A sleepless ride on the overnight train to Paris and I have my first fumble. The train first. We board and have seats that face two other passengers. Turns out there are a lot of North American travelers in this cabin and we spend the evening chatting. I venture off to find the food cabin- hunger is setting in and I know it will be a long night with no food. The train is moving fast, I am struggling to keep my balance as I make my way through each cabin. The cabins are sleeper cabins so at least I’m not falling on to strangers laps :) Sixteen cabins later and I find food! Woohoo! Now I have to make my way back to report to Steve that there is food, take his order, and get some money. I trek the sixteen cabins back. Steve doesn’t want food so I get my money and one of the girls from the cabin joins me. We get some food and return to the cabin- total of 64 cabins for me...I’m wobbly but its pitch black out and I think that helps lessen the queasiness. I settle back to my seat and end up sharing my grilled cheese with Steve who suddenly gets hungry when he smells food. We settle in for the night but I barely sleep- its just not that comfortable. We finally roll into Paris at 9am. Here is where I fumble. Most people know how good I am at losing my phone (still missing by the way if any of you find one with a butterfly on it) or misplacing my keys...so we are entering the station and I realize I have no purse- which more importantly means no passports! EEEEK! Steve takes my pack and I sprint (well, my version of sprinting) back to the cabin. Sure enough my purse is tucked in between the seat and the train wall- out of sight out of mind. Thankfully it was the end of the line and the train was still there-Phew! We have no map, no hotel, and no idea where to go. A man approaches us to help us find a hotel- we decline- its a beautiful morning and we have all day. We get a map from the train station and decide to cross the Seine and look for a room. It all goes smoothly... we find a hotel and discuss prices en francais and check out a room (we save money by having only a shower and no toilet). We are eager and excited and go up with our packs- not knowing it is seven stories up- no elevator. The Room is sorta dingy, but we are anxious to go see the city and decide to take it. We go back downstairs to pay- with our packs on- then up again with our packs- great training for the mountains! We shower and head out. We stop at a cafe and this is where we meet a pastry chef named Vincent. He gives us a metro map, advice, and tips for visiting France. We buy some baguette sandwiches and yogurts and drinks. We are all giddy and excited to be in Paris!! We walk along the Seine, stop for lunch and pass many sites (Notre Dame, The Louvre) but we are going straight to the Eiffel tower. Turns out you can see the Eiffel tower for a long ways before you actually get to it! Our walk was approximately 5kms. The tower is super fantastic! Its huge and interesting and just plain iconic! We buy tickets to take the stairs to the second platform- only 40 stories up! The views are amazing! The city spreads out as far as we can see. We had a wonderful time up there! Next we take the metro to the Arc de Triumph which is also very cool! Every street in Paris seems to have something interesting on it. Before setting out each morning we would visit Vincent in his cafe. He made the most delicious quiches and tarts...I was flattered when Vincent offered me his quiche recipe! The louvre was neat too- we went to see Mona Lisa, and must admit I felt there was some unnecessary hype over it. She was in a large room and we had to push our way through a crowd just to catch a glimpse and take a photo. The remainder of the Louvre was packed with paintings, statues, and ancient artifacts from all over the world- after five hours in there we were exhausted.
Trying to find authentic french food was somewhat of a challenge! I saw people eating crepes from street vendors so I thought I should try one out. I ordered a nutella one (like most of the french customers) and watched the crepe man go to work. He spread out the batter and when it was cooked he scooped maybe 1/4 of a cup of nutella on it and spread it out. He wrapped it up, handed it to me and said “voila!” It was good at first, but the bottom of the crepe felt like a water balloon about to burst with nutella! We tried to ring it out a little, but it was in the folds of the crepe...anyways, I haven’t had nutella since but I have tried other types of crepes which are yummy!
It was in Paris that I realized Steve either didn’t pay attention in French class or has forgotten most of what was taught. He thinks both. He was peeved at our second hotel when the owner accused him of “not liking the french, you hate the french, I can see it in your face- you hate the french!” because Steve couldn’t speak french...hmmm....
One afternoon Steve took me to a designer boutique where french movie stars shop. The clothes were mostly runway samples. We went in the little boutique- Steve read a magazine while I fondled the most expensive articles of clothing I’ve ever seen. Fur coats priced at 5000 euro, blouses for 500 euro, and crazy looking couture articles that I don’t know if any would actually ever wear! The owner was a nice lady- I’m sure she saw tourists like us on a regular basis and knew we were there just for the experience. The only thing I bought in Paris was Yves Rocher hand lotion and a tiny Eiffel tower for the Christmas tree!
I loved the eiffel tower at night, wandering around Notre Dame, seeing where Marie Antoinette was beheaded, and riding bikes in the gardens at Versailles. We enjoyed Paris immensely! It is a beautiful city full of history, baguettes, berets and french fashionista’s. I hope we can go back someday!
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