Ok, so these are going to be REALLY long entries since they are going to cover the entirety of my weekend in Paris. Feel free to tune out or skim if you so desire but I am going to endeavor to put it down in its entirety.
A group of 12 of us woke up and gathered in the main hallway at 3:45 am. Yeah, that's right 3:45. I had about 4 hours of sleep in me, good times. We sat at the Notting Hill Gate bus stop for a good 20 minutes but the 390 bus came relatively on time and any heart attacks on our part were entirely unwarranted. We had no troubles the rest of the way. We got there in plenty of time, got our tickets from the kiosks, and got some food to hold us through. Security is much like airport security minus having to put liquids in plastic bags or have them be travel size or take off your shoes. Customs was a stamp in my passport, no problem. We sat for about 30 minutes in the waiting area before boarding through the inclined moving walkway and making our way to carriage 15. Here is where Eurostar is ingenious: there are headrests to either side of your seat so you can rest your head without hurting your neck. I passed out before we even left London and didn't wake up until we pulled in to Paris. It was a little like magic to go to sleep and then wake up in France.
We exited to the train to immediate activity. Right outside the gate there was a large crowd of people with flags, whistles, sirens, and megaphones screaming something in French. We still have no idea what they were doing, some protest or something, but it was an interesting welcome to Paris. We ran into trouble with the metro since the ticket machine only took cards with chips on them which of course none of us had. We then had to wait in an excruciatingly long line to pay with cash at the info desk. Paris metro doesn't have a three day pass or anything like London so we all bought 10 single trip tickets and figured that would hold us the weekend. It was easy to navigate the map but once we arrived at Gare du Lyon we had no idea which exit to take. We exited and proceeded to walk around for 30 minutes lost until we realized our hostel was right around the corner from the station if only we had exited the right way. Great.
We dropped our bags in luggage storage at the hostel before setting off for l'Arc du Triomphe. The Arc is really cool but it is in the middle of the world's deadliest traffic circle so I wasn't really too keen to get closer. A couple pictures and we were ready to move on. We set off down the Champs-Elysees, perhaps the most famous shopping street in the world and the most hoity-toity. We found a small sandwich shop on a side street and sat down to baguette sandwiches. I actually ordered all in French which made me quite proud of myself. It never ceases to amaze me that though a sandwich in France can be just a baguette, butter, and ham, like mine was, yet it still tastes so amazingly delicious and like nowhere else you could get the same thing.
The boys went back to the Arc to climb to to the top (it turned out to be closed due to some kind of ceremony) while us girls set off down the Champs-Elysee towards the Louvre. The Champs-Elysee has huge sidewalks under trees so it is a very leisurely and pretty walk. Eventually we hit the Place de la Concorde which was another traffic nightmare. Seriously, I would not drive in Paris for anything. There aren't even any traffic lines on the roads. I would never hack it.
The Place de la Concorde is crowned with this enormous obelisk that was a gift from the pasha of Egypt in times gone by. Looks slightly out of place in modern Paris but it was interesting to look at. The fountains on either side were also pretty cool and we got our picture taken with one.
After the Place is the Jardin de Tuileries which is so pretty. It has a large circular pond right at the entrance with chairs for people to sit and relax in. There are also a plethora of marble statues most of which have pigeons seated on them comically. Then there is a long and wide central path with squares of trees surrounding open patches of grass with artwork in them. There are benches beneath the trees and this was definitely the most romantic spot I encountered while in the City of Love. We got accosted by a schoolchild asking for directions or something in rapid French but all we could do was shrug until she went away. Molly's scared/confused face was priceless.
At last, we came to the Louvre. We entered through the infamous Pyramid to the immense lobby beneath. We discovered that European students get in free so we showed our City University London IDs and presto, no 9 euro entrance for us. It was pretty awesome. We ambled about Neo-Classicism for a bit before making our way to the Mona Lisa to meet the boys. I repeat again my assertion that the Mona Lisa is highly overrated and actually pretty boring. Apparently the guards felt the same way because flashes were going off all over the place and they did nothing about it. Mildly irritating. We then hit Winged Victory and Venus de Milo with some sculpture and antiquities in between before taking our leave of the Louvre. I haven't been able to spend enough time in the Louvre the first time or this time so someday I hope to have enough time in Paris to give over at least a half day to it. There is so much of it I have never seen or even really considered. They have the Code of Hammurabi for god's sake, the Code of Hammurabi! Ok, geek moment over.
We followed the Seine to Notre Dame taking in the lovely day and browsing the side stalls. Adrian bought an enormous Eiffel Tower and we joked he would use it to ward off any muggers that might come our way. There is also a huge nude postcard trade in Paris, all black and white and from ye olde times. Slightly weird but I suppose with the Moulin Rouge it makes sense.
Notre Dame at last loomed before us. We got in the extraordinarily long line which actually went rather quickly. The gargoyles and such were closed so we had to content ourselves with only the cathedral itself. Notre Dame is beautiful but of course so is every cathedral in Europe so I don't have much to say about it beyond that.
All our sightseeing accomplished for the day, we went back to our hostel's area to seek dinner. We finally settled on a place only to discover an incredibly complex French menu beyond my meager 4 years of high school capabilities. We asked the waitress who luckily spoke English but it still wasn't very helpful. Adrian and Lindsay ordered something the waitress said was fish and they got a big bowl of mussels. They like mussels but it was just funny to see all our faces staring at it going "WTF?" I got a croque-monsieur (toasted ham and cheese sandwich) which I knew about from a French field trip and thus enjoyed my meal immensely. Some fellow American college students who had been in Paris for a month pointed us to some good bars and we spent a few hours enjoying happy hour at first an India themed bar and then a bar we thought might be a gay bar but never really got confirmation about. The cocktails were tasty, so I didn't really care and the language barrier prevented interaction anyway. Sleepy and slightly tipsy, we made our way back to the hostel, after the obligatory crepe run.
So Hostel Blue Planet is basically what you would expect. There is a reception desk with a small lounge containing vending machines and computers you can buy online time for. You go up stairs to the rooms. Every floor has a toiler and shower right at the top of the stairs and then you go down that hallway to another perpendicular hallway with the rooms. Every room has a bunk bed and twin bed and that it is. Molly, Lindsay, and I had our own full bathroom because we had a female room (obviously) while the boys had only a sink. Sometimes vaginas are pretty convenient. We had to pay 4 euro for a sheet and a towel and we all immediately covered the entire bed, pillow and comforter, with the sheet because none of us wanted to sleep on the other stuff. We went to bed quickly after arriving but we had incredibly loud neighbors that kept slamming their door, running up and down the hallway, and talking loudly. Walls are paper thin in hostels apparently. Really though, it was about what I expected and what I paid for, a place to sleep and that is all.
Our second day will have to wait until tomorrow because I am just sick of writing. I have other things to do and sleep to have. To be continued.
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