Bonjour!
You may be wondering what is going on with the title of this post? Well let me tell you: Paris won. Anything that could have gone wrong on the week in Paris did, but I think the silver lining of it all was that we all still had a really amazing experience.
It all started early on Monday morning. Up before the sun we had to trek from our home sweet home in Rathmines to the United States embassy which is about a 40 minute walk. I took a cab. Everyone was ungodly groggy as we made our way by chartered bus to Dublin International Airport. We got checked in and made it to the gate with about five minutes to spare before boarding. Then we see it. We'll be flying in a small plane. Now, I typically love flying but the whole turbulence thing freaks me out, so I was not too excited to see the contraption we going to be soaring in. In the end, it wasn't too bad of a flight and I slept for most of it. Even the landing was pretty smooth. Silver lining. Once we arrived at Charles de Gaulle we had to wait around for a little until our bus showed up. It was probably the nicest bus I've ever seen! Mercedes, leather interior, it even had tables in the back! We finally were experiencing our first looks at Paris. I immediately noticed major differences from Dublin. It was really dirty with lots of graffiti all around. The traffic was much heavier and they drive on the road like we do in America, which was kind of confusing because I finally got used to looking the opposite way when crossing the street!
The hotel we stayed in was really nice! I got lucky with my roommates and got to spend the week with Anne and Kelly ( SISTAHS!). The large window swung all the way open and looked out over the Rue de Berne, a quaint little Parisian street. It was raining our first day so we suited up and went down to the lobby to meet with Michael, our program director, for a speedy tour of the city. What actually ended up happening was Michael speeding ahead, chastising us for being too slow, and then dropping us in the Place de Concorde with no real idea of how to do anything! The language barrier was what threw me off the most at first. The stereotype is true and Parisians hate english for the most part, especially American english. I felt really awkward trying to communicate considering that my french goes about as far as bonjour, merci, and au revoir! A few of us ended up wandering down the river until the fatigue and hunger got the best of us. I had a very delicious crepe with Nutella and we headed back to the hotel via metro! That metro is absolutely insane. There are multiple lines with hundreds of transfers; it's pretty daunting the first time you try to decipher the map. In actuality it's very easy though and by the second day we were masters.
We got back to the hotel and power napped while we waited for Kelly's friend Catherine. Catherine is studying in Paris and had come to visit Dublin a few weeks back, so she was gonna take us out for a little bit. We found a nice spot in the Latin Quarter and had a phenomenal burger and lots of mojitos! Then we wandered down to this bar called ZeBar and the waiter was very nice considering it was a slow Monday night. They even put sparklers in our drinks! After the stress and confusion of the day it was nice to sit and unwind with some friends.
Day two began in Paris with a lovely breakfast provided by the hotel. We headed downstairs to the basement of the hotel and, in true Parisian fashion, indulged in unlimited croissants and various other snacks. We decided to get out of the main city for the day and found a train that could take us out to Versailles! This had some mishaps though. A bunch of us had purchased a pack of Metro tickets and as far as we could tell, those would work for the Versailles train. Well....we were wrong haha We got to the Versailles stop and tried using our tickets to get through the turnstile to no avail. Kelly and I had snuck through the gates by following someone else and squeezing through before it closed, but the others we were with weren't so lucky. Fortunately the transport officer had pity on us foolish Americans and let them through, while giving us directions on how to properly purchase tickets for the ride home. After that debacle, we took the short walk from the train station to the Palace itself. The queues were uncharacteristically long but it was worth every second of waiting! Versailles was absolutely unreal, the opulence of it all! Everything covered in gold, and detailed paintings, it was easy to get absorbed in one room for a long time examining every artwork! This led to another little problem because our group got separated. One of the many benefits of Dublin is that even when we aren't in a wifi zone, everyone in our group can easily communicate using our Irish cell phones. The problem with getting separated in Paris was that those Irish phones didn't work there, for the most part. After some stressful searching the group I was with decided that it would just be best to meet them back at the hotel in Paris. In a moment of pure joy, we ran into them on the train; what a reunion! Once back at the hotel it was 100% time for a nap. Once we woke up, a large group of the interns headed down to the Italian restaurant on our street (I swear we ate at every Italian place in Paris). Dinner was delicious and the wine was flowing! We headed back to the hotel to continue drinking and let's just say none of us made it out that night. Classic.
