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Paris - Day 1 in Europe!
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June 17, 2008 Day 1 in Europe! *WARNING: I talked about little details too much in this entry, and will refine my blogging process as time goes on! I
promise!!!* Please don't tune out becaue the first few entries are subpar and lengthy!
Also note the funky formatting in use here. I think my time is better spent just pouring words onto the computer screen recounting the epic tales of European voyage. Just think of it as poetic- stanzas that terminate chaotically mid sentence. "Organized chaos"
Arrived in Paris, the city of L'Amour Toujours which we later discover is true with every second pair making out passionately in any restaurant, under the
eiffel tower, the subway, EVERYWHERE!!! So we the flight was pretty smooth! The inflight entertainment was awesome! They had those big touchscreens that had
like 20 different movies, 1000s of songs it seemed, tv shows, everything!!! I think I tried watching Vantage Point but since my headphone jack was busted and
because I was too tired and started falling asleep I got less than 20 mins in and went to sleep. I think I was asleep both for the takeoff and landing which
I never do! Upon landing we took a few pics to commemorate the first ones in a new continent! The airport had this weird cylinder building you had to walk up
from the landing gates and then the actual baggage pickup area of the terminal looked really old and rundown. It was really cool to hear everyone talking
French and to see all the French advertisements including this one that we saw everywhere that had half a business person and half that person being dressed
as a rockstar. And then this other one with two dudes in 80s style basketball clothing. Haha, I do remember weird things as I asked Liz and Ania if they
remembered seeing this (writing this on June 23). So we waited for our bags (which didnt go to oversized like in wpg after asking in English - later I would
struggle but speak only french at any and every opportunity) and apparently we weren't the only smart backpackers to put backpacks into rugged air canada
plastic bags, and I was standing over the ledge where the baggage first came out and anytime I saw plastic I was overjoyed but then only to have my hopes of
safe baggage destroyed as each one that passed by did not belong to us. Soon enough our bags came through and we loaded them up onto to carts and were off.
The ladies needed to use the washroom and the lineup was huge so we asked the security guards if there was another one beyond the luggage collection area.
Salle de Bains is a French Canadian term I think because now in hindsight I would always use it to ask and I got the Quoi? (WHAT?) blank stare from every
French person, The signs called say Toillette (pronounced TWA-LET). The french would continue to get better and better as it was used more and more, so I
wasn't shy like I would be - say in Canada, when asked to speak french and be put on the spot at Cora's (cough, cough... MEGAN!). Ok enough of the useless
details, this is not a good start to establish a devoted readership. We used the printouts that Ania made of directions to the hostel and knew we needed to
board some kind of RER train. I also read in the book that James Csupak aka Chewy, lent me that we could take a bus. We found out that the buses were 15 euro
which is pretty steep for a 37 km voyage to the neary city. So we kind of run around like the most naive of tourists asking vendors and workers in the
airport and outside at the bus step where to go, what to take, etc. I even tried talking to a taxi driver since a cab might've been cheaper split 4 ways. The
french was getting slightly better but at times I thought to myself ????? How you say????? I eventually learned that cabs today would cost at least 100 euro
to the city because of a strike or holiday in service? That's what another lady told me afterwards in a half Enlgish/half french conversation. So eventually
we found the right bus and boarded it! IT was brutally slow! We snapped some pics of a cool stadium and the Eiffel tower in the distant. Otherwise it just
dragged on and on! And finally we arrived in Garde de Lyon. This was our first experience backpacking and the first time we strapped them on for a journey of
more than a few m! I rocked the double backpack and felt like a pregnant women with the huge lump on my waist. It was also the first time the human GPS came
out and we did pretty well finding the place. Had the unfortunate experience of passing a dirty little square that was being cleaned and the street cleaning machine reaked of the rotten fruit and waste it was cleaning up. Waited in line for a bit at the front desk of the hostel but soon enough made the long trek to the fourth which was actually the 5th floor because in France the main floor is floor zero! After freshening up a bit and failing with the paris city free internet (figured it was the static IP I set back home in the McDonald's with free wifi the night before leaving paris) we headed out to walk the streets. We needed to pick up
some water so we did just that at the smallest grocery store you have ever seen run by a Chinese pair. We also saw some 2 euro sparkling white wine and
couldn't resist and so we were off again! We were a little confused as to where to go to the metro as we wanted to catch some of the city (due to the delayed
