After getting to London from York, Sara and I had some time to kill. So we walked around London and maybe got lost in Chelsea, but ultimately finding our way back to the bus station in plenty of time for our bus to Paris. Megabus is a wonderful thing and for only £25 and 11 hours of our life, we arrived in Paris. I slept most of the journey, now fully amazed at my ability to sleep anywhere on public transportation. We even met some fellow Americans who were studying in Vienna and travelling for Spring break. All in all it was a fairly restful journey for me.
I thought we were going to be an hour late, and had warned our host, but it turned out my fears were unfounded. We called her, from my phone, which for the first time actually worked, and then went to meet her. The directions were fairly straight forward and in less than an hour we were at the doorstep. It was pretty amazing. The woman handed over the keys and for the first time in all our European travels we had no trouble getting where we needed to go. We spent a few moments settling in and then went to get groceries. With some of the maps the owner had provided we were able to find our way to the centre of Paris. We had planned to go to the Louvre, but a quick internet search informed us that it was closed on Tuesdays, so we settled for exploring with some direction towards Notre Dame.
The first moment we stepped out of the metro was probably the most awing moment of the trip. We stepped out to see a stone lion and a number of monuments fringed in gold near a beautiful park. While it had been foggy when we arrived, the sun had come out in waves and I was actually a little hot in my coat. We walked towards the Louvre admiring its structure from afar and then passed it along the river towards Notre Dame. On the way we found the bridge with all of the locks and made note, as Sara and I had made plans in York to put one on the bridge for our undying sisterly love. We found the island where Notre Dame was and were once again confronted with its beauty and grandeur. There is sort of a soft elegance to the rich gothic architecture of Notre Dame. Sara and I also had to hold back from breaking out into "God help the Outcasts" from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. After taking plenty of pictures, we stopped to get some souvenirs and our first crepes. They were more than delicious and after only 2 hours of walking, Sara and I agreed that we were too exhausted to see anything else. We walked our way back to the Metro, remarking a peculiar street that only had florists and pet shops, and went back to the flat. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching that most wonderful Disney movie and eating dinner.
We were clearly exhausted, as we woke up the next morning after 10 hours of sleep. We had a nice breakfast and then made plans to visit the Paris Opera, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. The Opera was very pretty and only a quick stop for pictures. We had most of the afternoon to visit the Louvre and we knew it wasn't going to be enough time. The Louvre was as magnificent as most think, though the rooms and perhaps number of art pieces as actually small considering just how big it is. We saw all the famous ones as well as their extensive statue collections from Greece and Rome. We didn't visit it all, but saw more than we expected to. Getting tired of looking at art after about 3 hours, we left for a quick bite to eat and then made our way to the lock bridge before going to the Eiffel tower. We surprisingly found a place on the bridge to put our lock, took pictures and moved on to the biggest most famous thing in Paris. It was a fairly long walk, perhaps more deceiving than one might think (asside: We can walk to the Willis tower from here! No problem). Along the way we past some more famous landmarks and buildings, each as beautiful as anything we had seen prior.
As we approached the Eiffel tower, we were surprised by how small it seemed. It wasn't actually that small, but given the feeling you get from movies and such, it seems small. There are skyscrapers much bigger. We didn't go up into the tower, we had no interest in parting with that much of our money, but we did grab some more crepes and enjoy the surrounding parks. It was Sara's goal to stay until the dark when the lights of the Eiffel tower turn on. It was beautiful but at the same time, Sara and I both agreed that we didn't feel any awe at the sight. We felt surprisingly blasé about the whole affair. We chalked it up to the fact that for the most part, we must encounter what it must be like to live in the city from a native's perspective. There is nothing mystical or awing about that. I will admit though, when the tower lit up, I may have felt a little bit of awe which I felt had been lacking. We headed back to the flat and did the ab workout routine I had neglected for two days and some archery reversals. We planned for our travels the next day and checked on things. We made an attempt to go to bed early in order to get up earlier the next day.
Unfortunately, the alarm I set was an hour off as my iphone did not change time zones for some reason. As a result, we woke up a little late, but this was not overly problematic. Our check out time is at Noon and my bus leaves at 2:45. Sara had to leave earlier around 10am, as her Megabus back to london is at 11:30. So, here I sit in the flat waiting to start my next rather long trip to Barcelona. I will hopefully arrive at 5:45am and in doing so successfully navigate to the woman that is hosting me. To be honest, I am terrified. This will be the first time I travel alone and for four days I will need to fend for myself until my flight home on Monday, which I am looking forward to with all my heart.
Paris is a beautiful city and I may come back before my time in Oxford is done. I understand why people say it is a beautiful and romantic city. It also helps that it is well accustom to dealing with tourists, the language barrier didn't come up once. Maybe one day I can recapture my sense of awe. Be warned, the next city, all the pictures must come from me, so there will likely be fewer images and slightly lower resolution. But I will try my best to present the beauty of Barcelona.
Until Next time,
Adventures Await,
KH
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