Paris

I always hope for smooth traveling, especially when it comes to getting from the airport to where I need to be.  Sadly this hardly ever happens, and my trip to Paris was no exception.  I got to the Paris airport after a delayed flight, no big deal.  I had my route mapped out for my trip to the city on the train.  And wouldn’t you know it?  The train station at the airport was closed when I got there, not sure why.  So they bused us somewhere, I had no idea where.  I had to figure out how to get from that station to downtown so I could make my metro transfer.  With the help of a nice metro worker I finally made it to the correct platform.  The rest of the trip went without a hitch and I made it to the hotel.


The rest of my trip was surreal.  I started my day of on Saturday by eating a crepe with Nutella in the lawn of the Eiffel Tower.  It was amazing.  I just sat there and people watched for a little while.  Then I made my way to Hotel de Invalides.  The garden was beautiful!  I took a few pictures (of course) and was on my way to the Arc de Triomphe.  On the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, I stopped at few stores and did some shopping.  The city workers were starting to set up the grandstands for the final leg of the Tour de France.  It was a bustling street!  After seeing what there was to see, I took the metro to Notre Dame – the cathedral, not the university.  The inside of the cathedral was beautiful.  I also decided to go up to the towers and take pictures of the city with the gargoyles.  The wait was really long, but it was worth it.  The view of the city was amazing.


For dinner I sat down at a random café not too far from Notre Dame.  While I was looking at the menu, some random French guy sat next to me and tried to talk to me.  The problem was that I speak no French and he spoke no English.  We communicated a little, but not very effectively.  He tried to find someone to translate for us, and asked the man sitting behind us.  The man also spoke no French, but I could talk to him!  He turned out to be Tom the physics professor from Duke University.  As I was leaving the café I gave the waiter a tip, and in return he dragged me inside to the bar and gave me a glass of champaign. :-) The professor and I went to a concert outside of Hotel de Ville.  Eventually I had to leave for my photo tour.  The photo tour was worth every penny.  I learned a little and got some great pictures out of it.  Please see my flickr account to see the pictures!  I will try to post them as soon as I can.


Today (Sunday) I slept in because the photo tour went kind late.  I didn’t get back to the hotel until after 1am.  I ate breakfast at a café near the hotel.  It was delicious!  My first stop was the Museum d’Orsay.  I love Impressionism, especially Vincent Van Gogh, and so that was my museum of choice.  Sadly I didn’t have time to go to the others – maybe next time?  After that I wandered through the garden near the Louvre.  There was a lot going on around there – the spectators were waiting for the bikers to go through on their final race leg.  I spent a good amount of the afternoon reading in the Royal Palace Garden.  They have chairs all over the garden, so I pulled one up to the fountain and did a little reading.  I was surrounded by Parisians doing the same.  I could really get used to life in Paris… Unfortunately I had to leave and go back to Poland.  C’est la vie.  I would definitely recommend Paris if you ever have the opportunity.  I know I will definitely try to make it back.