Jill Conrad and I flew into Paris this past Friday and stayed for the weekend until this Monday morning.. I have found my favorite city. That first day we went to our hostel, St. Christopher's which was cute, very nice, and how Jill put it "trying way too hard to be hip" but I liked it. We dropped off our stuff, and went out to dinner with my friend John who I know from Colorado and also happened to be there this weekend. Dinner was phenomenal. We had DELICIOUS french onion soup-they coated it in breading and cheese, duck (French delicacy, had to at least try the thing that looked like tuna?), and other French dishes. Definately ate too much so decided to walk it off climbing up the hill to Sacre-Coeur Basilica and wander the streets a little bit in Montemarte district. It started snowing. Sounds adorable but it was unbelievably freezing. And so, the solution to the situation of get warm quick: we stopped to split a bottle of wine that we would take turns drinking after sprinting up each flight of steps (like eight hundred--maybe exaggeration?). Didn't work but was worth a shot. The Sacre-Coeur was fantastic. White, huge, with large cupulas, and overlooks all of the city of Paris at night. Lights lit up, snow falling. I cannot even begin to set the gorgeous scene. The night ended with meeting two of John's girlfriends he was staying with and John's hotel desk worker, Lester from Sri Lanka, who bought me hotel peanuts while I typed to him in an English-French translator on the hotel computer. He taught me a few necessary phrases that I instantly forgot becuase I cannot produce the French "phlem" sound necessary to speak the language. It was late, the metro was closed, and an apparently "famous" wrestler who is going to train in America this coming summer helped us home telling us the bus stops and riding them with us. I didn't let him walk us back to our hostel. HELLOOOO. I've seen "Taken." My dad just doesn't have those skills, however raging of a Berthoud drug dealer he is.
We woke up and went on a 4 hour walking tour that our hostel put on. We started off with minature coffees (one inch large, how do the French get things done??) and journeyed through the city while our PHENOMENAL tour guide cracked hilarious jokes that only I laughed at, pranced instead of walked, and told us the stories that no one could ever know via wikipedia, touring the streets, or even by most history books. We saw a police station with bullet holes from WWII, one of the only scars Paris has from that war. We saw Napolean's "N" ALL OVER the city built into various places. The outside of the Louvre and the gardens behind it, the square where the guillotine killed thousands upon thousands of people, Pont Nuef (ironically named "New Bridge" when really it is the oldest bridge in Paris)-a bridge that has wierd faces on it that were designed after actual people (who were incredibly drunk) that were at one of King Henry IV's parties. Jacques de Molay from the Knights Templar was burned at the stake in 1314 near this bridge. While being burned he cursed the King and the Pope to die in a year becuase they would not let him face Notre Dame while he was dying. Both died within a year in really bizarre ways. One of my favorite things from the tour was Le Pont des Arts also known as the Passerelle des Arts. It is a bridge from 1803 that contains hundreds of padlocks with couples' names written on them. Couples from all over the world write their name on a lock, attach it to the bridge, and throw the key into the Seine River securing their love for eternity. ROMANTIC!!! The bridge is right by the beautiful building that keeps English out of France. Literally there is a highly-selective committee of forty people to protect the French language and keep English words like computer and weekend out of the French language. They publish a new dictionary every year to secure these words. And they think Americans are pompous. We ended the tour in front of the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais which were sights that were almost blown up if Hitler had gotten his wish to destroy Paris (if he couldn't have it no one could). Jill and I then strolled Champs Elysees where the Tour de France always ends. The streets were lined with Christmas lights and decorations. We saw the grand store of Louis Viutton with a line coming out the door. Jill and I decided while walking Champs Elysees that we would be THE BEST rich people, or at least the best dressed. We made it to the Arc de Triomph at the end of the busy street. The circle surrounding the Arc de Triomph is not covered by car or life insurance by law. If you die or crash, your out of luck. There's a tomb of an unknown soldier from WWI is under the arch with an eternal flame always burning since 1920. Bryan our guide said it has only been extinguished when a drunk Mexican tourist peed on it, which got him kicked out of his country and Europe forever among other things. An Australian couple also attempted to have a picnic under the Arc and roast hot dogs over the flame. Romantic. They're banished from Europe forever as well. There was a Christmas market going on by the Champs-Elysees so we strolled through that while eating a delish crepe. We made it back to the Notre Dame cathedral to tour the inside. There was a Christmas tree lit up out front. By the time we got out it was so cold we couldn't breath and so we strolled in and out of touristy shops trying to keep warm. We had a delicious dinner of pizza (an Italian queen (Catherine maybe?) brought in her Italian friends of chefs, etc, to keep her company so pizza shops today almost outnumber French restaurants) and pink wine and overlooked a mini Arc de Triomph. We then went on to Latin Quarter to see the night life of Paris. It was a busy street of bars, nothing close to Madrid, and we were rejected from one after the bouncer was like, "Do you speak French?" and we said no. He legit turned his back to us and let everyone in before us. We stopped in one bar and two drinks cost 27 euros so we decided that was enough fun for one night.
