The City of Lights

After that fiasco, we walked down the street to another hotel, where we stepped inside to ask where our hotel was located. The lady at the desk was extremely nice and gave us perfect directions to it. Amazing how you can go into a hotel that you aren’t staying at and get better directions than a Paris city employee can give you! We found our hotel without any trouble and went inside to check in….only to hear “Check-in is at 2pm.” We had just gotten off of a 13-hour train ride from hell, were exhausted, and needed to shower desperately…and it was only 10:30am…so we stored our bags in the baggage room and sat in the lobby to figure out what to do in the meantime. When we sat down, we met an American couple who had also just arrived in Paris, only to find that they could not check in yet, either. We introduced ourselves, shared a few sighs of discontentment about the hotel and then parted ways to find something for lunch. We even asked the lady at the hotel desk for café suggestions, to which she replied that she had none, and that there were cafés lining the streets. Thanks for nothing! We ended up finding a supermarket down the street and decided to just buy some fruit to go with the sandwich supplies we already had with us. SO, we went back to the hotel (in the lobby…because there was literally nowhere else to go), and ate lunch. I think the lady was annoyed that we were having a picnic in the hotel lobby, so she ended up giving us our room around noon. YES…it was either a guilt trip, or she was just mad at us. Either way, we won. Ha.

 We got to our room and showered, and then headed out for a long day of fitting in everything we wanted to see…after all we only had two days to see everything! We started out the Luxembourg Gardens, which were gorgeous, and then headed toward The Latin Quarter. We stopped for a few French delicacies along the way: a French macaroon for me, and an éclair, a slice of Flan tart, and a crepe for Michael. Yeah, I think he liked French desserts…

As we headed to Notre Dame, it started to rain, but that did not shorten the line to get into the cathedral. I’m glad that I was able to tour the cathedral when I was in Paris before, because we didn’t really have time to stand in line given our tight schedule! We also encountered a serious line at the Louvre, so we didn’t go inside there, either. Luckily, I’ve been there before AND was able to get an illegal photo of the Mona Lisa…oops 😉 Next, we headed to Montmartre, where we climbed the steps all the way to the top of the hill and checked out the amazing views of the city. We went inside Sacre Coeur, which I was unable to do before, so I was excited to see the basilica. Honestly, after being able to go inside St. Peter’s in Vatican City, nothing compares…but Sacre Coeur was still pretty! We decided to stay in Montmartre for dinner, so we stopped at a small café for some traditional French fare. I had a bowl of French Onion Soup with a ham & cheese crepe, which was excellent. Michael had a real Croque Monsieur…not a rip-off one like I had in Nice (where it was basically a simple grilled cheese with a small amount of ham).  When we got back to the hotel, I encountered the hotel staff being quite unhelpful and very unaccommodating to other guests…it was at that point I realized that the entire hotel staff was just downright rude and made no effort to provide customer service. But that is another story, for another day…….

Our last day in Paris, we woke up early and headed for Versailles. This was another place that I was unable to visit when I was in France before, and I was determined to go before I left this time! We ended up spending at least half the day just walking around the palace and the gardens, which were impressive. I had heard so much about Versailles after taking French classes for 8 years, but no picture can do the “real thing” any justice! Versailles was definitely the highlight of our visit to Paris, but we still had places to go and see once we left there! We took the train back to the city and hopped off the train near the Statue of Liberty replica, in the middle of the Seine. This was another famous landmark that I did not get to see during my first visit! After that, we took in the impressive sight of the Eiffel Tower as we headed toward it. As expected, there was a line to get to the top of the tower, but it really was not too bad. We spent about 2 hours total, including waiting and spending some time at the top. Once we got back to the bottom of the tower, we headed for the L’Arc de Triomphe. By this point, we were both freezing (it was pretty chilly in Paris the entire time we were there!) and hungry. It was after 9pm when we made it back to our Metro stop, but we managed to find a small supermarket open, where we bought some cheese for sandwiches. We both wanted to make one last stop at a patisserie for some French bread and pastries, but they were all closed and we had to be at the train station very early the next day. Not to worry: I still have a bag of French macaroons sitting in my bag 🙂 

 Sunday morning, we woke up at 5:30am to head for the train station, where our EuroStar train was supposed to leave at 8:13am. The Metro took us right to the train station, but somehow, bad luck found us again and our Metro tickets would not open the gates for us to exit into the station. Don’t ask. At this point, we’ve learned to not question “WHY” anymore. Ha. Once we figured out a way to get into the station, we watch the screen, waiting for our platform number to show up. In every station we’ve been to, it seems as though they wait until less than 20 minutes before the train to announce the platform number. As it was starting to get close to our departure time, a message pops up on the screen for our train that says “First floor.” Okay. So we find the stairs and head up toward the first floor…where we see a huge LINE only for the EuroStar. Apparently it has its own terminal, where you have to go through lines very similar to those that you would in an airport. Too bad there was NO information in the trains station that warned people of this ahead of time. We were rushing through the lines, where we had to go through French border patrol, then UK Border Control for entry into London, and finally through security. We were already extremely pressed for time, and when we got to the train “gate,” the train was literally about to leave, and circumstances out of my control suddenly arose. Bottom line: we missed the train. And that’s all I have to say about that. Luckily, the EuroStar staff was very helpful and put us on the next train, leaving at 9:13am, for no extra charge. After the lack of customer service we had experienced in Paris, we were both pleasantly surprised at how helpful  EuroStar was. It’s probably because it’s not a French company. Ha. 

I’ve been sitting here typing this post on our EuroStar train, heading for London and not looking back. It’s been real, Europe, but I’m happy to say we’re beginning our journey back home. We have a few days in London to see everything, and then Tuesday afternoon, we’re headed for Heathrow, were we decided we would just stay all night in preparation for our Wednesday morning flight. We’ll save money, and quite honestly, we’re excited about staying in the airport instead of a potentially bad hotel or hostel! Hopefully, the last two days of our backpacking adventure will go smoothly and be pleasant. As of right now, we only have good things to say about the UK, from our experience at the beginning of our trip, so I hope the next few days will be good! Next post will probably be from Heathrow Airport! 🙂 

-xoxo