The third day in Paris arrived before we knew it! There was still so much on our to-do list, so we decided to make the day productive. Our first stop was Notre Dame. The cathedral was amazing inside and out. The stained glass windows were my favorite part as they were all so unique and ornate. There were so many little chapels within Notre Dame and I stopped at the one dedicated to Saint Anne to say a prayer for Nanny. The whole experience was very powerful for everyone I think. Once we got out of there we decided to head down towards the Arc de Triumph. Along the way we passed the infamous Lock Bridge. There are so many locks on the bridge that it is actually starting to collapse, so the city is in the process of taking most of the panels down. This has cause locks to start popping up on Bridges all along the river. Also on the way to the Arc was the Champs de Elysee, a street after my own family's name! I took some time to take pictures and try to take it all in. On both sides of this road are multiple luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton. My friends stopped at this famous macaroon place, while James and I swung into the Irish pub next door for a quick pint while they were shopping. It was great craic! Finally we reached the end of the Champs de Elysee and were greated by the Arc de Triumph, and impressive site no doubt. We took our photo op and moved on quickly to continue down our extensive list of sites to see. The next stop on our trip was the Eiffel Tower of course! We were meeting up with Catherine again to have dinner under the tower. After mulling around for a little we grabbed some pizzas (typical) and a few bottles of wine and laid in the grass watching the Eiffel Tower light show
After our grand dinner under the Tower, we headed down to the river, as we had planned to take a river tour of the city. The whole gang got on board and had a glass of champagne while cruising through the water. It was a nice relaxing end to our day and an absolute treat to get to see Paris at night.
On the morning of day 4 we realized our time in France was almost up! We had breakfast once again at the hotel and hopped on the metro to take us to the section of the city that holds the Catacombs, Then the waiting game began. We waited over two hours to enter that Catacombs, but we were committed. We passed the time by playing Guess the Emoji on the iPhone, as well as some other games; When we finally got into the Catacombs we went down a narrow winding staircase that took us far under the streets of Paris. The bones of 6 million Parisians are down there and it is a very sombering place. Upon the entrance of the crypt was engraved a saying in french that roughly translates to, "Stop. This is the empire of the dead," and that it was. Seeing all those bones that once were people made me acutely aware of my own mortality, something that often gets forgotten on this wild adventure. We went through all the caverns and halls in almost silence. When we eventually made our way out the other side, we were all hungry and stopped where else but McDonald's. I've made it my mission to get McDonald's in every country I go through. Mind you the McDonald's here is much better than in the states. From there we headed to the Louvre, the home of the Mona Lisa! As students we got in for free and headed right to the main attraction, Mona herself. We snapped a couple selfies and decided to head back to the hotel to rest up for our last night out in Paris. Over the course of the trip we got very good at not paying for the metro by either going under the turnstile or going in groups through the gate. Sorry Paris, I don't like you anyway! After a power nap and banging dinner, we made our way back to the Latin Quarter. Here we bought drinks by the liter and had a great time. On the way home we stopped at this club that ended up being full of Brazilian strippers who didn't speak English or French. It was an experience that I don't wish to experience again and we didn't stay very long. Our time in Paris was almost over and all of us could not wait to get back to Dublin. The struggle of our last evening was our taxi driver having no idea where he was going. Surprisingly, we were able to direct him well enough to get us close, and then we walked the rest of the way.
Our final morning in Paris consisted of breakfast and packing our stuff up. The bus ride to the airport seemed to stretch on forever as the anticipation of going home built up. I think my favorite part about travelling is the feeling of home every time I get back to Dublin. I never thought I would be able to feel truly at home anywhere but Philadelphia until I came here. Not to scare anyone at home, but I could certainly see myself living here for an extended period of time, quite happily. I love America as most of you know, but this whole experience has opened up my mind to a whole new world of possibilities for my life. Upon arrival back in Dublin we headed straight to our local pub for some pints. They were needed and well deserved after the hot mess express that was Paris. I even had a new beer that is about as close to chocolate milk as a beer can be. It's a new favorite: Left Hand Brewing Company Nitro Milk Stout if you're interested in checking it out.
I guess all in all Paris was just grand, but there's nothing that compares to being home; home in Dublin.
From Dublin, with love.
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