ever! Anthony is going to join me in Europe in just 8 short weeks!!  Woohoo!!!!! I am so excited to see him and to share some of this experience with him!! The sun was shining again today and it was another beautiful day in Paris. So I decided to make my way to the Eiffel Tower. I grabbed a croissant and a un pain au chocolat croissant at a nearby bakery for breakfast and then headed out. I had to navigate the metro/trains by myself and got a little turned around, but I eventually figured it out and found myself at the base of the Eiffel Tower. It is amazing, such an incredible sight to see. I was so excited to be standing there looking up at what I have seen in so many pictures, movies, postcards, dreams, stories…you name it! I went a little picture crazy, but hey, I’m a tourist right? So I jumped in the queue and bought myself a ticket to climb to the many stairs and began my adventure to the top. The first level has an eye spy game of sorts that was fun and informational about all the monuments and important buildings in Paris, so I walked around and read about each one and found them all in the distance. The view was spectacular even from here! But I knew there was another floor up so I continued on my merry way. The second floor had another spectacular view of the city and it was so great to just take in all of Paris. I found a nice spot in the sun and enjoyed the lunch I brought (who needs to go on a date to the Eiffel Tower when you can take yourself out  =P). I decided I really wanted to be at the very top of the tower, but I didn’t want to have to go back to the bottom, rejoin the queue, buy the ticket, and then make my way back to the top - so I improvised. There were two lines to get on the lifts to the top of the tower, one was full of people and the other was completely empty…hmmmm. I wasn’t quite sure why that was the case, so I jumped in the empty one and just walked to the front of the line. So far so good. I handed the lady my ticket that was for ‘stairs only,’ and she hardly even glanced at it; she just ripped the corner and let me pass to get on the lifts (wohoo!). My heart was racing but I skipped the enormous queues, going back to the bottom, and saved some money, go me! The top of the tower, some 324m high was incredible. The view is so breathtakingly gorgeous, you can see for miles in every direction (And I most definitely waived at the top Aunt Carol). The city is just laid out in front of you like a blanket, you feel like you could be flying above it. I loved it. Such a wonderful experience, I wish I could have shared it with everyone I love (I guess that’s what pictures are for). After having my fill of being on the Tower I made my way down and decided I wanted to see the Arc de Triumph next. So I walked over to the Hotel de Invalides (which I think is a funny name when thought about literally, it’s a hotel for people who are “invalid” in the country, haha). But it was still beautiful with its golden roof and ornate walls, especially in the sun. Then I found a metro station and made my way to the Arc, another fantastic sight to see. It’s massive and there are so many cars going all around it so you have to walk underneath the streets to get to it. The architecture on the Arc was incredible, and the burning flame for the unnamed soldier is also really cool. Not much is known about why he was buried there, and yet they still honor his grave. Next I wanted to see the Louvre, but as I was going back down towards the subway I found a ticket for the Centre Pompidou. It looked like it had been stepped on about 87 times, but it was for today and therefore definitely still valid, go me again!!! So I changed my plans and went to the museum of modern art, the Centre Pompidou. This building was really cool and very much like a maze inside. I wandered its halls for several hours staring at it beautiful, or weird, or cool, or awesome, or boring, or impressive, or thought provoking, or intriguing, or neat, or tiring, or even emotional pieces (yes I experienced all of those feelings at the museum). I finished my tour of the Centre Pompidou just as the sun was coming down with the Eiffel tower off in the distance (so cool), but because I was so close to Bastille square, I wanted to see its monument in the center. So I walked to the monument even though I was so physically and mentally drained. It was also very cool with a beautiful gold angel on top and names engraved all along its side. At this point I wanted to just sit right down in the middle of the busy square and read my book or take a nap, haha, I had been walking and standing on my feet for 8 hours! So I jumped back on the metro and found my way back to Emmanuel’s flat, stopping at a local market along the way for some dinner; veggies and some delicious granola crackers with chocolat noir for dessert. P.s. I would just like to say that I not only did all of this on my own, but I also did it without a map of Paris, which is a big deal for me as I like to know where I am going and exactly how I am getting there. Go me go. Another fantastic day in Paris!