A Weekend in Paris, France
Day 0: Thursday, October 8th, 2009
After Brett was freed from his Thursday afternoon class, the pair of us made our way to Venlo train station with ease (we were pretty good at it by that point). We were a little confused as to which train was going to Rotterdam, but we trusted in the Netherlands train system (smart? maybe not) and boarded the one we thought was correct. It was, and we pulled into Rotterdam ahead of schedule. We had a fairly long layover for a train (about an hour and a half) before our Thalys bullet train left for Paris, so we decided to explore the city of Rotterdam for a bit. It was the late afternoon, and surprisingly much of the city was shut down. But that was okay, because there’s not much to Rotterdam except shopping and some really cool architecture—the rest of it is pretty sketchy. It was fun to have a little while to explore someplace we normally wouldn’t have visited, though. On our way back to the train station, we got a croquet from the wall-food place and then boarded the Thalys. Since we made our reservations at different times, we were in separate cars on the train, and Brett accidentally ended up in 1st class without realizing it! Before the conductor came around to check tickets, he managed to get a Coke and free wifi that lasted him for the rest of the ride even after he was moved to second class—lucky duck. We got into Paris Nord station on time and walking out of the station we were greeted with a sight that was perfectly Parisian: uplit neoclassical buildings with French advertisements tastefully strewn across their facades. This was nice and all, but from here on out, the night steadily declined. We made our way to our hotel on the metro, which was in the middle of the Latin Quarter. While this was a fabulous location, it’s fairly far from our train station. We arrived to the hotel about 45 minutes after we said we would, and were greeted with a note on the door of reception reading: “Will return in 5 minutes.” We waited for half an hour. No one came. So, Brett and I walked all the way up the stairs (there was no elevator) to the 6th floor (which, in Europe, is actually the 7th floor). No one to be found. We decided to head out to the phone booths, but of course, French phones never work right, and their phone booths are no exception. We were pretty SOL, which is why we decided to go into a few hotels and politely, and in French, ask to use their phones. Whooahhh: le grandement faux pas if I’ve ever heard one. Needless to say, we were yelled at. We realized that unless we wanted to be street urchins for our first night in Paris, we better look for some vacancy signs. After about an hour and a half of searching, we finally got a room—for 95 Euro—at about 1:30 AM. Thank holy Louix XIV for emergency credit cards.
Day 1: Friday, October 9th, 2009
We checked out of our makeshift accommodations this morning and went directly to our first hotel to get everything sorted out. The man at reception claimed to have been there last night while we were waiting, but upstairs in the bathroom. I think he was because he said he heard people walking up the stairs like we did. But he said he came back, and he didn’t. We waited long enough, right? Well anyway, he made us pay for the first night anyway, but he did upgrade us to the nicest room on the top floor, with a balcony and a view of the top of Notre Dame cathedral. Could be worse, right? It was a family-run place, so I didn’t feel it was necessary to get into a big fight about it… and besides, we wanted to head out and start exploring the City of Light! So we set out and stormed the first creperie we could find, which happened to be well-priced, with an extremely friendly staff. Win! Crepes in hand, we rounded the next corner and accidentally (but thankfully) stumbled upon the Jardins du Luxembourg, where the fall colors were already creeping into the leaves but the flowers were still in bloom, and Parisian women took their dogs for their morning walks—perfection. We didn’t have an agenda this morning, and just wandered to the different illustrated monuments on our maps that drew our interest. We ended up at the gold-domed Place des Invalides, which was simply stunning. The architecture had me drooling. We kept wandering, but this time with a destination: the Eiffel Tower. Of course, we paused for the necessary photo ops, and then continued our journey. Next, on the way to the Trocadero, we managed to find a bizarre hill outcrop with a man-made, but overgrown pathway that led up around the side of the hill. I think it was a city planner’s failed attempt at a hillside park, which now seems to just be a place for the homeless to sleep. Hey, at least it has a purpose. At the Trocadero, we paused for more photo ops—still of the Eiffel Tower, but from a different vantage point which offered sweeping views of the cityscape as well. Not to mention that the Trocadero is a beautiful plaza in its own right. Afterwards, we trekked the long distance to l’Arc de Triomph, the gateway between Paris’ older and newer districts. We didn’t go up inside (poor students, yay!) but I feel like I got the idea. The sculptures on the sides of the facade are more exciting anyway—and free. Once we’d had enough, we did some leisurely shopping along the Champs de l’Elysee. Highlights of this leg of our trek back into the center of town include some cool architecture, a Haagen-Dazs superstore (whaaat), and a mile-long art installment of Vogue covers dating from 1920-2009. This led us to the Place de la Concorde (which we managed to cross twice without getting squished by seemingly hundreds of lanes of oncoming traffic), and ultimately to the Louvre Museum. We went in, but not into the exhibits due to some miscommunication—but that’s okay, because it was fairly late in the afternoon anyway. Instead, we walked (even more!) to Ile de la Cite, the charming island in the middle of the Seine, where we perused the riverside market stalls that led us to Notre Dame cathedral. Out of all the sights to see in Paris, this one takes the cake. The 25 or so (free) minutes that I spent inside were very emotional for me, and I’m not positive that I can articulate why. I could continue to ramble and make up some BS about how eternal it is blahblah, but honestly, it’s just stunning—and humbling—to encounter. This was the last stop on our somewhat spontaneous walking tour of the city; and as our hotel was only about a 10 minute walk from Notre Dame, we took a short pitstop to rest. Afterwards—since poor students are always on the search for free food—we went to the 4th in search of a place where I heard there was free couscous. When we got there, the guy at the bar seemed to say that we were too late (or something like that) so we ordered a beer and peaced. Whatevs, we weren’t that hungry anyway. So, to end our exciting and jam-packed first day in Paris, we went to see the infamous Moulin Rouge, which is celebrating its 120th year. It’s still a club, so really, all there is to do is look at it and take touristy pictures, so we did! And since our feet were about 65% blister by this point, we took the metro back to the hotel and passed out.
