Paris Hotels
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Paris--The Sights and Smells
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Paris,
Īle-de-France, France
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Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008 15:25
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Entry 5 of 17 | show all | print this entry |
Well...internet access in Paris is not quite so easy as in London, and neither is this keyboard! The French have like 87 different letters with various dashes on them.
Ok? So London was a lot of fun. Our last real night there we went to Camden because I heard it was very 'bohemian'. Well it was very bohemian, and we were not cool enough to be there b/c we didnt have dreads, skinny jeans, or a vintage band t-shirt. We stuck out like sore thumbs; we were the only tourists there. So after going into the only bar without ridiculous cover, 'Bar Uno," which turned out to be a latin themed club, we decided to call it a night and head back to the tube. Oh, the tube closes at midnight. Its 12:30 and in a strange new part of London. After 15 minutes of constucting a suitable bus route to take us home, we hop on that famous double-decker bus. It shuts down after one stop, everyone gets up without word and leaves. Apparently, this means the bus is done for the night. Starting to get a little panicky, we ask the driver how to get to Hammersmith. He says he'll take us to the stop that will take us there. So just us two and the driver are cruising along, and he picks up 3453 more people, including some chick singing the same line of a song; holding a stuffed rabbit that had 'blood' all over it. An hour later we get off at the alleged stop of our dreams and are told to take the 11 bus. We say thanks and get off, go to look at the bus routes and see that 11 goes nowhere near where we need to go. After asking some band dudes, we find a bus that DOES go to Hammersmith, and is even still running! At 1:30 we find the bus and get to hear three Welsh guys make asses of themselves in front of the entire top deck of the bus. They were amazingly obnoxious. Then some Scottish girl told them to quit using naughty words, and they got even worse. So at 2:45am, we made it back to the hostel. Quite a night.
The next night we woke at 2am to catch a flight to Paris. That was an ordeal as well, but I don,t have time to explain it. Main thing is, we made it to Paris and we're still alive!
I thought London was cool and had pretty architecture, but Paris is even better! Without fsounding too cheesy, I will just say that it is a beautiful city. It's just like the movies portray it to look like. Right now all the flowers are in bloom and it just makes it look that much prettier. It has been raining the whole time we've been here, but we were still able to see the big attractions.
Such a gorgeous city does have its drawbacks: it smells. Bad. The Metro varies from smelling like concentrated cat pee, to popcorn, to horse manure, to vomit, and one stop even smelled like a fresh-baked cookie.
Our hotel is awesome. It is just like you'd imagine a little French hotel to be. They serve us croissants and baguettes with coffee and OJ in the morning, it is 3 people to a room, and our roommate is Australian, and just like 99% of all Australlians, she is extremely nice and helpful.
Today we were going to go to Versailles, but the day was just not destined to be good. It started off with someone stealing my precious dryer sheets that I JUST BOUGHT for 3.50 euro! Who steals dryer sheets? Then we went to the supermarket to get food to picnic at the Versailles parks. The clerk was being a huge bitch and yelled at me when I tried to pay the price per...uh kilogram or whatever they use here, instead of the price.
So we went to make a withdrawel at the nearest ATM and it eats my card. I just about lost it. The people inside the bank were waving us away because it was almost lunch, and they're French. So I get the number to call for assistance, find a phone place, make the call, and it's (obviously) all in French and it's putting me on hold anyway...maybe all the operators are on lunch as well. Turns out that the assistance line is NOT free, so my pointless call costs like 5 bucks. I cry a little and eat my sandwich, then we go back to the bank when they're done feasting. Bonjour...Englais? That's how every conversation starts for us. They manage to get my card back, and I am sososo happy for that. I love how when you ask these people if they speak English, they always shrug and say 'little' but still every time we manage to have a full conversation. I have a lot of respect for those that are multilingual, because I most certainly am not. Cuz I'm AMERICAN!
Off to Barcelona tomorrow.
Latest Comments (1)
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Keep in touch! (reply)
Apr 30, 2008 19:32 EST by nancymk
I hope to hear from you more often -- and always give me a head's up on where you will be staying in the next stop or two. I don't like wondering if you made it to the next location - a quick phone call, even to leave a message like 'arrived safely, no time for a long conversation' would be welcome. Are you getting your email from this travel blog?
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