Hello, everyone! I’m so behind on all of my posting. I’ve been seeing and experiencing so much, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!
I last left you with a post about my trip to London with my mother and grandmother. As soon as they left on their flight home, I packed up my bags and hopped on a bus to head to Paris! The ride was ten hours, but it went smoothly and passed pretty quickly.
We arrived at the Paris Bercy coach station. A friend I met at Plymouth, Antoni, lives right outside of Paris in a town called Orsay, and he was kind enough to offer Cori and I free accommodation for our first night. Because we had no idea where to go, Antoni met us at Bercy and helped us buy metro tickets. He had told us before we arrived that his father had free entrance passes to a Yael Naim concert, and he asked us if we were interested in going. Yael Naim’s most popular song, New Soul, was quite famous in the States, and so I was excited at the prospect of seeing her!
Well, we were in for one crazy surprise. Antoni’s father is actually a sound engineer for many music artists (he was once the sound engineer for Prince!!), and so the concert we were attending was actually a PRIVATE concert inside an extremely beautiful- and expensive- flat in the center of Paris. When we arrived at the flat, Antoni conversed with the lady managing the guest list. Someone took our luggage and coats to a storage room, and we were ushered inside of the entryway, into a scene of complete glitz and glamour.
The flat was packed with Paris’s elite, dressed to the nines in designer fashion and conversing over free champagne and hors d’oeuvres. Here Cori and I were, two Americans in the middle of a very posh and private French party, dressed in jeans and t-shirts, our hair tangled from a 10 hour bus ride, our makeup practically melted off. We felt INSTANTLY out of place and embarrassed, because we had not received the designer-clothing memo. Antoni shuffled us through the crowd to get us free drinks and risotto, and we made our way into the living room, where a small performance area had been set up. The first performance was by Christophe Willem, who won the French version of American Idol in 2006. His voice is absolutely gorgeous, and his music was a lot of fun.
Yael Naim was next. She has a jazzy, soulful voice, and her music is influenced by multiple cultures. I was so impressed with her.
After cake and more champagne, the party ended, and we waited for Antoni’s father to pack up all of the equipment. We got to talk with Yael, and I was absolutely starstruck! I leaned over and whispered to Cori, “It is our first night in Paris, and we are at the most exclusive event in Paris.” I was so thankful to Antoni and his father for their generosity, and I will never forget the fun we had.
The next day was (unfortunately) a miserable one. On the way to the train station, I lost my debit card. I discovered this when I went to pay for my train ticket. I ran all the way back to Antoni’s house, about a mile, searching the streets in vain for the little piece of plastic. It started to pour the rain, I was soaking wet, and I almost got lost. Cori paid for my train ticket (she is seriously the coolest), and we made our way to our hostel in Paris, where we got some food in the lobby’s restaurant and I contacted my mother. She called Wells Fargo, but they were unable to ship me a new card without me calling directly. The hostel’s receptionists were SO FRIENDLY and let me use the front desk phone for 45 minutes while I stressed out on hold with my bank. I transferred money from my account to Cori’s account, so that she could take it out at the ATM and I would have cash for our visit.
The hostel we stayed in was my favorite, by far. It was called St. Christopher’s Inn, and it was fresh, clean, decorative, and bustling with activity. The receptionists sold tickets for Paris attractions, so we were able to consult them for directions and advice, ask for recommendations, and buy tickets for various sites to skip the long lines.
While in Paris, we visited many interesting places. Since my trip was a while ago and I have done some extensive traveling since then, it’s hard for me to remember everything we did on a day-by-day basis, but I’ll try my best.
We started off the next day on a fresh page, beginning with a visit to the Sacre-Cœur (Sacred Heart) Basilica in the district of Montmartre. It was an absolutely stunning church with intricately painted ceilings.
The view from the outside of the church was a beautiful panorama of France.
On our way down, we fell into a very violating tourist trap; two African men stopped us, forcefully grabbed our wrists and slipped on string bracelets, and demanded money for them. It was not a fun experience, and it still makes my blood boil and my stomach hurt thinking about it. To recover, we stopped at a restaurant for a quattro-formaggi (four-cheese) pizza.
Our next adventure was a trip to the Paris Catacombs. This ended up being one of my favorite attractions in all of my study-abroad experience. We got to skip the line with our tickets, and we entered the amazing maze of underground tunnels located deep beneath the Paris streets. The walls of the catacombs were just piles of bones and skulls, something I did not expect. There were no fences or boundaries up, so you were literally walking amongst thousands and thousands of skeletons. I was in complete awe. Even though it was prohibited, I found it impossible to keep from touching a few skulls (part of me was really compelled to steal a tooth as a souvenir, because in all actuality, HOW COOL would that be to show your grandkids one day?, but my morality kept me in check).
After the Catacombs, we made our way to the famous and posh avenue, Champs-Élysées, lined with designer stores. We stopped at the Arc de Triomphe for a photo op before buying some of the famous macarons at Ladurée and heading back to the hostel for a quick rest.
Dinner that night was at a traditional French restaurant in Montmartre. I indulged in some kind of seafood pasta, which was filled with mussels. We were seated next to a woman traveling alone from America, and we thoroughly enjoyed spending a few hours in deep conversation with her.
The next morning, we braved the hour-long line in the cold at the Louvre Museum.
After finally gaining entrance, we saw the Mona Lisa, some of Michelangelo’s sculptures, and a variety of other beautiful art pieces. The Louvre is so busy, crowded, and MASSIVE, however, so we didn’t stay for long.
All dat ass
We grabbed lunch at Chartier, a famous French restaurant recommended to us by the hostel. There was a hefty line outside, but it moved quickly. The menu was completely in French, so I picked a dish that I assumed contained chicken. It ended up being roasted chicken and french fries. It was delicious.
Soon after, we headed to the Eiffel Tower to take lots of pictures. The Eiffel Tower is something I assumed would be a bit overrated, but it isn’t. Believe me. It’s so much bigger than I thought it would be, and it’s constructed in such ornate and romantic detail.
The area around the Tower is full of gorgeous gardens. No wonder so many people propose there.
Afterward, we indulged in my new favorite dessert of all time… a French Nutella crepe.
We weren’t hungry for dinner after our late lunch and and crepe, so we headed back to the hostel and took a little nap. Later, we went down to the lobby’s restaurant, split a delicious wrap, and shared a bottle of wine. We wanted to enjoy ourselves, because the next day consisted of a 20-hour bus ride back to Plymouth.
I hope you just cringed when you read that.
20 hours.
I’m not typing that wrong.
Because this is my blog and I am in charge of it and can write whatever I want, I’m going to be honest with you. Paris did not impress me quite as much as I expected it to. This makes me a little sad. However, I think a few outside factors contributed to this feeling- the loss of my debit card, the stress of trying to order a new one, the weather (it was cold and rainy for the majority of the time), and the constant tourist traps and swindlers at every main attraction. On top of that, Paris was the first place I visited where language and culture was really a strong barrier. Many of the French people we encountered were difficult to approach, and it made things complicated when we were confused or lost. Despite these few stumbling blocks, however, our trip to Paris did result in some incredible memories. The French are experts at bread, and from this trip forward, I will always crave a fresh French croissant and a baguette. They were cheap, they were delicious, and they were everywhere. I found it impossible to refrain from constantly buying them. 🙂
I hope everyone reading this is having a wonderful day, and I just wanted to give a quick shoutout and tell you how thankful I am that you care enough about me and my experiences to read my ramblings about them. xx
stories from my suitcase 
great writing!!! I was impressed
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