Paris was amazing, impressive, beautiful, and all those other adjectives used to describe it! Even with the gum on the roads, cigarette butts everywhere, and drivers that try to kill you-- Paris is something special. Even when it’s raining and you pay 11euros and wait 2 hours to go to the top of the Eiffel tower only to realize once you’re up there that it’s too cloudy to actually see anything…yup, it’s still worth it!
So, our lovely trip to Paris began Thursday around 2am when Tommaso picked me up in Brno to get to the Prague airport. Our flight was at 6am. Special.
Once we got to Paris we managed to find our way around and get to the metro station where we met Lulu!! It seemed like just yesterday that we were all living together in Ostrava. I can’t believe it had been like 3 months since I saw Lulu. And of course when I saw her I yelled “LULU! MON CHERIE!!!” and ran over to hug her-- you could definitely tell I was not French. She took us back to her apartment which is located in a really cute area of Paris- little streets, vegetable markets, boutiques, bakeries, etc…the typical thing you think of when you think of Paris.
Unfortunately she had to go to school, so Tommaso and I did some sightseeing. We saw Notre Dame and a bunch of other stuff you can see in the pictures once I post them. One thing we were reminded of was this: If you need to ask someone to take a picture of you, ask the Japanese tourists. They are the best. They will even crouch down and move around to get the best camera angle. Other people are stupid. Honestly-- if I am standing in front of some kind of monument, and I ask someone to take a picture I would assume they would realize that I would like to have the monument in the picture. Why would I want to have like 1/3 the Notre Dame and a bunch of dead space? Really, some people’s children.
Lulu cooked dinner for us 3 of the days we were there. This is extraordinary because the entire 4 months or so I lived with Lulu all she ate was musli, chocolate, yogurt and vegetables. And sometimes soup, but only the kind where you just add water. Her salad was really good, I won’t deny it, but I had never really seen her use the stove before so this was kind of crazy. The food was great Lulu!!
I also had the chance to see my cousin Nandini, but only for like an hour and a half since her hotel was REALLY far away from where I was staying, and we had completely conflicting schedules. The metro ride there was entertaining-- a drunk guy singing and stumbling around and then while walking to the hotel some man started yelling at me and saying “MERDE!!! Blah blah blah”. I really have no clue why because 1. I had just been listening to my ipod the whole time so I was kind of out of it and 2. I don’t speak French. So, there are definitely some crazy people in France, especially those that hang in/around metros. It was nice to see my cousin, and she even brought me some stuff from home/took stuff for me, so that was a bonus!
Oh yes, Lulu also informed us about the 2 rules of the Paris metro:
1. Don’t look at other people- it means you don’t like them
2. Don’t talk loudly and don’t laugh. People don’t like that in Paris!
Obviously we broke these rules. And when Tommaso was looking at me he said, “I’m looking at you because I don’t like you!” I know he’s lying.
Friday morning we got some sad news. Lukasz (who was flying from Poland and supposed to meet us) had missed his flight! Which sucked because it was supposed to be the last time I saw him before I left Europe. Boo to that!
Anyway, Friday we went to Versailles which is unbelievably opulent. It was really sunny when we got there and we were excited about the good weather but then it started to rain. Which was not so great. The gardens were cool, but definitely would be much more impressive in summer. Oh, and it was here that we realized how many people thought Tommaso and I were a couple. We asked someone to take a picture of us and they said “Ooh, get in close to each other like you like each other!” I guess it’s not that common for a male and female that are friends to travel around the most romantical city ever!
We also did a bit of shopping once sightseeing was done and I bought shoes and boots for 5 euros! I decided to take a fashion risk (I am not very fashionable) and buy some of those boots you tuck your pants into since they were only 5 euros. Now I know this is fashionable in Europe, but for me it’s weird because when it was snowing and I was younger my mom would tell me to tuck my pants into my boots so they wouldn’t get wet and I would be like, “Mom, that is so not cool”. And now people are tucking their pants into their boots all over the place. Lulu told me that it looked fine…but we’ll see if these boots ever come out once I’m back in Canada.
Tommaso and I were lucky enough to experience a bit of French student culture on Friday night because at Lulu’s school there was a party of different student groups. We pretended to be exchange students and got in free. There was free alcohol (but the drinks were really not that alcoholic), dancing, and all around good times. At 7pm. Pretty crazy! It was fun though, we got to meet a bunch of Lulu’s friends. We also learned about “the helicopter”. It’s when a guy pulls his pants down and swings his penis around. Why? I don’t know. I asked one of Lulu’s friends and they said, “because it’s funny, no?”. That happened twice. Ohhhh the French people.
