Au Revoir Paris

As quickly as we arrived in Paris, we had to leave again. Though we only spent a few days there, I think we accomplished a good amount. There are still a few things on my bucket list, but I’m sure I’ll come back to Europe. Our final day was not solely spent on a train, no. We made the most of our final day. We had breakfast at the bakery down from us, Bechu, and I had a sugary, funnel cake like pastry for breakfast. I realize that isn’t very healthy, but when in Paris, one is meant to eat all the pastries one can get their hands on. So that’s exactly what I did. From there we went to see Sacre Coeur, which is a beautiful church on a hill more towards the outskirts on the city. When we rode the ferris wheel we could see it all lit up in the distance, which was beautiful. We took the metro all the way there and found our way to the church. It’s spectacular. Its architecture is not like any other churches I have seen in London or Paris. It almost looks Russian or Indian.  As I mentioned, it’s on top of a hill so you have to climb a ton of steps to get to the actual church. You walk up several steps and there are different lookout levels, each with an increasingly spectacular view of Paris. I really like bird’s eye views of cities. After climbing up tons of stairs, we made it to the front of the church.  Mass didn’t start until 11 so we were able to go inside, which was so beautiful. Inside the domes in the roof were beautiful murals. Quite overwhelming. No pictures inside though.

One thing I noticed here was the abundance of street peddlers and beggars. I had been expecting beggars/gypsies at Notre Dame but not here. There were men trying to sell you things and talk to you. I felt as though I had to guard my purse all the time. There were also people asking for money outside. Like you would be trying to take a picture and sense someone was getting closer to you and your purse. Ah! Go away! It was a bit sketchy and disrespectful of the church. I was glad we got to see this place though.

We popped in a few shops before heading back to the hotel. On the metro we came across another gypsy/beggar woman who was walking through all the cars singing and asking for money.  Walking back to the hotel, we made our final stop at Bechu. We still had one more French food we needed to try. We needed macaroons. I had a caramel one and Emily had chocolate. We also got giant ferrero roches with edible gold flakes on them. That’s right. Edible. Gold. We saved these treats for the train. After, we packed our things and checked out of the hotel. So sad. We took a cab to the train station, but this cab was far different. Our driver was extremely nice, though I don’t think he knew much English, and drove calmly like a normal person. He was so nice and even pulled over a few times to let us take a picture or two. We requested that he drive down – so that we could see all the high end stores. The most impressive must have been the Louis Vuitton store that was three stories tall. Once again at the train station, there were people heckling us for money. It was so bad our cab driver had to tell them off. The train station in Paris is nowhere near as nice as the one in London. We really had no idea where to go, but followed a bunch of people and eventually found departures. We had to wait in a super long line in order to get through security. It was a good thing we got there super early. By the time we made it through border control and all that mess, (I got another stamp!) we had barely enough time to pick up a quick sandwich and get on the train. We ate our lunch and desserts on the train as well. Sadly our sweets had been a bit destroyed during our travels, but no worries, because they tasted just as tasty. For the majority of the ride, I wrote out my blog posts about my Parisian weekend. When we were getting off our train in London, we noticed that some girl had apparently been arrested at some point during our journey. She was handcuffed with no shoes on and no bags. She really didn’t seem all that concerned and was smiling a bit. Crazy.

We made it back to the apartment and were able to rest for a bit before going to top up our phones and go to dinner. We settled on eating at The Green Man, which is the pub we tend to go to. I had the Walker’s chicken, which was basically, chicken with bacon on it with a tomato basil sauce and barbeque sauce poured on it. It was really good. I also had a cider, of course. We then send Mrs. Morgan off to her hotel and relaxed a bit before going to sleep at like 10pm.

As promised, here are my observations of French people and Paris in general:

• Paris isn't as pretty or unique as London, though I may be biased
• Like I said before, people smoke A LOT. That must be one reason they are all so skinny. But seriously, it's like 24/7
• They have more cafes in Paris and people love to eat outside
• Once again, they smell awful. Seriously.
• They are quite environmentally friendly, with all their motion sensored lights and such. I don't know if this is for the environment or what, but we had to ask to have a napkin at restaurants.
• The food comes so fast! Like under 10 minutes. I was really impressed.
• The majority of people that we met spoke English, which made me feel so uncultured. It was also very helpful.
• I saw a lot of men carrying thier wives purses.
• I was expecting to see loads of people making out, but I only saw one person. In London, it's everywhere.
• I saw so many dogs here, and they were typically little froo froo dogs, though I did see one or two golden retrievers.
• People like the cheat the metro system by jumping the barriers

So that was Paris! I am already started my list of things to do when I go back someday, but for now, I think I accomplished a lot for four days.  And I managed not to get anything stolen!

Week Four: Day Seven: BLC 21