Day 2: Saturday, October 10th, 2009
This morning, we woke up way too early to visit the 700-room Chateau de Versailles, originally built as a hunting lodge in 1624 by Louis XIII. Since Brett had already seen the inside on a school trip, he decided to spend his morning in the gardens while I went inside the palace. Although there are 700 rooms, visitors sadly see significantly less—but of course, what we see is stunning nonetheless. The crown jewel of the visit, for me and probably for many others, was the hall of mirrors. It wasn’t quite as glittery as I had expected (most of the mirrors were actually pretty dirty) but there was still a mystique to the room that I didn’t feel anywhere else in the palace. There were also installations of modern art by one artist (who I forget the name of…woops) which, while they were interesting, seemed very arbitrary in contrast to the palace itself. Brett and I had planned to meet up on the back steps of the palace, which, the last time he was there, could be accessed from the palace museum. But, things had changed, and in order to meet up with him, I had to pay the entrance to the gardens as well. Ultimately this was fine because the gardens were stunning, and although my feet were throbbing from all the walking of the morning and the previous day, I had paid the money, so I was sure as hell going to explore. And it was well worth it. Note: always buy combo tickets. Lesson learned. After exploring for half the day, we were pretty well famished, so we took the train back to Paris for lunch. For lunch, we split a 0.90 Euro-cent baguette and a giant, mostly-frozen Coke, which we shared. And honestly, it was an amazing meal. We went back to the Ile de la Cite, passed a million advertisements for the Chatalet Theatre Musical de Paris’ production of Mozart’s la Flute enchantee (which I wish I could have seen!) and ended up at the Pompidou Center, where we encountered some very intriguing street theatre, and a guy blowing giant bubbles and a few Parisian toddlers trying to catch them; it was a lovely scene. On our way to La Republique, we found the most amazing (and high-end) confectionery in existence. I could have spent a few sweet hours there, but it would’ve cost the rest of my budget for this weekend! With thoughts of sugarplums in our heads, we made it to the Bastille, stopping to admire the contrasting styles of the Bastille column and the stunning modern architecture of the Opera House. As it was late afternoon, we decided to relax for a while at the Places des Vosges in the Marais—the oldest planned square in Paris. The afternoon sun cast long, ornate shadows and illuminated the broad leaves of the trees while the youth of Paris lounged away the hours. It was almost dinner time, and Brett had bought a ticket to see a concert that night for his music class, so we shared a plate of chicken (that we—for some reason—assumed would be chicken fingers, but alas was half a chicken) and frites. Afterwards, Brett went to his concert, and I took the evening for myself, walking along the Seine and although I tried to take a nighttime cruise down the river, the boats had stopped running 20 minutes before! What luck (not that I could afford it anyway). Instead, I went back to the plaza in front of Notre Dame, where pro roller-bladers (what? I know.) were showing off their tricks in front of many happy tourists and a smattering of less-enthused locals. I went back to the hotel to meet up with Brett, and after some recoup time, we hit the town to celebrate our last night in Paris. We bought some cheap (but good!) wine and a baguette, and walked across town to the Eiffel Tower. We sat beside it for an hour or so, and took lots of pictures/waited patiently for the hourly light show. On our way back to the hotel in our happy state, we broke down and bought a cone of Haagen Dazs each, and it was probably the best icecream cone I’ve ever had in my life. And that much better because it was in Paris. Once we were back at the hotel, I continued to sip wine on the balcony, overlooking the top of Notre Dame and the bustling nightlife of the Latin Quarter below. But across the street, a house party was in full swing. Some of the attendees were hanging out the window for a smoke and invited me over. I wish I could have gone, but I couldn’t keep their inebriated attention for long enough that they could tell me where their door was. Ah well, it was fun to watch at least.
Day 3: Sunday, October 11th, 2009
On our last day in Paris, we woke up in enough time to catch one last sight before our 10:35 AM train back to the Netherlands: the Sacre Coeur in the Montmartre district. It’s quite a climb to the top, but it’s well worth the cardio and the efforts of dodging the many peddlers. The view of the city from the top is stunning. As it was the early morning, the area was just waking up; street vendors were beginning to open their tents for the Sunday morning market in the cobbled lanes of the hilltop Sacre Coeur neighborhood. We had a little while to explore the neighborhood, which I think is where I would want to live if I ever live in Paris. After poking around, we managed to grab one last crepe—and we saved the best for last. With smiles on our faces and in our bellies, we hustled back to Paris Nord terminal to catch our beautiful Thalys bullet train back to the Netherlands; as the French countryside sped by us, washed in the morning light, I nodded off with daydreams of the weekends to come.
