The Rest of Paris

So the next morning, we woke up and took the RER (suburb trian/bus) into Paris and figured out the Metro. It was confusing for about 15 minutes and then made perfect sense. The Metro is SO GREAT! Between that and buses, you can really get anywhere in Paris. I really wish car dealerships hadn't bought out so much public transportation back in the day in the US. Pretty much all public transportation in Europe rocks.

So eventually we found a stop close to Louvre. It was SO COOL to be at the Louvre! We spent a few hours there. It felt like we were there forever, but I know we only barely scratched the surface of everything it had to offer. I really just wanted to see the Mona Lisa, and other than that, I was happy to see whatever else Erin wanted to. I know very little about art, so it was fun having Erin there to tell me which paintings were famous and whatnot. And eventually, I did see the Mona Lisa! So awesome! It was actually bigger than I expected. Everybody says it's tiny, but it's not. I mean, it's not gigantic, but well anyway, it was great. So we saw a whole bunch of Italian art, and then we looked at some ancient Egyptian and Middle Eastern stuff and also Napoleon III's apartments. Lots of gold. Very interesting. Honestly I was just excited to be in the Louvre!

So besides the glass pyramid and the inverted pyramid, there is a huge freaking underground mall beneath the Louvre! Who knew? Anyway, one of the first things we saw on our way out was l'Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Kind of like a mini Arc de Triomphe. There is a ferris wheel close by, thus the name.

We walked through Jardins des Tuileries to Place de la Concorde/Obelisque, where apparently Louis XIV, Marie Antionette, and a few other famous people were beheaded. Then on down to Champs-Elysees, all the while getting closer to l'Arc de Troimphe. It was SO cool to walk in such a famous place that I had heard so much about! Finally when we got to l'Arc de Triomphe (SO big!), we spend probably a half hour or 45 minutes trying to figure out how to actually get to it. This is probably the biggest roundabout in Paris, with about 3 lanes. Crazy. Eventually, we saw signs for an underground entrance. On our first try, we didn't find it, but we did find an underground bowling alley. Random. Finally, we made it, and after waiting in a really long line to buy a ticket to the top, we got in for free with our student ID! Thank you Institut de Touraine! So there's a whole museum in that thing. Way cool. There are some really cool effects with looking at the street view and whatnot. I bought some sweet souvenirs, and we got some awesome views form Paris up there. Also, we could see the perfect reflection of l'Arche de la Defense (which is a big government office building). It's supposed to be a modern day reflection of l'Arc de Triomphe.

If this all sounds like complete gibberish to you, or you would like a more tangible way to follow that last paragraph, it might help to google image or wikipedia "L'axe historique." It will make much more sense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_historique

Anyway, then we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. THE EIFFEL TOWER! I know, I know, I'm such a tourist. Anyway, we got there and my goodness is that thing big. I mean, I knew it was tall, but I guess I just didn't realize how incredibly big and wide and gigantic the foundations would be. We opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator because we felt like that's part of the experience of La Tour Eiffel (plus it was way cheaper).

I have to admit that even though I'm not really afraid of heights, being up THAT high was pretty dizzying. The people became smaller until they were just little tiny specks on the ground. At the deuxieme etage (or i guess third level, if your counting the ground), we had to purchase another ticket for the elevator to the tippy top. Kinda not fair, but at the same time, we figured we couldn't really complain, considering we were in the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We finally made it to the top and it was SO COOL! Like I can't even explain the feeling. I feel like that is an experience that every person should be able to have in their lives. But it gets better.

First off, the inside part is a circle. All over the place, it has signs pointing to major cities in the world (pretty much ever major city), and how many miles in that direction it is. I took a picture next to L.A. I think, and Bern (Switzerland) for Idris :)

Then outside, we could see Paris. We were literally on top of the (manmade) world. It was amazing. We could see Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, L'axe historique, all of it. And the best part was that the sun was setting. Me and Erin seriously had the best spots on the entire tower to watch the sunset. Also, in a park really far below us, they had the US game (the last world cup game they won before getting eliminated), playing on a huge projector, so let me just say this:

Watching the sunset over l'Arche de la Defense in Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower in the best spot possible while hearing a crowd chanting USA from below is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

That would be a perfect way to end the day, but it wasn't quite over yet. By the time we got back down, it was dark, and we had just enough time to take some pictures, walk to a grassy spot, and relax before 11. And for those who don't know, every night, the Eiffel Tower is lit, but between 11:00 and 11:05, it sparkles. Ah-mazing! And THAT was a perfect end to a perfect day.

