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Off to Paris (Euro trip cont.)

06 March 2007

Europe continued...

We left Amsterdam by train to get to Paris. Everything went smoothly until we had to get off our train for some reason and switch to another. The passenger switch was a disaster. They didn't hold out flags indicating the # of each train's car and the people in the front of the train were told to sit "anywhere" while everyone in the back was told they MUST sit in their assigned car/seat.

Being the girl that I am I had a duffle bag carry-on as well as large suitcase. This wasn't an issue getting on our first train but by the time we switched there were a lot more people in the cars. We boarded....let's say on car #20 when we needed car 14. All those cars to cross with me bumping everyone as I went. On top of that, I was wearing two coats (a light jacket for travel and then my real winter coat on top) After hefting all my luggage around I was so hot and so many people were giving my dirty looks...

We get to car 14 but Jeff keeps going, at the end of another car he says....we've gone to far we have to go back. I'm almost in tears by now. We just had to get by so many people to get to the place we stopped at and it was awful (about half the passengers were doing what we were doing....walking along the cars to get to their seat from the opposite side of the train, in addition to the usual people swapping seats, loading luggage above, etc).

At this point, the train has been in motion for awhile. Most people have settled into their seats. In the meantime I've turned into a sweaty mess and I'm still lugging around the suitcase and the duffle and the purse and I just don't think I can handle having to walk back through the same car with the people giving me dirty looks again.

Sigh.

But, I know I have to if I ever actually want to sit down. We make it back to our seat and there are people sitting there. We tell them we were told to sit in our assignments (they were part of the "sit anywhere" crowd). They move, another couple moves, another....etc. I'm not sure if I'll even be able to find a place to store my suitcase at this point. Thankfully some people assist me by moving their coats out of the overhead bins and all is well.

I knew bringing a suitcase along with me was a hassle but I did it because I knew we weren't going to be doing a lot of multi-city travel, I planned on checking it at the airport and...I wanted my stuff. But, my experience on the train was a draining one, especially because I worry too much about what other people think. I also hated feeling like a dumb american girl trying to bring too much stuff with her.

And, although it was a 'bigger' suitcase it's not huge, just a bigger bag one would check. All my roommates were so impressed I was taking such a "small" bag, haha.







We knew our Paris arrival would be an "adventure." These are usually the type of things that make me frazzled and cranky but I was committed to just going with the flow. Since we were raped of $80 for our pre-scheduled taxi transfer in Amsterdam from the airport I just didn't want to pay another dollar when I *knew* that had to be a better way to get to our hotel (or at least a cheaper one).

The problem....is our hotel was apparently on such a small street it didn't make any of the maps. Even more bad news, the Paris travel book I brought didn't even have out hotel's district in it! So, after studying the map we basically jumped on a train heading in the direction of our district. It really is crazy we found our hotel at all...I mean, that's like hopping on a train and saying, "ah yes, our hotel in NYC is somewhere in Midtown...off we go, I'm sure with a bit of walking around we'll find it!"

Anyway, we get off the train and by pure luck the guy taking tickets knows the area for some reason and is able to direct us back onto the train to get off at another stop.

Another couple of subway transfers later we arrive at what we hope is the right place. Again, we ask the ticket takers and a woman who spoke broken English gave the usual, "Oh yes, just go out these doors, take a left, take a right, go down one street and an alley to your left you'll see it...."

Basically....we knew we should go left when we walked out of the subway, haha and wasn't really sure what to do next. We walked for quite a bit, sure that we had gone too far and I was at my breaking point (more dragging that damn luggage around). But, luckily, the next street was ours (we had gone too far but since it was on a diagonal it had crossed our street again). More wandering and finally we found our little hotel.

I was disappointed to learn that our front desk person barely spoke English. Usually that's the one person you can rely on to assist you. Not this time.

After getting our key I took my bags up five floors up (these bags are really heavy now!) to our little room. I knew we signed up for "budget" hotels so I wasn't expecting anything great but both our Amsterdam and Paris hotels were both pretty awful. At least in Amsterdam they were super friendly, helpful and welcoming. Here, after wandering the streets in (a bit) of despair, a deskman that spoke barely any English the tiny little suffocating room was a disappointment.

I wanted to take a shower and start exploring but Jeff hadn't slept much so he wanted to take a nap. Unfortunately, our nap turned into a "sleep" and we didn't get up until much later in the evening. We were both hungry, though, so we departed hoping we could find something to grab.

The 18th district where our hotel was located was in a Haitian ghetto (or so I believe--wasn't Haiti a French colony at one point)? Anyway, I saw a lot of signs calling itself a Haitian eatery or selling knick-knacks of some sort with Haitian signs. Most everything looked pretty run down and for some odd reason we could not find any restaurants. Not even closed restaurants...there just was nothing.

Finally, we settled on street food (well, they technically had a building window with a walk-up but I'll still call that street food)! I believe they were closing so the pickings were slim but we managed to order (with lots of pointing) chicken on a stick with fries and "Coke Light" (sound so much better than diet doesn't it?).

We took our food back to the hotel and began to plan our next day. Jeff wanted to see Versailles but we could only make the excursion if we made it through all of the usual touristy things in Paris first. I am map-backwards but thankfully Jeff was able to make out the basic route/path we would need to get on the subway into the main part of Paris and the walking direction to get to everything we wanted to do.

Being in Montemarte we could actually see the tip of Sacre-Coeur outside of our window. The next morning we got up early and left to see it. We really weren't sure where to go, other than knowing it sat a top a large hill so we pretty much just started walking blindly hoping we get to it eventually (amazing how this sometimes works)!

