Paris- Day 1

Sorry I am a bit behind on my blogging but I just got back from Paris yesterday and am writing this during my European Union class where I am about to give a presentation about the Czech Republic with two other American girls and three Irish boys (Conor, Conor, and Darragh). Also, their brogues are pretty thick and sometimes I have trouble understanding them. Anyway...

Bonjour from Paris!

The only bright side to waking up at 3 am is the thought that you will be in Paris in about 5 hours. That’s what happened on Friday morning when I woke up after 1.5 hours of sleep, brushed my teeth and headed towards the Air Coach with Brittany and Laura. We waited quite a while for the Air Coach but finally got on and were on our way to the airport.

It was kind of crowded when we got there but we got through the check-in desk (where they tried to make Laura pay for bringing her crutches on board) and headed over to security where they patted me down (I always get my luggage searched as well). We made it to the gate and when we boarded the plane Laura got the first row because of her broken foot so we sat next to her with plenty of leg room.

We arrived in Beauvais airport, which has four gates and one baggage claim, and got on the bus that would drive us an hour to Paris. I slept the entire time because I was pretty tired from lack of sleep. Once we arrived in Paris we met up with Stacy, who had gotten into Paris the day before, and ventured to find our hostel.

The hostel was always a little iffy because when Stacy sent them an email to change the reservation they replied “If you want the name of Stacy Curry felt it will straighten.” We still don’t know what that means but it turns out the owner is Korean and only speaks a little English along with French and Korean. She was very nice but we had a scare when we got there and no one opened the door. Someone eventually came and we were shown to our room, but only after we took off our shoes outside the door.

We were running late for the New Europe tour at this point so we hustled along the streets of Paris to find them. Stevie was already on the tour so she was able to direct us where they were headed and we eventually found them. At this point it was a rainy day in Paris and after being up for twelve hours it was dampening our spirits. Laura was a trouper and I have to give her a hand for hobbling around on crutches through the rainy streets of Paris.

Pyramids at the Louvre

The Concord

Apparently the Egyptian government sends a letter every year asking the French to give it back; I'm thinking that's a lost cause.

Our tour guide was Arno and we found out later in the tour that he was a newbie and it was only his third tour. The tour itself was not that interesting but it was still a nice way to see the city. After finishing up at the tour Brittany and Stacy headed over to the Eiffel Tower while Laura and I took a little break in a coffee shop. After resting and drying off we headed to meet them at the Eiffel Tower because the sun had come out. We took some pictures and then headed over to the Champs-Elysee. After looking around a bit we went elsewhere to find a restaurant and ended up eating at Brasserie Bearn, which seemed like somewhat of a local dive, but good food nonetheless. I had the steak au poivre, one of my favorites and also had both French fries and French bread.

After a long day we journeyed back to the Namdemun hostel and journaled a little before heading to bed.