Xmas Holidays - Paris

Well Paris has been an interesting experience. I have gone through some lows while I have been here but most of it has been good. I arrived in Paris at 0100 by train on the Saturday the 22^nd of December. I was meant to arrive at 2330 Friday evening. The lateness was because of the train before us was delayed. When I finally arrived I went looking for a map of Paris so I could find where my hostel was. There wasn’t one to be found. There were maps of the local area around the train station but they didn’t cover far enough for me to find where I was meant to be going. I had a rough idea so I ventured out into the unknown called “The Streets of Paris”. After walking for 15mins I felt like I was going astray. I walked up to a hotel that had some lights on and went to go inside. The door was locked. I rang the doorbell or what seemed like one. This man walks out of a door and turns the light off. I tried to get his attention. I did successfully. He gestures to go away and that he didn’t want me there. I stood and tried to tell him I was lost. I didn’t understand. He came to the door and I asked for a map. He pushed it through the crack between the front doors and walked away. I stood in front of the hotel trying to understand where I was. I had not a clue. Everything looked like a maze. Roads went this way and that way but none of them had the name of the street I was on. While I was standing there a lady and her partner rode up to me and asked if I needed a hand. I did. She showed me where I was. Next it was to find where I was to go. The lady told me it was about a 10 minute walk from where I was. I followed the directions that the lady told me to take. They were good but also took me through some small streets that I was a bit wiry about walking through at 0130. I was on full alert, watching everything that moved and walking quickly past groups of people. I finally got to the street that the hostel was on but didn’t find it. It wasn’t there. I thought to myself, “Okay. I have looked at every window and there wasn’t a sign for the hostel. Is it on the other side of the road?” The road the hostel is on has a big island in the middle and I found the hostel on the opposite side to what I thought. When I walked in I went to the counter. The guy at the counter told me it was too late to make a booking. I told him I had booked it over the internet. I told him my name. He asked for my passport. I gave it to him but told him again that I booked it over the net and sent an email to say I was arriving late. He finally understood what I said and reached over to this small pile of papers that had been folded. He found my reservation in that pile. No I could go to bed. Once I got to my room, I found one guy sleeping and the other guy I was sharing a room with out. I took my jacket off and made my bed and went to sleep.

In the morning I got up at 0900 and organised my bag for the day. No I didn’t go to church. I had to go to the train station and reserve my seat to Tarragona. Once I was organised I did just that. Go to the station. When I got to the ticket office in the train station I found that there was a nice big queue waiting for me. It took nearly an hour to get served. When I finally got there I asked the person at the counter if I could book a seat to Tarragona on the train to Tarragona leaving at 2030 on the 23^rd. He told me it was all booked and I wouldn’t be able to get on. I asked him when the next available one was and he said there wasn’t any. I started to get annoying and frustrated. I thought I was going to be stuck in Paris for Christmas and not spend it the way I had planned. I asked the person at the counter if there were any available on the 24^th. He had a look. There was a space free. I said a quick thankyou prayer to God. Now I was going to arrive in Barcelona on Christmas day. After I had reserved my seat I went to look at a few things in Paris. The first thing I headed to was the Arc of Triomphe. I walked there not expecting it to be to far. It was and the traffic of cars and people was horrendous. There were people everywhere at some intersections while at others there was no one to be found. On my way to the arc I stopped at a few other old things. There are lots of statues and buildings with some historic meaning. I didn’t take pictures of all of them though. When I got to the Arc of Triomphe I was overwhelmed by the size of it and the roundabout with all the cars and people around it. I walked through the tunnel that takes you to the arc. It was even bigger when I got there. Once I was there I got a ticket to go up to the top. To get to the top, I had to climb up this circular stairwell. It seemed to go on for ever. There was no finish to it. After walking up the stairs for 5-8mins I found the top. It opened up to this room that was getting renovated. I crossed the room and had to walk up yet another flight of stairs. When I got to the top of the stairs, it was the top of the arc. If was amazing to look out over the city of Paris from here. I could see some many things. I can’t remember them all but the main one was the Eiffel Tower standing there in all its glory. While up there I took a look at the traffic driving below. It was amazing to watch. Just to explain a little. The Arc of Triomphe is in the middle of a roundabout. This roundabout has 12 different roads that lead in and out of it. All traffic in some way leads to the arc. Well it looks like it. I was there on a day where there was lots of traffic but it was really confusing to watch these cars just stop on the roundabout to give way to cars entering and then having a bunch of cars sitting standstill for 2 mins. Then they would somehow sort themselves out and keep driving. It was disorderly order, if you can say that. When I was ready to go, I headed off to the Eiffel Tower. This was another long walk. I got to the tower at around 1430. I had a look at it from below but really wanted to go up it. I went and joined a queue to go up. I waited patiently. When I got to the front and was served I asked if I could get a ticket to walk up the tower. The lady at serving me told me I was at the wrong line. I thought to myself. Thanks a lot, better signage would be helpful. I thanked the lady and walked away instead. I went and joined the other queue. It was much bigger than the other one. It seemed like there were more people wanting to climb then use the lift. Or that just didn’t want to pay as much to see the same thing and experience in a different way. One the way up the stairs there was a number printed on every tenth step so you could see how many you had climbed. To get to the first level it was 328(I think check the pictures. I have a picture of it). When I got to the first level I have a look around and took pictures of Paris. On the path around the outside, there was fake snow that was all hard and slushy. It was fun to walk on slipping and sliding my way around Eiffel Tower. On the inside there were cafés and restaurants. One of the Cafés had an ice bench and walls. This was a theme they had. It was about saving the environment and the ice shelves in the Artic and Antarctic. After walking around the first floor a few times I went to the second. I had another long flight of stairs to walk up. When I got to the second floor there was a label on the top step saying ‘700’. That’s how many there were from the bottom. When I got to the top, I decided to stay there til the sunset. I wasn’t going to be too long. Well it was. I was use to the Denmark sunsets at 1530-1600. This one was more around 1730. That was fine it gave me time to eat some dinner and just take it the view. The sunset was really good even though the line of air pollution was ruining it. But it was still nice. When I was ready to go I went back down to the first floor and explored it a bit more. I went inside on of the buildings there a found a little museum of the Eiffel Tower. The museum showed how it was built and how much it cost, what it has looked like at New Years over the years. That was interesting. I finally left the Eiffel Tower at 18:00. It was a nice walk back down the stairs. When I got down I headed to across this bridge out the front of the Eiffel Tower to another building. Not sure what it’s called. When I got there The Eiffel Tower was all lit up and started to flash. I was really cool. At the top was a really bright light that circulated over the city, like a light house. I finally headed back to the hostel once I had taken enough pictures. The walk back was very long. It was about 8km. This took me about 1 hr to walk. I was full steam ahead. The only thing that stopped me was the traffic lights if they were red and traffic was already going through them. I did make sure they were clear before I went through. I got back to the hostel at 1930. It was so nice to relax and put my feet up. At 2030 I headed back to the train station to see if I there was a free seat for the train I was after but no one had chanced. So I headed back to the hostel. When I got there I had some more food to eat then went to sleep. That was the first day in Paris.

