Unfortunately my first views of Paris weren't as picturesque as I thought it would be. Maybe it was the fact that it was late at night and Monmartre isn't exactly the Champ-Elysses, but the streets were dirty and certain areas, especially in the metro, definitely smelled. But I suppose its understandable, its an old city and you shouldn't expect everything to pleasantly wonderful.
But that is absolutely no excuse for the WHACK-ASS hostel we were staying. It was relatively cheaper than others, but if we knew it was this bad we would've paid more MUCH MORE for a better one. Our room was dimly lit, the floors covered in cheap flimsy red carpet that was not nailed/glued in all the way, the walls had a creamed colored cheap wallpaper. Seriously looked like a gross, ghetto version of The Shining. Not to mention the strange stains on the bed blankets, the 3 hangers in the closet, and the horrible view of the maid's closet down the hall. There's also the bathroom issue, in which the toilet with no toilet paper was down the hall and the shared shower for all 6 floors was tiny, not the cleanest, and flooded. Why, God, WHY!? Luckily for our last night we upgraded to an infinitely better room with its own bathroom but still...why?!
So aside from that, Monmartre is an interesting neighborhood. Lots of little shops. you can tell this is a working class, and immigrant, neighborhood. Lots of souvenir shops which is definitely appreciated.
So here's the list of major sights to see we hit up in Paris:
The Louvre - definitely is a must. But there was no way we were going INSIDE. Lines were infinitely long. And just seeing the building and seeing how huge it was, we could only imagine how much art would be inside it. That equals way too much than we could handle. But we took some great pics of the pyramids outside, despite the gray clouds hovering about. And unfortunately no roseline, no kneeling down above the tomb of Jesus' supposed babymama.
The Seine River - walking along the Seine is typically Parisian, at least in my mind. The bridges were cool, with all the locks that people leave on them. Pretty cute.
Shakespeare and company bookshop - Cool english-language book shop, as seen in Before Sunset. Pretty famous and they stamp the books that they give you. Couldn't help but get an Almodovar book from here.
Notre Dame - I didn't find no Quasimodo, but the place sure is pretty.
The Latin Quarter - Where the Sorbonne is and all the Frenchie university students are. Nice little neighborhood, shops, random comic/manga shops too. I guess for all the anime/manga nerds of the university? Also found a little theater to watch a Hitchcock film and kills a few hours until dinner. By the time it was done, the sun was setting, and made the streets look like what I'd expected from Paris, even just for a while.
Sacre Cour - Walkable distance from the hostel, so we hit that up at night. Great view of the city and the Effiel Tower.
Les Invalides - Where Napoleon was buried, and a bunch of other dudes
Musee Rodin - cool statues
Effiel Tower - as cliche as it is, it was very pretty. Though it serves nothing but to look at it and to look from top of it, it does its job well. Didn't go up it, but I touched the base of it! That's all I wanted
The Champ-Elysses/Arc de Triomphe - Lots of fancy stores on this famous street, including a HUGE Louis Vuitton store that had a line to get inside. Was only there for a little while if only because of how Audrey Hepburn spoke about it in Sabrina.
Spread out amongst these many sights there was also lots of walking and lots of talking. Talking and speculating about life as we know it and the terrifying fact that we'll soon be facing the real world, both coming back home and graduating how many months from now. I wouldn't expect any less from us, me and Katie, we think waaaay too much for our own good.
There were also many tasty foods and pastries, including yet another variation of the hot dog. This time its called a 'hotdog frommage' pretty much a regular hot dog in a baguette-like bread and covered in cheese. So horribly good.
So Paris is where Katie and I part as she continues to explore Europe and I return to Madrid for my flight home. Ciao Paris, until next time with more time and more monies. It's been interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment