First up, I traveled to Paris via airplane to visit Carla (an exchange student who lived with us for a semester)!! In an odd councidence, her boyfriend is living in Paris as an exchange student (much like I am in Vienna) so she decided to visit him during her break, and I, having not seen her in like 5 or 6 years, decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Now, my arrival to Paris was less than wonderful. When I got in I was like an hour late and then with the train it took another hour to get into Paris, so by the time I got there Carla and JP (her boyfriend) were not at our meeting place since apparently the airline didn`t show my plane as being late so they left a message on Facebook, but I wasn´t able to see it as I had
no internet axcess. I looked around the meeting place (in the sleeting rain, yuck) and finally desided to ask a police officer where I could find a payphone. But, as it turns out, Americans shouldn´t be the only people looked down on because the only speak one language, guess who else does? And it wasn´t even a lack of English, they didn´t speak German or Spanish. Thus begain my frustrations, also, my hatred of Paris. Turns out they didn´t know where a payphone was (through my clever use of mimeing I showed them what I was looking for) so I went back towards the station and on my way there, saw a payphone!! Oh how my heart soared, only to find out that the French payphones only take a phone card, of which I had none. So I went to JP´s apartment, but I didn´t know his last name so I was stuck standing outside. At this point I was pretty much holding back many swear words and anger. Finally, I asked a wandering Parisian (and he spoke English!!) to let me use his phone, which he did, and then everything was wonderful and grand.
The next day, despite the freezing cold, JP showed Carla and I the sights of the city. We actually walked most of the time, which suprised me when I looked at a map afterwards because man, it was quite a distance!!
First up, we sauntered over to the Eiffel Tower, passing by Voltair's old house, which was pretty nifty. Once at the tower, it was too windy and icey to actually go up to the top or even the middle, but we did manage to get some lovely obligatory tourist photos.
no internet axcess. I looked around the meeting place (in the sleeting rain, yuck) and finally desided to ask a police officer where I could find a payphone. But, as it turns out, Americans shouldn´t be the only people looked down on because the only speak one language, guess who else does? And it wasn´t even a lack of English, they didn´t speak German or Spanish. Thus begain my frustrations, also, my hatred of Paris. Turns out they didn´t know where a payphone was (through my clever use of mimeing I showed them what I was looking for) so I went back towards the station and on my way there, saw a payphone!! Oh how my heart soared, only to find out that the French payphones only take a phone card, of which I had none. So I went to JP´s apartment, but I didn´t know his last name so I was stuck standing outside. At this point I was pretty much holding back many swear words and anger. Finally, I asked a wandering Parisian (and he spoke English!!) to let me use his phone, which he did, and then everything was wonderful and grand.
The next day, despite the freezing cold, JP showed Carla and I the sights of the city. We actually walked most of the time, which suprised me when I looked at a map afterwards because man, it was quite a distance!!
First up, we sauntered over to the Eiffel Tower, passing by Voltair's old house, which was pretty nifty. Once at the tower, it was too windy and icey to actually go up to the top or even the middle, but we did manage to get some lovely obligatory tourist photos.
This was really the only main thing we did this day, picture-wise. Other than that there were various university buildings, grocery shopping, and the city's best crossoints (by the name of Paul's Cafe, simple and oh so tasty). In the evening we went to a party of JP's friends and while I feared a language barrier it turned out my fears were unfounded. As it were, there were 3 Russian girls there who didn't speak French so we were able to use English as a basis (except for me telling them my name and asking how they are in Russian, thanks Kate :-P). There was also a French girl who had lived in Iowa for a year, so we bonded over the glory of the Midwest, and the rest of the evening passed quite pleasently with crepes, ultra moist and gooey cake, and fancey cheeses.
The next day JP decided to take us to a place who's name I don't remember, but it is the white building in the right upperhand corner. From what I can remember, it's the highest/northernmost part of Paris.
After reaching the top, we chilled on the steps for a bit, admiring the view and listening to the warblings of a nearby guitar player crooning out Wonderwall. We also went inside the church, but they didn't allow pictures so instead you get this. Silly pigeons.
And by silly I mean terrifying because seconds later there was a SWARM of pigeons!!!
On the way down, oh so many stairs
I found this both amazing and a subtle reminder of the freezing cold :-D
Once we left the church place it was decided that we would take the long way back to JP's place, a.k.a we walked, which I didn't actually figure out until we arrived at his place without ever getting on a tram, much to my suprise. I have to say I was really impressed by JP's knowledge of the city, its landmarks, and his ability to just navigate. As I will eventually be playing host myself to some family members, I'm still trying to figure out a)what to do with them and b) just how I'll remember what buildings are actually interesting buildings and/or the names of said buildings.
I just realized I'm kinda sleepy, so prepare for a rapid-fire summary of the rest of the trip. Sorry about this, but I'll put up the rest of the pictures on photobucket and give a better summary on the Finland portion of the trip.
So, after the church we walked to a rather touristy part of the area that included oh so many souvigner shops as well as an Artist's Square that was just next to Picasso's house.
We stopped for a quick lunch (croissonts again,mmmmmm) before visiting some huge fancy shopping center (like the largest in Europe) and the opera house, which was swankyness incarnate. Of course, as per any normal tourist, we also went to scope out the Moulin Rouge, though to get there we wandered through the red light district of Paris. As it was day, we were saved from seeing any people of dubious character, though there wer buildings a plenty, some that made for slight entertainment.BEHOLD, THE SEXODROME!!! Possibly the most amusing name ever, I laughed from like a minute
Subway enterence next to Lourve
Apparently it's a tradition for couples to put locks on the fence of the bridge over the river with both their names on it. 
After regaining our strength and energy we went back out into the night to walk about a bit more and admire all the fancy lights of the city.
On this street there was a Christmas market, which was fun to see but the prices were soooooo expensive that I found myself missing Vienna prices. Who knew that was possible?
Once we walked down the street (only once, remember, soooooooo cold), we all went to a student housing building where one of JP's friends lived. There I learned a) In Paris the ultra fancy beer comes in what looks like champagne bottles and
After regaining our strength and energy we went back out into the night to walk about a bit more and admire all the fancy lights of the city. On the street next to the Arc d' Triumph
On this street there was a Christmas market, which was fun to see but the prices were soooooo expensive that I found myself missing Vienna prices. Who knew that was possible?Once we walked down the street (only once, remember, soooooooo cold), we all went to a student housing building where one of JP's friends lived. There I learned a) In Paris the ultra fancy beer comes in what looks like champagne bottles and
B) Brazilians get silly when drunk/bored waiting for the bus
The next day, I went my seperate way to Finland while Carla and JP went to Oslo to visit a Norwegian who had been in La Crosse the same time as Carla.
The next day, I went my seperate way to Finland while Carla and JP went to Oslo to visit a Norwegian who had been in La Crosse the same time as Carla. 
No comments:
Post a Comment