My final stop before returning home was a 26 hour trip in Paris. I was really excited about this stop when I was planning my trip, but after leaving India and seeing the weather was in the 40’s and raining, which I wasn’t ready for, I wished I was just going straight home.
But after spending a day in Paris freezing my but off I really enjoyed it, and it makes me want to come back prepared, with Danielle and a big bag of cash.
I felt like I saw a lot of the city in my short time there. I took the train from the airport to the city for 8 Euro. I started off at the Notre Dame Cathedral which was empty, I spent about 30 minutes wandering in amazement by the size and detail, the stained glass was my favorite. I then jumped back on the train and went towards the Eiffel Tower. I stopped for breakfast at this cool little café and had an omelet and crêpes which ended up costing me 20 Euro’s this is starting off to be an expensive day.
When I got to the Eiffel tower it was still early and not that busy, you have two choices to get to the middle platform 2 take the stairs 4 Euro or Elevator 8 Euro, I’m sure you can all guess which method my cheap ass took. It was really cool but the wind was blowing and it was freezing, I ran to the top trying to get warm. Once on the 2nd platform the only way to the top was by another elevator, I was going to take it not even sure of the price but the line was a few hours long and it was way to cold, and I only have one day in Paris so it will have to be on another trip.
After taking a ton of pics at the Eiffel tower I jumped on a tourist bus that took me to all the places I wanted to go and you could jump on and off as much as you wanted, and they came every 15 minutes which worked well, it was another 24 Euro for a 2 day pass. I then took the bus for an hour to figure out the city and get warm.
My next stop was at the Arc de Triomphe which was, erected by the Emperor Napoleon in 1806 to commemorate France's military prowess. Must Americans recognize it as the end of the Tour De France! I heard it was really cool to walk up the stairs to the top, and I really enjoyed it, there is a museum in the middle that is very interactive and informative. The view from the top was my favorite of Paris. It is in the center of a huge round about and really gave me a sense of Paris. It’s at the end of the west end of the Champs-Elysées, the city's most famous avenue, at the juncture known as the Etoile (star), where 12 prestigious avenues radiate out from the arch. I would recommend anyone in Paris to go up in the Arc de Triomphe.
I then jumped back on the bus and went to the area near the Opera House, and was amazed by the building and the busy high end neighborhood. I then went back and strolled the Champs-Elysées and was amazed by the high end shops and amazing cafés. It is a very high end area, and the most expensive street in Europe to lease a building.
After a little walking I was freezing again and decided to go to the Louver, I didn’t plan on going there but thought it would be warm and I do like art. I had just listened to the Da Vinci Code a few days before which made it exciting. I was amazed by how big the Louver was, I spent 3.5 hours there and maybe saw a quarter of it, and they have over 35,000 pieces of art. I was amazed by how big some of these paintings were, and shocked by how small the Mona Lisa was, not sure what the amazement with that painting is. All the sculptors were really amazing. I’ll have to return with Danielle some day to really enjoy it.
I then walked along the Seine River which looks like a really nice place to stroll or ride your bike, if it were about 40 degrees warmer. As it was getting late I decided I was going to head back and sleep on the airport floor instead of getting a hotel to save money. I took the bus back to the Notre Dame and was shocked by the hundreds of people that were there as it was closing. I went back in and a mass was going on, I set there for a few minutes but it was all in French so not sure what was going on. I had dinner near Notre Dame then jumped back on the train to the airport. I got there at around 10:30 and walked around for awhile trying to find a place to sleep, which was tough since all the seats are metal with arm rest and the floor was all tile. I ended up finding a closed restaurant in the terminal that another guy was already sleeping at. It didn’t take me long to fall asleep after my busy day. I sleep well until about 2 when I was awoke by arguing, I looked up and there were about 15 people know sleeping here and two guys were fighting over a spot, I took a closer look around and most the people sleeping looked homeless. I was a little nervous after this and planed an escape route encase the bums wanted my spot. It ended taking me awhile to fall back asleep but I woke up at about five and everything was fine. I got up early before anyone else and went to the bathroom washed up then graded some breakfast. I was really excited knowing I was going to be home with Danielle that night. Paris ended up being a cool place, but it was really expensive. I ended up spending 120 Euro’s in one day which was about 10 days budget in India. I would love to come back to Paris some day with Danielle, but I need to save a lot of cash for that trip.
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