The only sad part about the weekend was that I had to say goodbye to Erin the next morning :( Hopefully we will meet again. And if I'm ever in Virginia or she's ever in Utah, we'll for sure meet up and hang out.

Antonio found me on Facebook, and laid in on real thick (as thick as you can flirt via facebook in a non-native tongue:) and I told him that if he's ever in Salt Lake, he's welcome to stay with us, to which Lauren wholeheartedly agreed, as long as he would speak Italian around her :)

And that, my friends, was my stay in Paris.

A WAY Overdue Paris Review

Ok so I have been busy like crazy, and terrible about keeping up with this. I'll try to cover all my bases.

So the first day Erin and I arrived in Paris we spent about 10 minutes staring at a map just trying to find the street our hotel was on. Their website said it was only 10 minutes from the Louvre and all that good stuff. What the website neglected to say was that those 10 minutes were by Metro. We walked (Erin with her super heavy suitcase, and me with my light one and her other one) for TWO HOURS! It was hot too. But finally we found it and the hotel turned out to be really nice and we got a really good deal on the website where we booked it (about 70% off!). Turns out that this area is kind of like the Chinatown of Paris, except no China. There are a whole bunch of immigrants there. The district is called something like "Ivry Sur Seine" and it wasn't originally part of Paris's city limits. It was annexed in later.

Anyway, we couldn't really find a lot of restaurants close by and didn't feel like trying to go on another adventure, so we just ate at the restaurant at the hotel. Our waiter only spoke French with us, but we couldn't quite figure out his accent. Luckily he spoke French slowly enough that we could understand him for the most part. Dinner was expensive, but good, and I had an amazing glass of white wine.

Afterwards, we chatted more with our waiter, who's name turned out to be Antonio. He told us that he was Italian and didn't speak any English. He also said that everyone that worked at that hotel was Italian. Then he told us there was a party across the street with music and dancing and asked us if we wanted to go. We looked at each other and had NO IDEA. So we told him we'd go upstairs and talk about it and come back down in 10 minutes. We asked him how much longer he worked and he said he was just getting off.

25 minutes later, armed with Erin's knife (this was a knife made for killing, not slicing bread, that her husband gave her before leaving for self-defense), we re-emerged downstairs. At this point it was almost midnight and we were a little tired, but we'd had a nice 2-3 hr nap on the train ride there. After a while, Antonio apologized to us and said that he had to take a shower and asked us if we wanted a drink from the hotel bar while we were waiting. We said sure and asked which drink was his favorite. He said Americano. I asked if it was coffee, and he said no. I asked what was in it and I can't remember what he said. So we said sure, we'll try it.

It was like the strongest drink I'd ever tried. I haven't had a whole lot of mixed drinks, but the best comparison I can make is a Long Island Iced Tea. I had already had some wine with dinner and about halfway through this drink the room was almost spinning, so I decided to be done for the time being. Erin managed to drink a little more.

He came back down and we chatted for awhile and then his friend, Mario (of course), who only spoke Italian, showed up. We finally started are trek and surprisingly, it was pretty much across the street. There were these big mob-boss looking men who were basically the bouncers at the entrance. We got there and they said something about it being a closed party or something, but then Antonio said something to him and he let us in. (sketch?) Then he asked Erin if she was ok and why she was acting weird. I later learned that she was trying to discreetly maneuver the knife out of her purse and into her pocket for easy access.

Oh I forgot to mention that we had already told him that I had a boyfriend and she was married. He couldn't believe it and was a little (and by a little I mean very) disappointed. He asked me if her ring was fake. I told him no.

Anyway, after getting past the mob-bosses, we walked past a huge huka bar tent and onto this boat, that just happened to be a bar/club. Coolest thing ever! We went down the stairs and it didn't even resemble a boat. He asked us if we wanted anything to drink and we said no and he was way surprised (apparently all Americans love getting drunk in Paris). So we made our way over to the dance floor. He talked to the DJ right before we started dancing and I think he told him that we were American because the next like 4 songs were really famous American ones, which was fun. But I swear, I've heard more American music in France than America. Anyway, we danced for awhile and it was really really fun. There was one song that was kinda weird, and Antonio told me it was supposed to be for African dance. I told him I took an African dance class and he was like, no way! Show me! So I did a little and he thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

Eventually, me and Erin said we needed to get to bed, and as we were heading out, he offered to buy us more drinks, but we politely declined. We chatted a little longer at the hotel before each going our separate ways.

So I know that the night could have been really dangerous and gone totally wrong, but it didn't. I trusted my intuition (and one of the other hotel employees) that told me Antonio was a good guy. Thus, we partied in a club on a boat with Italians. Yep. Ah-mazing.