flight and long bus ride it was already after 5 PM!!!). Walking around for a bit we did a full circle to Garde de Lyon where our bus first dropped us off,
oops. I whipped out the dSLR pretty frequently and ironically I was a little tired of the excessive photos the group wanted to take but david insisted that
afterwards u always wish you had more. I used to take pictures fanatically but have just coaste the last few years, but soon I was persuaded and now snap 10
pics of the same thing all a little differently since the camera can fire up to 6 per second. So I am slowly learning to play with the settings and getting
more creative as the trip goes on! Alright where were we? I usually suck at directions but this trip I've been doing pretty well not to get as lost and we
found the Ledru-Rolin street with metros at either end. We didn't listen to David's idea of visiting the nearby supermaket there (man did we pay with hunger later!). Liz also noticed a needle laying on the street (and along with the many homeless ppl sleeping on streets that I noticed on the bus from the aiport), I think Paris is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever seen. I mean you see the cleanup crews with their yellow vests everywhere but it still smells and looks dirty!) At first figuring out the paris metro was a little bit daunting but a very animated and eccentric
ticket clerk sort of helped us out. On our way we went! We got off near the Louvre to begin our walking/metro evening tour. We followed the Seine by the
river and made our way to the main Louvre courtyard and there was some kind of fancy gala event going on with traditional french uniformed officers lining
the velvet curtains into the glass pyramid Louvre entrance. We were hoping to catch the discounted evening pass for a quick 2 hour runthrough but it was
reserved the aristocrats this night, in their fancy suits and evening wear. No worries tho. We continued past a cool arch into the Royal Gardens I think.
Took some really funny pics and continued up the way to the Obelisk and L'arc de Triumphe although it was many km's down to both but we snapped a few photos
in the distance. The walk up the wide fine gravel path was funny, David quickly pointed out all the romance in the evening air of the city of L'Amour
Toujours. Every second bench a couple going at it as though it was a contest. 1 is the loneliest number! = (
So we walked back to the Seine and across. Quite exhausted at this point and in need of some serious food. So feeling the Kebab desire we found a quaint
little place maybe 3 m wide and 10 m deep and were enticed in since the owner sliced us up a few pieces of the kebab roast and they came with fries so we
were sold. We watched the Euro cup match briefly. I honestly forget which teams were playing but I suppose it doesn't matter that much! Ok with some greasy
food filling our bellies we were ready to leave and the store owner charged us 5 euro each, and later i remembered the outside price saying 4.50 euro. I
guess he was just mad we didnt buy drinks. 50 euro cents can either get you nothing or go a long way in Europe. Depends what is cheap locally. Reminds me of
the Russel Peters skit, you save 50 cents here, 50 cents there, and you go to dollar store to buy yourself something nice...
Go team EAT! The original acronym was Europe Adventure trip, but NEEAT works too, Northern + Eastern European Adventure Trip!
Ok I quickly checked and it turns out the match was france vs italy as I thought, and fairly significant as we were in FRANCE! I took me a while to realize
why so many ppl were carrying drinks in the streets and crowding in cafe's and bars! I forget exactly where we ate our Kebabs but it was a restaurant
district on the way to Notre Dame Cathedral across the Seine from the Louvre and more East. Small streets, bustling night life! It was cool beans! I remember
as we walked along home to our hostel past the Notre Dame cathedral, I would check the score at the major bars to see how france was doing, first down 1
nothing and than 2 nothing to the Italians. The fans were so loud at every french chance or show of good defense. Really funny to watch! Haha and now with the whole dirty paris theme I remember the mini garbage truck going down the little street where we ate kebabs, and will affectionately refer to it as Kebab Alley now, changing those little green bags that are everywhere in paris hanging freely as opposed to actual garbage bins like most places. Wow I remember weird stuff. This is why I dread travel bloggin, I just go on and on. I will try brevity one day...
Ok so eventually we made it to Notre Dame Cathedral and a few photos later continued up the street past a massive throng of people pouring out of the church.
Not too sure what the occasion was.
By the time we got back to our hostel, really walking quite far in total. We were dead tired. I think I crashed from 10pm to 12am or so. I suddenly awoke
with the desire to communicate with those back home. Around the time of checking in earlier that day I heard Mcdonald's had free wifi so I walked there to
check it out but it was walkthrough only as the seated area of the "restaurant". I felt sketchy pulling out a laptop in a dimly lit Paris street late at
night. Got back to the hotel and fumbled around with the laptop for a while trying to set up an alarm clock as liz couldn't find hers! Eventually gave up and
went to bed!
Where I stayed:
Auberge Internationale des Jeunes (10 Rue Trousseau)
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