We jumped on a tram this morning (the guys in Munich had made me a little complacent re public transport) thinking it'd be fine just to get to the main station (where we were meeting our ride)..that was until 3 ticket officers got on :| apparently I can lie when under pressure! I just yelled oh crap this is our stop! One officer kind of wouldn't let me pass but thankfully another door opened and we were able to escape..and they didn't follow..teach me to rebel from my usual do-gooder ways..
So we walked the rest of the way to our lift..thankfully there was another lady getting a lift to Paris so we just sat in the back and kept to ourselves..
Less than a couple of hours later we arrived on the outskirts of paris!!! We were directed to the subway and ended up buying the wrong ticket and having to pay for another (karma perhaps? :P)..found our hostel which felt as tho it was in the ghetto..pretty dirty everywhere and lots of Africans about..it reminded my of Nairobi so I at least had experienced something similar, I think it was a shock for Elle..there were also loads of security tags in our bathroom that'd been burnt off clothes, super dodgy..but we went for a walk up to the stunning sacre-coure church :) had amazing views of Paris and we were lucky enough to enjoy some awesome African buskers for a while..walked around the beautiful Montmartre area where there were loads of artists showcasing their work..lots of little cafés everywhere, small cobblestone streets, beautiful old buildings..certainly in contrast to where our hostel was! We walked back down along the red light district, amazed at the array of shops :S walked past the moulin rouge but decided we'd have to come back at night..which we did after dinner and it was very cool to see!!! We had climbed the many stairs back up to sacre cur to have a beer on the hill and watch the sun set over Paris..well worth it :) Had a gelato walking home and sidestepped the endless sleazy remarks of the Parisian men..
Today was a massive sightseeing day..we caught the subway to the arc de triomf which was incredible! As was the chaotic roundabout around it, for different reasons ;) walked along the famous Champs-Elysées avenue, which we would later discover Napoleon marched down with his soldiers after battle..couldn't get a grip on how huge everything was! First the arc and then even the streets and places..and of course the louvre, the biggest museum in the world (12km, would take almost 4 months to study each painting for 10seconds...)..to me it seemed a city for giants! But beautifully impressive..just like London, the sights were even more amazing than I expected..we crossed the love bridge with all the padlocks and met for a walking your of the city..we learnt loads!! Like..
The notre dame took 200 years to build because it kept falling down...
Some conquerer was going to knock it down but the story of the beauty and the beast saved it...
Napoleon wanted everything extravagant so he knocked down the medieval buildings and had the intricate apartments built..he also wanted an arch for when he returned from battle, hence the arc de triomf, however it wasn't going to be finished in time so another smaller one was built so he wouldn't get mad..
The pyramids in the louvre were built for the kings Egyptian wife who missed home..however they were built symmetrically in the middle like everything else (which is perfectly symmetrical on a huge scale, from the arc to the louvre) so a tree was planted to hide them from view..
Hitler ordered Paris to be exploded as 'if he couldn't have it, no one should' but his explosive expert fell in love with the art and monuments so the major things survived destruction..
And much more! An awesome tour :) afterwards we went inside the notre dame which was massive and beautiful..Elle had payed for a ticket to get to the top of a skyscraper for a view of the city so as she did that I used wifi in Macdonalds..I was happy with the view we'd had from the church and wanted to save money..as we were so exhausted from all our walking, we caved and actually had maccas for tea (rebels!) and caught the subway home..
Didn't get the greatest sleep as a man staying in our room came in late and drunk..was yelling in some other language and the man on the bottom bunk even changed rooms as he felt threatened..even when the drunk went to bed he would stop moving and mumbling and I believe at one stage he was having a little too much fun with himself..gross :S needless to say we were keen to get the hell out of there! We made our breakfast in tuppawares and headed to the train station to meet gab..couldn't believe she was actually coming! We had our luggage with us as we'd booked elsewhere so we sat, ate our brecky and waited for gab on a predetermined platform..she finally found us, we caught the train and located out new hostel which, although it wasn't the hilton, was minus a crazy man! We also had a room to ourselves which was nice..we walked around the old Jewish quarter and treated ourselves to a DELICIOUS lunch :) cream cheese bagel with roast beef and a chicken teriyaki salad..I think it was our first lunch out :P we then walked to the notre dame area where we'd seen a chocolate shop the day before that we HAD to take gab to :P was amazing! Headed back for a shower before buying some bus tickets to Lyon the next day (via a very frustrating phone conversation..) and getting some supplies for dinner (baguette, cheese, meat, tomatoes, crackers and red wine :P)..was a bit of an effort but we finally made it to the Eiffel Tower! It was all lit up and absolutely stunning..and much bigger (once again) than I was expecting..we had a picnic right at the base of it which was amazing..we then went on a pre-booked river cruise which although I'm not a massive fan of the touristy stuff it was awesome! Cruised along and saw the sights from the water..saw the people partying along the canal..we even shared another bottle of red so we were sipping on wine as we cruised through the beautiful city of lights..pretty special :)
