Monday, March 18, 2013

The City Where I fell in Love...Paris!



I am head over heels for Paris! So Friday I was challenged with the task of navigating my way from the VCE airport to Jessica Adams' hotel...alone. No cellphone, no nothing. My flight left at 9 putting me in Paris at 10:30. From there I was instructed to take the RER to a specific stop then get on tram 2 and take that to another stop and at the top of the metro I was supposed to be able to see the hotel. An hour later and a quick hop over a tram stop I was above ground in Paris headed to the hotel. The directions were perfect and I did not get lost or panic once! When I got to the hotel I asked the lady at the front desk where I could find Jessica's room, after a while she directed me to the 2nd floor. When I got up there the first person I saw was Brooke Scott and holy mackerel did we scream! Then we found Jessica Adams and I'm pretty sure we woke up all of Paris when we saw each other. After a short while Jana strolled in from practice and it was the best feeling of excitement and relief to see so many familiar faces from home in Paris! We caught up for a few hours and then went to bed because Jessica had to fly back to Raleigh Saturday morning.


Saturday: Today Jana, Brooke and I did everything! Apparently Jana had never really done the touristy stuff so I'm glad she didn't mind showing me around. We left the hotel after Jessica left to go back to the States. When in Paris, first thing is first: Starbucks....just kidding, shopping. We headed to the Avenue des Chapes-Elysees where we found a MASSIVE and quite impressive Abercrombie and Fitch. I haven't been in one of those stores in years and here I was waiting in line to go in. Apparently that is not uncommon. There were these huge gates, a courtyard and a shirtless male model that you could get a Polaroid picture with. The inside was 4 stories of a middle school wonderland. Crazy. As we walked down the Champs we went in and out of so many cute stores, even a store dedicated to welcoming David Beckham to Paris. We eventually stopped in a Macaroon store called Laduree. Oh my it was delicious. I had never had a macaroon before and this place set the standard really high. Word to the wise: Rose Macaroons are not the best, vanilla is always a safe option. At the end of the Avenue des Champs-Elysees is the famous Arc de Triomphe! We took pictures under and around the impressive structure. Props to Brooke for having driven through the roundabout of death surrounding the Arc.

After the Arc Brooke had to split and Jana and I went in search of the popular French purse known as Longchamp. Jana took us to this fantastic shopping mall that had everything your heart could desire. And my gosh Longchamps are so inexpensive here, no wonder everyone has one! I am proud to say that we walked out of the store with Jana's first purse and she loves it! Post-purse-purchase we went to lunch and then to some really cool place with a great view of Paris that I don't remember the name of, but I have pictures! The view is breathtaking and only encouraged my love affair with Paris. Jana and I talked a lot about living abroad and what it was like for her when she moved. that conversation was the biggest encouragement for me to move to Europe after graduation. Next on the list was Notre Dame! But first we passed by Hotel De Ville and a museum with an ice rink out front, keep in mind that it had to be almost 60 degrees today. A short walk away was Notredam which is 10x more magnificent that any picture or movie have ever seen, inside and out. My words cannot do it justice but being inside was quite moving.

Jana and I were fading fast and the sun had not yet set on our day. We played around in a music store before stopping for a coffee along the river. My friend Conner had told me about a really neat book store in Paris where Fitzgerald and Hemingway used to hang out so naturally I had to go. As it turns out it was only a few feet away from where we were, diagonal to the cathedral so that was our next stop. The bookstore is called Shakespeare and Co. and it is probably one of my new favorite places. It is so tiny and old but jam packed with books. I bought Tender Is The Night by Fitzgerald in honor of our next destination: Nice.
 By the time we left the bookstore it was good and dark outside meaning it was a perfect time to see the Eiffel Tower! OH. MY. GOSH. OMG OMG OMG. When we got there I couldn't believe I was seeing it with my own two eyes. I'm pretty sure I asked Jana if I could touch it. We made it right on time to watch it sparkle on the hour and sparkle it did! Everyone clapped and cheered when it started to sparkle which made it even more awesome. I also engulfed my first Nutella and banana crepe at the Eiffel Tower, yes I said engulfed. When I was done inhaling it I freaked Jana out a little by complaining and saying "Jana someone stole my crepe." That is just how fast I ate it because it was soooooooooo good. Before we left Paris to go back to  Jana's house we blew through the red light district to I could see the Moulin Rouge. It is smaller than I expected and there isn't an elephant like in the movie but there is a windmill on top so that was the same! By the time we took all the trains and metros to Jana's town the buses to her house had stopped running soooo we hitched a ride with 18 year old boys who were madly in love with the gorgeous 6'3" blonde American model/volleyball player. End of day one. 

