Paris!

This past weekend was Paris- and it was unbelievable. Ariel and I left Thursday night at 7 on the Eurostar high-speed train and arrived in Paris at 10 local time. This was my first time on a train other than part of a metro system and it’s great. I’m converted. Much simpler security, only need to arrive 30 minutes before your departure, no issues about walking around or using electronics during travel, and just much easier overall than flying. It takes all of 10 minutes or so to board all 18 coaches, the coach is fairly spacious – or at least it seems to when compared to the cramped airplane seats. Our coach was designed with four seats, in pairs facing one another, with a table in between each pair. My train on the way back was the more traditional airplane style, but still with only two seats in a row, it seems much less congested than an airplane.

Our three full days there went by so fast, but we perfectly executed everything we set out to do. Only thing we’d change is the weather- absolutely freezing. Like to the point where our eyes were watering and we wore underarmour under our sweaters, as well as under our pants. We figured it was the norm in Paris, even though it’s south of London so we figured it’d be warmer. Turns out this is the coldest it’s been in Paris in a very long time. All the French people we met kept commenting on how uncharacteristic it is this time of year, and how even they were struggling with the cold. Snow in Spain, London, and Paris (a very rare occurrence in each place) and t-shirt weather back home two weeks ago…hello global warming, nice to meet ya. Aside from it being frigit, we were so lucky in that every day we were there was sunny and beautiful. We agreed we could deal with the cold as long as it wasn’t dreary out and we could get lots of pictures- mission accomplished.

Friday was jammed packed, but Ariel and I both agreed- our favorite day in Paris. Sightseeing all day/afternoon, followed by a later dinner at a DELICIOUS café near our hotel, and finished off the night in style pigging out on éclairs and tarts while reading the Hunger Games series (I started it on Thursday and finished it Friday, now I just need to wait for Ariel to finish the second so I can steal it from her like I did the first.)  Totally lame, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Pictures speak louder than words, so here’s some pictures from our first day: the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Avenue de Champs-Élysées, Sacré-Cœur Basilica, and the Moulin Rouge.

Interior of the Tower

Climbed up all 669 steps to the top of the second floor

Looking up from the second floor.

Paris from the top!

Le Arc de Triumph

Interior ceiling of the arc

Sacré-Cœur

View from the Basilica, best view of the city

The Moulin Rouge!

Saturday we hit the other half of the basic tourist spots: Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, the Louvre, more Champs-Élysées and it’s accompanying parks, CREPES, and St. Chapelle- the hidden gem of the trip. It’s a very tiny cathedral attached to some part of a French governmental palace, where statistically there is more stained glass than walls in the church. Absolutely unbelievable. Ariel had read about it in an art history class she took in high school, knew it was in France, but mistook the name and we thought it was located 50 miles from Paris. As we were walking under the tunnel that leads to the Arc de Triumph, she happened to see an ad for it, and with her day made, we made plans to go that next day. Ariel had been to Paris before, and this she hadn’t done yet, so I was really glad that we got to see one thing she really wanted since most of the other stuff she had been to once before.

      

Notre Dame

When we went in, a service was in progress. SO neat.

Tons of gargoyles covering the entire exterior

St. Chapelle. The pictures don't do it justice at all, so incredibly bright and warm inside.

Luxemburg Palace

Ducks standing on the frozen ponds

The (half) frozen water fountain

A bridge covered in love locks. From here I thought it was just decorated with gold designs, it's actually all padlocks.

Thousands of padlocks with dates and initials on them. Lock your love to the bridge and toss the key into the river.

The Louvre

After touring, we headed to the hotel to shower and get ready, grabbed some dinner, and went to meet a friend of Ariel’s who lives in Paris. Believe it or not, Ariel and Elsa (her French friend) met at summer camp back when they were in middle school, and had always stayed in contact. Ariel’s first time to Paris she stayed with Elsa and her family, so upon hearing we were in town, Elsa had us over, along with 10 or so of her friends Saturday night. We were really nervous about going because Elsa knows English well, but we weren’t sure how well her friends did, and since we know all of 10 words in French (hello, goodbye, thank you, excuse me, chicken and cheese [shout out to Mama Gerbes for those last two]) we weren’t sure what to expect. We were very pleasantly surprised. All of her friends knew at a minimum broken English, and many of them were really excited to have a reason to practice their English by talking to us. As they explained, they all are required to take English in high school, but don’t really have anywhere to practice it in France (similar to me and German I guess). We were impressed with the fact they were conversational in two languages, but understood it once they explained to us the reason behind the English requirement in France. Other than France, Canada and some parts of Africa, no one speaks French. When they travel to other places, they need to know English as often that is their only form of communication since most places speak English as the second language. I had never really thought of it like that, but if they go to say, Spain, if they don’t know Spanish, then the tourist places in Spain speak English. They described it to us like we were almost blessed to only speak English, our dominant language is secondary to the places we’re visiting, while it is their secondary language that’s acting as the secondary for the country they’re visiting. We also learned that contrary to popular belief that the French hate American’s, they said they actually love hearing an American accent. They said it’s very Hollywood. We were pleasantly surprised in that all the places we ate had at a minimum English subtitles under the food on the menu, if not an entire English menu, and all but one place were very friendly and good about talking to us in English.

Sunday was super laid back compared to the jam-packed past few days. We had check-out at 11, so we stored our bags in the luggage room as we headed out for a big brunch and shopping. Elsa recommended a strip of stores near our hotel, so we headed there. Paris is expensive, they dress well, and since I wasn’t willing to pay the SALE price of 230 euro for a sweater, I came home with an éclair instead of clothes. Not even sorry. Ate my weight in pastries this weekend, and can’t wait to continue the trend Tuesday as a bunch of us are having a BYOW&D (bring your own wine and dessert) Valentine’s Day dinner. Let’s be honest, running outside isn’t gonna happen in this weather, so I might as well pack it on and hibernate til the end of this icicle weather. I’m writing this as I’m headed back home on my train. We couldn’t get tickets on the same train, so mine departed at 5 and Ariel’s at 6. Even though it’s only a two hour 15 minute trip, with the time change, it makes it seem like I’ve only been on about an hour, so when I get in just after 6.30 I’m supposed to meet up with my Uncle Steve who’s in town for a bite to eat before I go crazy uploading pictures to facebook and skyping everyone back home! Au revior!