Tour de Paris

Thursday 20th

We got on a bus wed night to head to Paris. We stopped once at the French border to make sure we were legal. We stopped a couple hours in to board the ferry that would take us further into France. It was an overnight trip and little sleep occurred. We finally arrived at 6 am.
After finding the metro station, we stopped at our hostel to check in. We couldn't actually go into our rooms yet but for two euros we could place our things in a locker. Relieved from the extra weight we headed off to the Eiffel tower. We snapped pictures as we went being extremely touristy. There were so many nice parks and tree areas that looked beautiful. We followed the seine river all the way to the tower and were dwarfed by the iron giant. We snapped several pictures of ourselves in front of the tower and then raced to see where the line was. We realized we still had 45 mins until we could go up. So we walked around the green behind the Eiffel Tower and were bombarded with people selling miniature Eiffel Towers that Allie bought, and people with clipboards wanting us to sign and donate. We discovered later that these adamant clipboard-wielding do-gooders were actually gypsies. 

We finally got to get in line to have our bags checked and were relieved to be inside. It was so cold out that were sovereign shop-hopping in order to abuse their heating services. The high was only about forty. When we packed into the elevator, an employee informed us that we would not be able to go to the summit since the elevator was broken but that we could get a refund. Allie and I were bummed. We could still go up to the second floor (which was still high up) but not all the way to the mythic peak. After we were done on top the tower, it took us just as long to find the place to get our refund.

Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. We walked a while to get there but on our way, we stopped for a crepe. I got Nutella and banana. It was so yummy! We continued on and finally saw the giant arc but were unsure of how to bridge the gap to get to it. If you've ever seen pictures of it, its surrounded by a circle of about five lanes of traffic that all radiate out in different directions into the city. During a tour that will be mentioned later, we were informed that this area of Paris is the only place that a motorist is not insured because of the high accident rates. We walked all along this crazy motorway looking for anywhere that was safe to cross. I offered to play chicken but Allie didn't seem to think it wise. After a time, we found a set of steps that looked like it led to the Metro but actually was a tunnel underneath the roads leading to the arc. How perfect. Once there, we got to see the Eternal Flame which were told was only put out once. First, an Australian drunkenly urinated on it; they deported him immediately. The other time was some Germans I believe that roasted a hotdog over it, squelching the flame. They were also not invited back. 

Once finished here, we set off in search of the Basilica Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart) and Moulin Rouge. This was some of the most brutal walking we had to do. We walked uphill for what seemed like ages and every turn led to more uphill terrain. We never found Moulin Rouge which was fine by me all the same but we found a lot of tourist shops. We stopped in one and I bought myself a classic, traditional black beret. Allie encouraged me to walk up one more hill to a little cafe where she could get something warm to drink. It was here that we stumbled upon Montmartre. 

The whole square was filled with artists at their easels painting landscapes and customer's portraits. We sat down outside the cafe and were bombarded with artists asking if they could draw us. We told them no since we weren't going to pay for it. One man walked up with a square of folded black paper and a pair of scissors. He wouldn't take no for an answer. He began cutting the paper as he watched us talking about where we would head to next. When he finished, he handed me a cutout of my profile. I was stunned and ended up paying him 10 euros for it. After that, we decided it was time to get away.

We headed a little farther to the basilica and I had two more artists stop me. One kept saying that my style was perfect for his art style and he wished to draw me. I said thank you but my friend was leaving without me. I ran to catch up to Allie only to be stopped near the stairs to the basilica by another artist that asked to draw me because I had such beautiful eyes. I said no so then he proceeded to ask me if I was free later in the afternoon. I blushed and told him no but smiled politely and ran up the stairs to the entrance.

The basilica was beautiful. We technically were not allowed to take photos but that didn't stop some people (Allie, cough). The stained glass was magnificent and the carvings of angels left us in awe. Allie wondered allowed how they even got those statues up that high to secure them to the walls. I was dumbfounded as well. It was quiet inside with people whispering. It was rather dark too; it seemed to be lit primarily by candles and the stained glass only. After walking all around, we decided it was time to head back to the hostel.

On our way back, we realized how absolutely starving we were and so stopped at a tavern for food near our hostel. I got Shepard's Pie (which wasn't French, I know, but it was very filling) and one of the most amazing hot chocolates ever. The worst part of the entire day was how cold it was and I had been wearing a skirt! So the "chocolat chaud" helped immensely. We went back to the hostel and crashed hard. Bed was at nine.