Later on that night we did some walking around the area with Moulin Rouge and a bunch of sex shops, but did not go in because Lulu and Tommaso had already visited a sex shop the night before when I was with my cousin. Naughty kids!
Saturday was the day we had planned to see all the big stuff- the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Arc d’Triomphe, Place de la Concorde and it was the day with the worst weather. Raining the ENTIRE day. But still wonderful and beautiful as Paris is. We went out that evening for dinner and drinks with Lulu’s friends who are all very nice. We realized another thing: we are too poor to party in Paris. 7euro for a mixed drink is beyond my budget. We ended up going back to Lulu’s friend Helene’s apartment but were all really tired after sightseeing the entire day and also had to factor in the time change…so we left pretty early. We were waiting for a taxi back to Lulu’s at the taxi stand with a bunch of other people when some reallllly drunk people stumbled along yelling, “IT’S HER BIRTHDAY! WE NEED A TAXI NOW! CAN WE GO IN FRONT OF YOU?!?! WE REALLY NEED TO GET THE DIIIIISCO!!!” Riiiight, because when we’re tired and waiting for a taxi home it’s a really convincing argument that people should let you go ahead of them so that you can get to the DISCO!
Sunday was our last day, and turned out to be the day with the best weather. We went to the Louvre (but didn’t go inside because we didn’t have time and I’ve heard the Mona Lisa isn’t really that impressive anyway), walked around the Jardin des Tuileries, to the Hotel des Invalides to Montmartre, and back to Lulu’s and then the airport. I have to go back to Paris, it’s impossible to see all you want in just 4 days! Of course, I’ll go back when I actually have more money and don’t have to make my own baguette sandwiches and pack lunches and snacks everyday. Yes, we did that. We even brought snacks from the Czech Republic because they are cheaper! Can you say….ghetto?
At the airport there were 2 really annoying groups of people. First was this group of 4 or 5 extremely drunken Czech guys. Someone later informed me they were Czech soldiers that just came from Iraq. Anyway, they were drunk, and carrying beer in the airport and drinking it. I thought you weren’t supposed to let visibly intoxicated people on the plane…but I guess it’s ok when you fly with a budget airline. Next, there was a group of about 50 French junior high kids that were screaming and raising bloody hell. Tommaso and I looked at each other and hoped to god those people wouldn’t be on the plane. We have really good luck, both of the groups were! It was a COMPLETE gong show. The guys were being loud and drunk the entire time, the kids were running around screaming, one chick started crying and called her mom because she was supposed to sit next to one of the drunk guys and she was bawling her eyes out and on the cell phone while the flight attendant was standing there saying, “you have to turn your cell phone OFF when you are on the airplane!”. Finally, after about 30 minutes delay (fucking kids wouldn’t sit down!) we managed to get in the air and then the running around resumed. So much for sleeping on the plane! When we landed everyone clapped. Why do people do that? Are they really surprised the plane landed without incident? You’re more likely to die in a car crash than on an airplane. Should you clap every time you’re in the car and arrive safely at a destination? God, it’s like when people clap after movies. That’s stupid too.
Eventually we got our luggage, found the car, and I made it back to Brno without problems! I didn’t clap when Tommaso dropped me off, but he knows I appreciate it!
-Other stuff-
-Baguettes-
It’s true!! A lot of people in France walk around carrying baguettes! Especially in Lulu’s neighbourhood. Lulu and I had the following conversation:
Me: Lulu, how many times have you ever seen someone drop a baguette?
Lulu: Never.
Me: You have NEVER in your entire life seen someone drop a baguette or dropped a baguette yourself? Or run into the side of a building with a baguette or had any other baguette related incidents?
Lulu: No, really. I’ve never seen that.
Me: I guess I better be careful with this baguette then.
-While engaged in random conversation with an American lady and her son-
American lady: You speak really good English! Where are you from??
Me: Canada
American lady: Ooooh really?
-Later on in the conversation-
American lady: I’m surprised at how rude French people are! We have manners where I come from.
Me: I live in the Czech Republic, I don’t think French people are ruder than Czechs. Plus, when you live in a touristy town you probably just hate tourists because they’re annoying. And they probably don’t like you because you’re American.
American lady: I really just don’t get it. Why wouldn’t they like Americans?
Me: Well…that whole Freedom Fries thing probably didn’t help you too much…
I love Paris!