The next day in Paris.

Sunday the 23^rd of December. I went to the train station first thing. Well by the time I got there it was 1100. I was in the hostel trying to find another route to Tarragona. I thought I had found one. This one was going to work by what I had found. When I got to the train station I found out that it wasn’t possible. The trains I was going to take were going to cost a lot more than the one I had. I did book some other trains though. That was good. When I left the station I headed back to the hostel. On my way back I found a small road side market. Well more in the middle of the road. It was on the island. This market had everything you needed from clothing to footwear and food. I walked through to food section and had a look at the French delicacies. One was snails. They looked worry. It was the snail shell with what looked it green stuffing. Another on that caught my eye was live lobsters. They were on a tray trying to move. The thing I didn’t get was they weren’t in any water like what I would have expected for them to stay alive and healthy. When I finished walking through the market, I headed back to the hostel. When I arrived I had a quick bit to eat then headed up to my room. In my room I sorted out what I was going to do the next day. My plan was the go to the station and put my bag in a locker then head off to Notre’ dame, The Louvre, and a few more before heading back to the station for a night train the Barcelona.

Well now its time for bed hope my plan for tomorrow goes smoothly.

Monday.

I woke up a bit later then I expected, but it was fine. I left the hostel at around 0930-1000. The first thing I had to do before I could wander a around Paris was take my backpack to the train station. I had to leave it is a locker because I didn’t want to be walking around Paris with a big heavy bag. I got to the train station about an hour after I left the hostel. Once I had dropped my bag off, I headed to Notre’ Dame. IT wasn’t too far from the train station. The cathedral was humungous. I never really thought it could be so big. I found that it was very hard to take a picture of it without having to be a mile away. Inside it was amazing. You’ll have to look at the pictures to see what I mean, that’s if they worked. I really enjoyed it there. I walked around the wall and found that there were these little rooms on the side. They had some specific meaning to them but I wasn’t really sure what. Near the door on the right they had two confession booths. These weren’t the wooden ones you see in the movies. They were these glass walled rooms. In on of these rooms the Bishop (or what ever he is called) was sitting behind a desk and the person confessing was on the other side. Out the front of this room was a bunch of chairs for people to sit on while they wait there turn. Inside the room was a wooden booth also. Not sure what it was meant to be used for unless you got to choose if you wanted face to face or hidden. After I had seen all I could see at Notre Dame, I headed to the Louvre. The walk to the Louvre was a 20 min walk I think. On the way to the Louvre I walked past a few statues. I got pictures of them. When I got to the Louvre I was greeted by a huge building. I know why they say that if you go you stay for the day. It was massive. I didn’t go in but the size of it out side speaks for itself. The queue to get in wasn’t as big as I expected though. Maybe all the people got the early. After the Louvre I walked through a park that headed to the Arc of Triomphe. Since I had already been to the Arc I didn’t walk all the way. I just walked to the end of the park. At the end of the park I headed to the Palais De La Decouverte and Petit Palais. Yes, the Petit Palais. That is what it’s called. I didnøt go inside. I just got some pictures of the outside. The Petit Palais was small but not tiny. The other one was big compared to it though. After taking enough pictures I headed to the Hotel Des Invalides. I wasn’t sure what it was about, though I found out when I got there. I think it was an army barracks. It contained to churches. One was the church of the soldiers and the other was the church of the King. Both of these churches were split by the Memorial of Napoleon. I didn’t see it because I wasn’t willing to buy the ticket. I found out that it was there because of the map of the building out the front of the building. On my way out of the Hotel Des Invalides, I noticed a pair of steeples so I thought I would head towards them. The steeples belonged to a church called Ste-Clotilde. It was a nice church. Inside there was a group practising for a Christmas concert. Once I left the church, I headed back to the trainstation walking where ever I felt, but in that general direction. Along the way I bought myself a baguette. The baguette was really nice. I had planned on saving some of it for the train trip. I ended up eating it all. It was really good. On the walk back, I went through some nice parts of Paris that I would not have even thought of going through. It was great just to take it all in rather then trying to get to certain things and see all the touristy things. I got to the train station at around 1630-1700. My train didn’t leave til 2030. I sat and observed people coming and going. When it was finally time to leave I was ready. I had enough and was ready for a new adventure.

Pictures are on flickr. I Still have more to upload still.