One of my dearest friends Hayley told me two weeks before departure that she booked a spontaneous trip to Europe to come visit moi! After my minor freakout happened, we started the planning. One thing you should know about Hayley and I, we LOVE to travel! We have mastered 5 countries (not including Canada) all within under a year's span. Here's a recap:
1) Bourbon Street, New Orelans, Feb 2010
NYC, Feb 2010
Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, Feb 2010
2) Cuba, April 2010
3) China, May 2010
Day 1: Feb 19th, 2011 - Hayley's Arrival
Went to go pick up Hayley from the airport in Paris bright and early! Thank god my friend Stef was picking up her boyfriend at the same time because I had no idea how to get to the airport from Rouen. You have to train to the Paris station, catch a metro to another station, and then hop on another train to the airport (confusing right??). When we got to the Rouen train station at 6:30am, our train was delayed by half an hour. By the time we got to the Paris train station, I wouldn't have had enough time to get to the airport in time so Stef, me, and two other american's on the train with us all split a cab to the airport. I ran off and found Hayley's landing terminal and thank god, she hadn't come out yet. And then there she was! I think we may have made quite the scene, you know, screaming, laughing, crying, hugging for ten minutes. After, we went to go find Stef and her bf so that we could cab back to the train station together (for convenience sake). One thing I've discovered about myself on this trip: I am so directionally challenged. I tried to retrace my footsteps back to our meeting spot but made a few wrong turns and we eneded up walking around the whole airport (do you know how big Charles De Gaulle is?? Well we found out that day), and poor Hayley is jet lagged and is carrying the hugest backpack ever, but I took pity and helped carry it. EVENTUALLY we found stef, cabbed to the station, and hopped on to a train back to Rouen. Out of the station, we went to the best cafe called Yvon's where Hayley got her first taste of France cuisine - an almond croissant!
We then bused back to my neck of the woods where I showed her around my campus and then headed back to residence where we got freshened up. We then headed into the city center of Rouen where I tried to show her around ("tried" because again, I'm directionally challenged) I showed her some spots I could remember, then I really wanted to take her to my favorite restaurant where I had been 4 times before..and couldn't find it. So a phone call later to Elina who knows where everything is, we found it! Except, we had a half an hour for it to open, so we went to a little pub across the street where we bought a drink and cheers-ed to being in Europe together! Then to eat we went where I got my favorite pasta carbonara dish and hayley got a scallop pasta. She couldn't finish hers so we asked for take-away but the guy tried explaining that they didn't have take-away dished for pasta. I think he saw our looks of disappointment and came back with her pasta wrapped in tinfoil bahaha, whatever works. Hayley being exhausted from her long days of travels, we head back to res where we hang low and catch up and pack for Paris!
Day 2: Feb 20th, 2011 - Paris!
Off to Paris we go! We kind of missed our first bus to the station but made the next one and still made it to our train on time (go us!). We had full plans on planning our whole stay in Paris on the train, but you know, obviously we slept. We arrived in Paris around 2pm and hopped on a metro to our hostel in the Latin Quarter - one of Paris's nicest and safest districts with a huge student atmosphere with lots of cafes, bars, parks, etc - we decided to splurge a bit and stay in this area. We arrived to our hostel called Young & Happy, and let's just say we paid for location. It wasn't bad, just not what we had expected. We had a private room with a bunkbed and then had to share a bathroom with three FLOORS. Here are some pictures:
We arrived to the hostel before check-in time so we stored our luggage there and went exploring around the Latin Quarter, it is SOOO beautiful! First thing we did? Bought a nutella and banana crepe, mmm mmm!
Continued walking and then went back to the hostel to check in. We went to our room and literally spent two hours reading through travel books, planning out our next few days while eating leftover pasta and skittles. Once completed, we headed out around 7pm to get our next glimpse of Paree! (with a pit stop for a dinner crepe). Can you guess what our first destination was??
If you guessed Eiffel Tower then you guessed correct! We nearly spent two hours there just gazing at its beauty. Here are some pictures I took:
After, we metroed back to the hostel and got a good night's sleep for the following busy day ahead of us!
