Exhaustion is the best way to describe after the day before, and when I woke up to a rainy skylight in our little Korean Hostel, I was did not hop out of bed. More like laid there for a bit, and got a little nauseous at the smell of homemade Korean food for breakfast downstairs. Rice for breakfast, no thank you. We lazily started our day and made our way out of the hostel. Not before true globalization occurred in the hostel dining room. A man tried to speak in Spanish to Stacy so she could translate it to English for Laura who could translate it into French for our Korean host. The beauties of hostel living. I also realized how this type of traveling is only something young people would do as I brushed my teeth as a girl shared the small bathroom with me blow drying her hair. Make friends wherever you go.
We headed towards the Eiffel Tower on the metro. We were on the hunt for this Parisian Bakery that Sue Curry had seen on the Sunday CBS Morning show, famous for its butter cookies. I instantly thought of my momma and her butter cookie song. We found the bakery, no problem, and order a bag of butter cookies and some pan de chocolate (aka croissants with chocolate in them). And when I say WE ordered, I mean Laura ordered in French while we all smiled. We headed down the street to find a coffee shop to grab something warm (another rainy day in Paris) and found a little cafe on the corner. What we didn't realize is that this place was actually selling gold laced beverages (or at least the prices made it seem so) because Claire's bottle of water was 4 euro. The hot chocolate I enjoyed was mighty deliscious and we let go of the hostility and soaked up the fact that we were in a Parisian Coffee Shop on a Saturday morning.
I had developed a love affair with the Eiffel Tower so we headed in that direction. Me and Stacy thought it would be a good adventure to go up in it, because how many times in your life can you say "I went up in the Eiffel Tower". Not often. Claire and Laura were not as impressed, but it was a moo point because the line was ridiculous, the weather was terrible and the plan was aborted. We found a bench and enjoyed our croissants with a close up view of the Eiffel Tower and the familiar sounds of vendors offering their souvenirs at just ONE EURO. Debating what to do, the most reasonable choice was to head to the Louvre for some indoor activities. We had originally planned on doing it the next day (since the 1st sunday of every month is free) but we decided that we'd rather adjust to the weather. We stopped in some gift shops on our way and located a dinner cruise flier. We had decided it would something that we would enjoy so we contacted the rest of the troops (Stevie & Co. ) and invited them to partake with us that evening. We found the Louvre easily on the metro and headed to information.
We had heard that EU students can get in free to the Louvre (instead of paying the 9.50 euro) so we went to information to find out. We also wanted to find a wheelchair for Laura, whose ferocious crutching needed a break as her foot was throbbing. We found out that we did not have to pay, and that Laura could get a wheelchair free of charge. Success. After some confusion, we realized we had to get tickets (despite our free admission) so we waited in line. Laura and Claire got to cut the line (because of the wheelchair) which didn't make sense because Laura is the only one who got to rest in line. However, I did love the wheelchair (for many reasons) but initially because it gave me a place to hang my jacket and backpack.
We got seperated from Laura & Claire, but we headed towards the Mona Lisa, knowing/figuring that would be the most logically place that we'd all go. Stacy and I were glad when we found Claire & Laura again, so Claire could tell us the historically significant pieces and Laura could translate the French for us. Prior to finding them, I employed what I like to call the "crowd method", basically looking at the pieces that had the most people around them since those were probably the most famous ones. We walked through the Michaelangelo exhibit and saw the famous Cupid and Psyche statue. Claire would later tell us the story of them and how the moral of the story is that "wherever your heart is, your soul will be too". Beautiful, right?
Reunited, we headed to find Mona. Now the mystery of Mona. It is notably one of the most famous and iconic paintings in the world. I find it kind of bland looking. The mystery surrounding Mona and who she was, as well as the composition of the painting are said to be what make it so famous. The crowd method was apparent when we found Mona, and she was surrounded by a crowd of people. It made it difficult to take a picture of it (bonus points to the Louvre for allowing photography). However, the beauties of the wheelchair came clear when one of the museum workers motioned for us to come with her. We found our way in front of the crowd, behind the ropes, but she motioned for us to go in front of the ropes. So we did.
Yep, in front of the crowd and the ropes, close to the Mona Lisa. I took advantage of the proximity to the Mona, to have Claire snap a photo for me. I guess the workers thought we were abusing our privileges because supposedly the made some harsh remarks to us (in french) and we bid farewell to Mona.
I think that the workers in the Lourve had been so hospitable to the wheelchair because of how UN-accessible the Louvre is. We walked around in circles trying to navigate, and we had to take these shady elevators that reminded me more of "dumbwaiters" then meant for people. People kept running into us, and I had to swerve around many people backing up to admire works of art as I pushed Laura around the Louvre. We kept walking around in circles and unable to find how to get to the Venus de Milo so we begun asking the staff. One of the workers literally stopped traffic so we could pass and then indicated to us that her colleague would open a passage way for us. We found her "colleague" and after getting on a secret phone, she opened a secret door for us to pass through.
Like I said, we never do anything standard on our travels. We found our way to Venus, and then decided we'd seen enough of the Louvre and heard the security buzzer go off enough times. The Louvre is huge and you could actually spend multiple days there, depending on your love or interest in art.
We stopped at the foodcourt to hydrate and fuel up before heading back into the Paris rainy day. We made our way to Notre Dame, hoping to see inside before Easter Mass the next day. We stopped at a giftshop and found some cool Parisian posters. After unsuccessful haggling, we made our way to the river boat stop so we could reserve our dinner cruise. We made friends with the worker and he developed a love for Claire. We then made our way to Notre Dame and it began to rain (again).