Once there it is pretty impressive. The church sits atop a large hill so you can see across the city. It didn't seem especially cool --I mean yes, it was a nice view and all--but perhaps because I am spoiled with a Chicago or NYC skyline this just didn't seem all that grand.

Also, Jeff was getting over a cold when we departed for Europe. I usually don't get his colds but by this morning I am feeling pretty awful. The last few days I had that "pre-cold" feeling (slightly scratchy throat, fuzzy head, etc) but I wasn't sure it was really getting sick.

But by this morning I was definitely full blown sick. I felt terrible. Tired, cranky, couldn't stop blowing my nose, awful headache and just all over bad with a horrible sore throat. So, sadly, at this point I couldn't have cared less where we were or what 'amazing' sight you were showing me.

My goal was to survive and not complain (too much). I was in Paris after all!

From there we walked to the train and got off near the Arc de Triomphe. What amazed me was not the monument but the crazy traffic that swirled around it.

The Arc is off of a major roadway with tons of shops, eateries, etc. It looked like there were five or six streets that just dumped into this pool of cars, all of which had to circle the Arc stationed in the middle of the road to swing around to exit of the street they wanted. There were no traffic lanes and just so much movement...it would be a nightmare for me since I'm such a nervous driver!

From the Arc we walked over to Eiffel Tower. I had to admit, as we approached a smile broke through my miserable sickly cloud. Hey, it's Eiffel...an American in Paris, it's a big moment. :-)

We took a bunch of pictures and debated whether we wanted to go up or not. We were both kind of "eh" --I mean, sure, I would go but I don't really feel like paying. Besides...didn't we just see Paris from the top of Montmarte (hah, I'm sure not the same experience since we were so much IN the city at Eiffel but still....). It is the middle of winter and it's overcast so it's not like we had a dazzling blue sky day to enjoy the Paris splendor.

We walked on.

Walked through the Eiffel parks, took pictures of government buildings, more pictures of random things we saw as we walked. And walked.

We were near the Rodin garden /museum and it was something I wanted to see so Jeff agreed and we headed over. I was disappointed to see them charging one fee for the garden, another for the museum and another for the special exhibit. Due to the language barrier (and the quickly moving ticket line) we ended up just buying the ticket to the garden. I'm sure it's quite pretty when there's actually stuff growing in the garden....

The sculptures were "ok" but I think the stuff I really would have liked was in the special exhibit. Oh well.

Moving on....next up was the Louvre. More walking...we're starving at this point but we're still having trouble finding any place that serves foods. Our options appear to be super nice/expensive places or none at all. More street food later....we approach the Louvre.

It's been a long day already and the fight of the cold is coming to get me. Museums are tiring. But here we were, after a day of walking about to enter a museum...a really big museum. The idea of it exhausted me.

Jeff, having studied so much art and design was really excited. I wanted to be excited too but I was worn out and my nose wouldn't stop running. Got our tickets and began the tour. My 1/2 hour trip to the bathroom (seriously, 3 stalls in a bathroom located next to the coat check--that's insane! who planned that one) did give Jeff some time to plan the route.

We weren't going to see everything (of course) but we did hit the main highlights that Jeff was interested in. Mostly we saw sculpture and the large paintings (i.e. the ones that take up a whole wall). Everything was really beautiful but I think Jeff was disappointed by my dragging feet. I wasn't verbally expressing my fatigue but I think it showed.







Well, we've come this far....

....so we decided to go to Notre Dame next. More walking, walking, and we arrived. It was going on dusk and the church looked beautiful. Inside, the stained glass windows were dazzling. I loved the entire experience and think it was one of my highlights of the trip.

After Notre Dame we settled into a restaurant nearby. We (think) we misunderstood the server who probably was recommending the crepes (but we thought he was saying they ONLY served crepes during that hour). In disappoint, settled on a bland crepe to share....only to see the table next to us order full meals. Wait a second!

From there we were going to go back to the hotel. But, since we were so close decided we should go back and see Eiffel at night. We decided to hop on a train this time to get us closer. Although we could find the train on the map it's actual location alluded us. For a long time.

After asking a bunch of people for help (no help) we finally found it (it was tucked away...we had probably even walked past it before). On the subway and off to Eiffel. Finally get there and it is really pretty. Unfortunately, I just can't seem to take a steady picture so every time I try to take a picture with Jeff in it --it's fuzzy. He is really frustrated with me and I feel awful because I get the feeling he thinks I'm just not "trying hard enough" or that I don't care that I'm taking a sloppy picture. I honestly want to take a good picture and though I've taken plenty of photography courses (hell, I was seriously looking into photo journalism as a freshman!) with it being night, I just couldn't do it without a tripod. I was finally able to take one by settling the camera on a bench to keep my hands still while it took the exposure.

Still not perfect, but better. I still feel bad about it. We stood there for so long while I snapped picture after picture...all blurry. Ugh.







Heading back to the hotel we again can't find the subway to get there. On the way we find an Italian restaurant to eat at. This place is by no means "authentic" or even nice. But a bottle of cheap wine and standard pasta dishes for each, we find our 100euro bill waiting for us. We had originally talked about going out to a fancy restaurant while in Paris to celebrate Valentine's Day (since it had occurred a couple of days before the trip). We aren't big V-day people but we do usually enjoy a nice dinner.

We laughed (and sighed) that we had just had our "big" dinner in Paris. I can't remember now if we stopped at another place or just went back to the hotel and went to sleep (it turns out the subway was just down the street from the restaurant). We were both really tired but wanted to get up early the next day.

Okay this is getting long. Will continue another day!






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