The next morning was Versailles. We took a train to the quaint town and toured the magnificent palace and Marie Antoinette's palace seperate from the Versaille Palace with beautiful gardens, fountains, and now a delicious french restaurant with more excellent onion soup and red wine (I don't even like red wine...when in Paris its fantastic?) I asked a French gal standing in line to get tickets why French people hate Americans. Apparently we are loud and obnoxious, pompous and think we are superior, don't try to attempt to learn their language, and then she pointed to my starbucks cup and she said we are unwilling to learn the culture. I said their coffee is too small. She said she despises that everything is bigger and fatter in America. Fail. (note: I had a double cheeseburger today for lunch.) After drooling on myself on the way back to Paris from Versaille Jill and I went on a fantastic night boat tour on the Seine River while drinking wine (trend?) and eating fresh crepes. BEAUTIFUL city at night. We saw the light show of the Eiffel Tower and I felt like I had seen a fourth of July fireworks display. Magnificent. We attempted to go inside the closed Louvre.. fail. Sorry Mona Lisa. And ended our night watching naked women in FANTASTIC hats at the Moulin Rouge show. Literally only wore diamonds, great shoes, and feather hats. The show was unbelieveable. There were jugglers, the beautiful naked dancers, a couple that did an act of balance (legit were straight up and down only touching heads and balancing), and a newly wed couple next to us where the man looked very pleased and the wife looked very uncomfortable. I felt so awkward for everyone with their boyfriends and grateful that Jill was my date. Took a snowy cab home and woke up to a very sick Jill in the morning. I packed all of her stuff, carried her suitcase and mine while navigating us to the airport (felt like wonder woman), and finally got us on the shoulder to shoulder suitcase to suitcase very cramped train to take us to the airport. Jill was throwing up while I was doing her hair and trying to get everything together. We were two stops away before she said, "There cannot be anything worse" before my ears became very hot, my vision and hearing began to fade, and I began pouring sweat. I knew I was fainting. I began tearing off my scarf and jacket but it was too late and I fell onto people and blacked out. My clothes were soaked with sweat when I came to after a few seconds, and we were almost to the airport. I was so busy trying to make sure Jill was ok that I neglected my overheated body. Excuse my French but that was one hell of a train ride, and the poor people around us are probably getting checked for malaria or something now after that fiasco. I navigated us through the airport, got Jill to her gate, fell asleep on my hour delayed plane, and made it home in time for dance class. Jill made it home safely to Utah.
Paris is beautiful. People aren't as nice as Madrid, but I really think it is my favorite city I've seen. So romantic. Beautiful. So much interesting history. Arriving home in Madrid is fantastic though, good to be back after such an adventure, and like I said, Madrid is home.
22 more days of traveling the world...
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