I broke out my umbrella which had at this point, seen better days. We found shelter and a bathroom in a Subway. Stacy and I wandered a bit as it stopped raining and saw a beautiful rainbow! Perfection. Claire and Laura joined us and the rainbow got better. I love rainbows and sunshine. We sat by the river for a bit, then moved towards Notre Dame and sat along the River Seine as we enjoyed the sunshine.
We wandered for a bit then headed to board our boat at 7:30. We met up with Stevie, Nisha, Alicia, and Anna and boarded. We got a drink, roll, and dessert upon entrance and a tray to indicate our dinner choice..chicken or fish. We had lovely window seats and soon we were in motion. The life of cruising in Paris. It was dusk and everything was magical. Well, and rainy. We enjoyed our dinner cruise and relaxed and took it all in. The Parisian architecture is just so classy and ofcourse, my love, the Eiffel Tower. Best part, the boat played "Rock the Boat" at least twice.
There were some interesting things about the cruise. Like the man who decided to pee along the river and thus we all waved, making sure he knew we all saw him. Then there was the little Aladdin cave that we were pretty sure someone lived in. If I was homeless, living along the Seine in Paris doesn't seem too bad. And ofcourse the camera girl who came around and took papparazzi shots of us. Like mug shots. For 10 euro, no thanks.
We disembarked the boat and Stacy and I decided we wanted more time with the Eiffel Tower. We left Laura and Claire at a crepe stand and headed to the metro under the direction of Anna. We met up with Stevie, Nisha, and Alicia there and we all headed to make the 10 o'clock lightshow. The metro was full of interesting folk on Saturday night, including a man who wanted Alicia to know that she was FAKE. He even spelled it out, vocally and then with a marker on the subway wall. He then made some Barack Obama and then called her Whoopi. Ah how I had the desire to watch Sister Act. We finally got off the metro near the end of the Eiffel lawn (after multiple transfers) and ofcourse it was lightly raining. We made it near the Eiffel just in time to watch it sparkle.
We sat there for a bit, and then bid farewell to Stevie, Anna, Alicia, and Nisha. We headed under the Eiffel Tower and then, seeing there was little to no line to go up, decided that we wanted to go up in the Eiffel Tower. There are two ways to go up... option 1, take an elevator to the 2nd floor and then take an elevator to the top. or option 2, take the stairs to floor 2, and then take an elevator to the top. Option 2 is cheaper and also the option that didn't have a line. So we got to climbing. After my bag got searched by security...just souvenirs I said, "and a brush" replied the man. Someone with a sense of humor. Finally. We paid our 8.50 euro and got our quads ready.
Lots of steps. Never ending. Our legs were burning and we had worked up a sweat by the time we got to floor one. Then we had to keep climbing to floor 2. It was ridiculous. Climbing IN THE EIFFEL TOWER. Unreal. We got to the 2nd floor and found a ridiculous line for the elevators. We found the place to wait, by the sign that indicate "TO THE TOP".
On the 2nd floor
We ended up waiting for about an hour to get into the elevator. Luckily for us, a family in front of us provided the entertainment. It was a mom and a dad, a sister (probably 16 or 17) and a brother (17-20) named Billy. Billy had decided it'd be a good idea to wear shorts on the 40 degree, windy, wet night in Paris and Billy was not in the mood to wait in the crowded line to go up to the top. He told his parents he was just going to wait at the bottom for them. The dad told him about 398 times he should just wait in the gift shop. The sister made a comment to the parents that Billy was going to regret this. And so the mom decided it'd be appropriate to shout to Billy..."Billy ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?". And you wonder where the loud obnoxious American stereotype comes from.
The Eiffel sparkling while we were on the 2nd floor.
When we finally got to the front of the line, we boarded the elevator and headed up. Now I am not afraid of heights nor am I afraid of enclosed spaces but this elevator ride gave me a slight panic attack.
All I wanted to do was get out of the elevator, but it seemed like we just kept going and going. When we finally reached the top, and into the top of the Eiffel Tower, I revealed my panic to Stacy. We headed to the outside portion and got blown away. It was so windy, which made it a little creepy, but luckily the tower is pretty stable. We took some photos at the top and then returned to the inside to get in line to ride the elevator to the bottom.
It was so windy, hence the hair and the large smile plastered on my face.
I called my mom to tell her I was at the top of the Eiffel Tower, but she didn't answer. We were in a bit of a hurry, since it was passed 12 and we weren't sure what time the metro stopped running. We got in the elevator back down, and made jokes with a couple (American I'm assuming) about my fears since once we boarded the elevator we were in it for a few minutes (until we said please) before it started moving. We got off the elevator on the 2nd floor and hit the stairs. Lots of them. It was much harder to go down, because the steps were now wet and we were trying to move fast and the light was blinding. We finally made it to the bottom, and headed towards the metro station. We stopped at a crepe stand to ask how late the metro ran, and when the man said 2 am, we decided we had time for a banana nutella crepe. We had just done a lot of stairs. We enjoyed our crepes as we walked to the metro.
More interesting metro people. A woman playing the guitar. So far I'd seen a man playing the accordian, a guy playing the trumpet, and a few guitar players on the metro. Then there was a guy who proclaimed to be Barack Obama from the US of A...the United States of Africa. Then there was a man either rapping or chanting a prayer...not really sure. We made it back to Little Korea safely and Claire let us in because our key didn't work. Also noted was the keychain that had the hostel key on it was for an ammunition shop and had a bullet in it. Interesting.
I took a shower, but must have been half a sleep because I forgot my towel on my bed so I used my sweater to wrap my hair and put on my pajamas. Ah roughing it. It was time for bed. Another adventurous day for sure.
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