What can you say about Paris? It honestly is really all it's cracked up to be and more. I really loved it and I thought it was extremely beautiful. The Eiffel Tower was awesome, Versailles was so pretty, and the view from the Sacre Coeur was breathtaking. I think I would go back to Paris in a heartbeat, but the only difference is the second time around I would have more money and have a nicer hotel. Other than that it would be just as great.
Speaking of hotel, the first big "adventure" in Paris was all about our hotel room. Here's a good tip for everyone wanting to go to Paris: You can't sneak people into a hotel room in Paris. We tried and we failed. Our hotel made us turn in our key before we left and then pick it up when we came back. When we first checked in, Sammy, Todd, and I went in and found out that we couldn't get into our room until after 3. We could have left our bags there, but decided not to since the other three couldn't. When we came back after 3, we had six bags between the three of us for three nights. The man helped us by putting all of our bags into the lift so it could meet us at the top of the stairs, but I'm sure this only aroused suspicion because why would three people need six bags for three nights? Well we were concerned about what we were going to do the rest of the afternoon and by the time we were ready to go back we just decided that we would all go in and just go for it. Todd and Jake went straight up the stairs, but we were all stopped immediately. There were two men and they began questioning us, asking us how many people there were, didn't we only have three beds for three nights, who is actually staying in the room, why are these other people there. We all kind of froze, but Jake was able to spit out quickly, "Oh, we're not staying, we're just getting our bags." They wanted to know why we had their bags and we explained that they couldn't check into their hotel earlier so we were holding them. Well the asked who was actually staying and Sammy pointed to me and Todd. They let us go up and get their bags, but the other three couldn't come up. We got their bags and we all said good-bye and planned on when we would meet in the morning. I walked with Katie, Jake, and Mitch to find a hotel and we were just worried about not finding anything for three nights at 11pm. We were very lucky though and found a hotel around the corner, but sadly it was not the nicest hotel ever. They only had a tiny room for the toilet and the shower was just in the middle of the room. I think we had the slightly better deal in terms of room, but trust me when I say our room wasn't much nicer.
Another disaster we had was when we went to a cafe the first day to just get something to drink. Well Sammy wanted water, but none of us knew how to say water. When the woman came to take our order, we were able to spit out the other things we wanted, but we had no idea how to say water. We asked if she spoke English and she said no, so we proceeded to say water in four different languages. We're pretty sure she knew what we were saying, but she wasn't going to budge. We gave up on the water and then we stared at the menu and finally found some bottled water. We asked for Vittel and she immediately knew what we wanted then. I think that was one of the most frustrating parts ever.
Another thing that happened on the first night was our horrible decision for dinner. We were all so tired and had walked around so much that first day that we were all fine with settling for fast food. Well we saw Quick Burger, which we assumed was like McDonald's. We were horribly wrong. It was actually pretty expensive for a meal and the food was horrible. There was nothing quality about it and I think my sandwich had been sitting there since they opened that morning. My bread was hard and the chicken and tomatoes were practically stuck into the bread. The place wasn't that clean either and there were some really sketchy people there. We were bothered by some women asking for money for their families and then we saw a man talking to himself in the corner. It was not a nice place at all and I would never ever go there again!
Besides those problems, we had a pretty easy time of getting around the city. After getting a free map on the first day from a very creepy man, who Katie wonders if he even had pants on, we were able to find our way through the city. I was even able to give a French girl directions on the first night to a museum! That was a very proud and accomplished moment for me.
When we went to Versailles, we all went with baguettes to eat for lunch and some of us had 1.5 liters of water with them. Well we discovered when we got there that we couldn't take food or drinks in, so what did we do? Naturally we then began to eat everything. We were all standing outside the building where you buy your tickets pulling and tearing off pieces of bread and dipping it into peanut butter. Todd even had a little jam from breakfast that morning. I'm sure that everyone that saw us probably wondered what the heck we were doing and we definitely looked like peasants. Todd then chugged practically all of his water and we were all pretty full after that. It was quite the sight to behold.
It was a really great trip though and we were able to see so many awesome things. I can now say I've seen the Mona Lisa, climbed to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, been to Versailles, had a real French baguette, and walked along the red light district of Paris. Those are some major accomplishments!
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