We arrived here in Paris Friday afternoon via the Eurostar Chunnel from London (about 2 hours). It was a smooth ride and we met a couple from Chicago on the train who were very nice and great to talk to! The train goes under water from the UK to France but you aren’t even able to tell the difference. When we got into the train station in France it was definitely a world of difference. In London everyone spoke English or broken English, here in France every sign is in French and some speak English but not very well. It is definitely a challenge to communicate.
We finally navigated to our first hotel, La Fleche d’ Or, which was a hotel we just booked online the night before. We were not sure of the area but wanted to get something reserved and then figure out a better hotel to stay at. The La Fleche d’ Or was decent and just a place to sleep as we were out exploring Paris until late that night. We ate our first meal in France and it just so happened we sat next to a nice lady who spoke English and who’s brother lives in Seattle. She was able to help us order as our server did not speak any English. I asked for tap water (which as I mentioned before is not common in Europe) and apparently the server was upset as she wanted to sell us a 6 dollar bottle of water. I got a toasted sandwich with cheese and chicken, and Trevor got a ham and cheese with an egg on top of his. (Eggs on the top of a toasted sandwich are very popular and delicious!)
We took the Metro (subway) into the stop that we were told was the Eiffel Tower as this was the first site we figured we must see. We got off the metro and were looking around in the skyline but no tower was in sight. A local asked us “are you looking for the Eiffel Tower” (is it THAT obvious we are American tourists?) and she pointed us literally around a building right in front of us. Sure enough, there it was, right before our eyes. It was the most breath-taking and beautiful famous/historical site I have ever experienced. We were up on a hill looking down at the enormous and amazing Eiffel Tower. It was so surreal as this is something many people do not even see in their lifetime yet it was right before MY eyes. We stood on the hill along with hundreds of others, taking pictures and awwwing over the beauty.
A few things about Paris/France- it is SO big! We have walked around 2 full days and haven’t been able to see nearly close to everything. It is completely flat, at the right elevation you can see the Eiffel Tower miles away. It is still expensive but cheaper than London (we are on the Euro now). The French men (and maybe women?) smell horrible. I have had to plug my nose several times from the smell of someone who is in serious need of a shower pronto. The weather is nicer than London but it has rained both days for about 15 minutes and then it’s sunny again. Everyone seems to smoke here just like you have heard. There are indeed a lot of rude French people (Trevor got slammed through the revolving doors of a subway and I got purposely two-handed pushed by a lady getting off the subway).
We took a beautiful walk from the hill to the base of the tower where hundreds of people were. We passed by the Seine River which has tons of boats cruising up and down. There are little ice cream kiosks everywhere around the base, so I figured I was obligated to have a cone J We both had chocolate and pistachio and they were delicious! We continued our walk around Notre Dame and other historic beauties in Paris. When night fell the tower lit up in a bright blue (to represent the French President as this terms President of the European Union). Typically it is lit up with regular yellow lights. Also, every hour on the hour the entire tower sparkles and glitters like a Christmas tree but a million times more, for 10 minutes. I can stare at it the whole entire ten minutes- it’s unreal.
Today (Saturday) we checked in our new hotel that has a more central location, Hotel Bac St. Germain. Unfortunately our wireless Internet is not working so I will have to go send this out from the café downstairs in the morning. (Side note- our toilet paper is pink!!?) Today we went to Ru Cler which is an entire street filled with an open market. There was everything from bread, cheese, wine, pastries, meats, salads, and any other French food you could think of. We got ourselves an array of fresh food (bread, cheese, pasta salad, grapes, quiche, and a wonderful dessert called “divorce’” and took it to the park at the base of the Eiffel Tower for a wonderful lunch. We walked around the area of the Louvre (famous museum that the Mona Lisa is in and the movie the Da Vinci Code was filmed) and are planning on touring it tomorrow.
After some more walking (we figure we have walked at least 15 miles since I’ve been here), we ended up at a little Carnival. We went up into the Ferris Wheel (Trevor almost got sick at first) which gave an amazing view of all of Paris. We ended the day by grabbing some sandwiches (how French of us) and a bottle of wine and sitting up on the 7th floor of our hotel that has a semi-view of the tower for dinner.
We have so much more to see here in Paris. Although it is the middle of the day back home it is past 1am here and I am going to fall asleep to the French news station (no channels in English) and wake up tomorrow for another fabulous day of sight-seeing, trying to convey our questions to the French-speaking locals , and learning more and more about the city and Europe.
Au revoir!
Shawnie
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