Day 3: Feb 21st, 2011
8:00 wake up call! Went for breakfast in the hostel (included) which consisted of a roll and croissant with cereal, coffee, and juice. Hayley and I being the brightest bulbs that we are, both managed to forget a converter for the plugs and both of our camera's batteries were running low so we started the day on a converter hunt. We walked into about 5 stores in the Latin Quarter before we found one, mission accomplished. We then headed to go on a free walking tour and met outside St. Michel's Fountain near the Latin Quarter. While we were waiting in line, I saw a girl that looked really familiar. Hayley didn't recognize her but I knew I knew her so I walked over to her and asked if she was from Canada - she was. Then asked if she was from Halifax - she was. We ended up questioning each other about how we knew each other and it turns out we played in the same orchestra (HSSO) in high school! She's in England studying and was on her spring break vacation in Paris..small world! The 3 hour tour began and it was really great! We WALKED everywhere! From Notre Dame, to Eiffel Tower, to Champs elysees to Napoleon's tomb. Pictures:
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| St. Michel Fountain |
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| Brooke from Halifax! |
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| The king liked to throw parties and at one party he decided to hirer a painter to paint the expressions of every guest that attended. When he looked at the paintings the next day, he thought they were hilarious and wanted to send them as gifts, but he also wanted to keep them as a memory so he had them sculpted and now they are hung along this bridge |
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| The tree was placed there to create more privacy for the king's affairs |
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| lock bridge..you are supposed to attach a lock with your loved one and throw the key in the river so symbolize eternal love..apparently every 3 months, authorities come around and cut off every lock |
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| Napoleon's tomb. It's designed so that his tomb is in the ground so that when people go to visit, they have to look down at him as if they are "bowing" down to him. When Hitler went to go visit, he refused to bow down to napoleon so he had mirrors set up so that he could see the tomb without bowing down. Shortly after, his hat fell into the tomb, and he bent over to pick it up..then realizing that he had bowed down to napoleon. |
That concludes the walking tour. At the end, the tour guide took as to lunch where we got quiches. After, Hayley and I went to the Opera to see if we could get tickets - no can do - they were sold out for the next few weeks (boohoo) so we walked across the street to Galerie Lafayette which was ENORMOUS - a shopper's heaven. Here are some pictures of the beautiful inside:
After we decided to go back to the center of the city and go on the ferris wheel (Paris's version of the London Eye). Hayley may be a little scared of enclosed places but she survived this!
We then headed back to the hostel where we had a picnic with paninis and rose wine, then we headed to a pub down the road where everyone loved Canadians which earned us a free round of drinks, courtesy of the bar tender. We then headed back to the hostel to get our night of beauty sleep for the next day.
Day 4: Feb 22nd, 2011
Up again bright and early, we head out to master the 43 flights of stairs of the Eiffel Tower. So you know how I mentioned Hayley's fear of enclosed places? This also includes elevators. BUT to be fair, I did want to climb the stairs as an experience..and once was enough. We climbed and climbed and made it to the first level. Then climbed and climbed and made it to the second level. Then we ended up waiting in the wrong line-up three times to get to the third level that we thought it was a sign we shouldn't go up. So back down we climbed to the first level where were grabbed some food and went skating! ( Yes, they have a rink on the top of the tower, cool right??). Here are some pictures of our morning at the tower:
We then headed to the Champs Elysees where we walked up the Arc de Triomphe (don't worry, I had apologized to my feet in advance) then we shopped til we dropped (Hayley may have put a little dent in her wallet but I behaved):
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| There's on average, one car accident every half an hour in the round-a-bout beneath the Arc de Triomphe. |
After a long day we headed back to the hostel where we put our feet up for a bit, both accidentally fell asleep, woke back up at 9pm and went to an amazing restaurant around the corner from our hostel where we had mussels in cream and leek sauce for an entree, mushroom chicken for our plat, and chocolate mousse for dessert!
During dinner we planned out our last day in Paris. You see, we had been exhausted every day that we cut a few things out of our itinerary that we had to squeeze in on our last day - so back to the hostel we went and got a good night's sleep.
Day 5: Feb 23rd, 2011 - Last full day in Paris
Early morning wake-up call! We headed to the opening of Musee D'Orsay which was my favorite museum. Full of more modern art than the Louvre, and a little less overwhelming. We spent about two hours just wandering around looking at paintings and sculptures. There was no photography allowed inside so sorry, no pictures to show!
Next, we hit up Montmarte. We got off at the wrong metro stop and ended up having to walk about 20 minutes to the Moulin Rouge where we took lots of photos. We then walked all the way up to the Sacre Coeur (so many stairs!!!) We walked around and inside the cathedral and then we tried to hunt down a restaurant that the sales lady at H&M the day before had told us about (fail). So instead of walking back down the stairs, we pulled the lazy card and took a little tram like device back down where we ended up at Quick (France's fastfood restaurant).
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| The tram we took back down the hill. |
We then left Montmarte and headed to the Notre Dame which we decided to climb (why god why??). Probably the hardest thing I had to climb in Paris. The stairs were so narrow and it was a spiral staircase all of the way up which made it ten times more difficult. And when we thought we were at the top, we were only half way there. The top did have a great view and it was so cool to see the gargoyles..and imitate Quasimodo hehe.
Then we went on a hunt for a bookstore called Shakespeare & Co. When we finally found it, it was the cutest bookstore ever. The people who work there are actually travelers who can sleep among the book stacks in return for working a few hours.
After resting our feet and reading a few books, we headed to the famous Louvre. We were so tried by then that we went in, went to find Mona, walked right by it, found it again, took a picture, then pretty much left. The museum is TOO big. Our tour guide from earlier was telling us that in order to see everything in the Louvre, you would need 6 months (which we did not have).
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| Small painting? |
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| I think NOT. |
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| Oh hey Mona |
We then headed back to our hostel and found a great restaurant where Hayley and I split a cheese fondu which was amazing!!!!
We then headed back to our hostel for bed, and that concludes our adventures in Paris. Next stop? Ireland!!!! Check out the next post for a detailed journey :)