Sunday: My Day Alone in Paris

Today Jana had a volleyball game 5 hours away so she had to leave really early and I was to meet Brooke at the train station to go to the Louvre for the day. Only at a sorority sisters house can you still find southern hospitality on a different continent. Before Jana left she had set out breakfast food and tea for me! What a doll! I leisurely got ready and had planned to meet Brooke around 1 at the station, well that never worked.  I was running late and she had to baby sit the sweetest little girl in all of France known as the Kraken. Sorry Brooke! After reading my book and waiting at the American congregation place known as Starbucks I decided to test my system 2 thinking and put my K-T certification to the test. Mind you that when I left Jana's I had no phone, no internet connection and no possible way of telling anyone where I was or if I was even alive. After a quick ride on metro 14 and short switch to 7 I was in front of the Louvre. It was already turning into a dreary day in comparison to the day before so hanging out inside a museum sounded good to me. My Questura papers got me in for free as an EU student so I wondered around there for a couple of hours. All the while I am thinking, "Way to go Emily, you are alone in Paris. Why couldn't you be alone in Florence? It is as big as my pinky finger in comparison to Paris. And where is CIMBA? You CIMBA kids are forever running into each other. Here you are in a popular and iconic tourist destination, CIMBA has to be hanging around her somewhere. Y'all always find each other." So here I am walking aimlessly through the Louvre checking out ancient works of art and giant statues. At some point I made my way to the Mona Lisa who is much too small. Most of the famous pictures, statues and structures that I have seen are bigger than expected  but not her. Anyway, so I am standing there trying to get a glimpse of the tiny thing when I hear the all to familiar call to the wild " CIMBAAAAA!" I whip around and there is Usman, Julia, and Alexa. At that moment the Mona Lisa became irrelevant and I honestly did not even turn around for a final look before we left the room. I was so happy to have found friends in Paris. I finished touring the Louver with them and then we headed outside to take pictures with the famous glass pyramids before going across the street for a snack. I had been so occupied with not getting lost that it did not even occur to me that I was almost 6 in the afternoon and I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. I got a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette which I also inhaled. After what turned into my dinner we said goodbye and parted ways. They were headed to Notre Dame  Cathedral and I needed to go back to the mall that was in the Louvre to by an unmentionable tablet. After roaming Paris utterly alone and unconnected with the world my system 2 thinking switched to system 1. No worries, an hour later that problem was solved. However, I now had a new problem. Jana lives 30 minutes outside of Paris and the bus that runs from the train station near her to her house had stopped running which meant I was walking. After switching to 3 different metros and the RER I was in Conflans, however I still needed to take one more metro to Jana's. I knew the tram had been delayed but I could not tell for how long so I decided to ask a lady with a stroller to read the monitor to me. Despite her perfect English she still responded with "people are crazy." And that is relevant how? While waiting her husband showed up and we struck up a conversation about study abroad, Paris, the USA, their 4 year old daughter and being originally from Ukraine, etc. By this time it is a little after 10. Finally the train came and as luck would have it we were going to the same stop. Before parting the husband asked me how I was getting home and I told him that I was just walking because her house was 20 minutes up the road. I know this sounds like a dumb idea but there are angels in this world and you know them when you see them. He insisted that I call Jana to get her address and use my unmentionable new tablet to google the exact directions. I would not have gotten home without it, but just like Jana had said it was a straight shot up the road. Like a true father her gave me a a few words of advise about walking alone in the dark, being cautious and all that jazz. He wished me well by saying "be safe, God bless you and Jesus loves you" I thanked him and his family a thousand times and we parted ways. It is people like that that make traveling so pleasant. I turned a 20 minute walk in to a 15 minute trot to Jana's house where I let myself in a settled down with a cup of earl grey while waiting for her to come home. Around 11 she came home and we swapped stories about my day and her teams win! One episode of Duck Dynasty later I was sound asleep. 

Monday we had played with the idea of going to Versailles but when we woke up at 11:30 it was already cold and raining to we decided to go back into Paris. We had delicious creeps for brunch and took some super cute pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. Of course the weather had inspired us to shop so that what we did! Eventually when we were cold,tired and hungry we headed go to meet Jana's French/Moroccan friend from the gym, Seb,  for dinner.  After dinner Seb came back to Jana's apartment to escape the now snowy weather. We were later joined by Alex who is a British guy that also plays volleyball with Jana. I absolutely loved meeting her friends, and she is quite popular in her little town! We introduced them to Duck Dynasty which was hilarious! Alex thought it was ridiculous which was hilarious. Eventually the boys found a break in the snow and headed home and Jana and I went to sleep. 

Tuesday morning we woke up to almost half a foot of snow on the ground. Seriously? It was almost 60 and sunny my first day in Paris and now it is pouring down snow! Luckily my train was not canceled though although I would not have been opposed to staying in Paris with Jana. We opted to hang out in her apartment until the last possible moment because we both dread spending time in cold and snowy weather. Sweet Jana made biscuits for breakfast so we had those, cereal and tea. It was lovely! Eventually we needed to suck it up and make moves toward the station. Before we left Jana tucked a chocolate bar, Nutella packets and pack of tissues in my bag for my travels. I absolutely love her! We made it through the snow to the train station and stopped for one finally meal of creeps before taking the RER to the station where my train to Nice was leaving from. Saying goodbye to Jana was so hard and it was all I could do to hold back my tears on the train. Spending that short amount of time with her in Paris made me happier than she could ever know! When I said my last goodbye and got on the train I was only hoping that Alexa and Julia were also on the train. I was initially kind of bummed that Jana never got to meet them but apparently that was not the case. About 5 minutes after the train left the station and I had settled down with my new book here comes Alexa flying into my car looking for me. Turns put she and Julia almost got on the wrong train and in a dead sprint to our train they ran into Jana who pointed them in the right direction. I ended up moving to sit near them for the duration of the train ride. The ride was long but nice, the French country side is very beautiful and their stories and quantities of chocolate were hilarious! When we got to Nice we checked into our hostel, grabbed a late dinner and went to check out the beach which is two minutes from our hostel. I think I am going to like it here....


I miss you already Jana! Thank you for showing me Paris!!



No comments:

Post a Comment