Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Paris! Non veut dire non, n'est-ce pas?

Well I suppose the sooner I write this the better. There's lots to say and show, so if I don't go into detail, just comment or ask me and I'd be happy to elaborate.

A friend of mine, Becca, invited me to go along with her and three other Asians (sorry, but it was just a topic all weekend..) to go to Paris. This was only possible due to a wonderful thing in Germany (and surrounding ares) called Mitfahrgelegenheit or "ride along opportunity". It's a website where people post drives they'll be making, offering to take people along over certain destinations, for a small fee. It most usually is much cheaper than the train. I managed to find some people who were going to Paris on Saturday and then some others who were coming back on Monday. Luckily everyone still had seats, and I was good to go. It's kind of like non sketchy hitchhiking, and it's completely trustworthy, though, of course, some experiences are better than others.

I got into Paris and met my friends who had taken the train. Two of them had created an amazingly detailed itinerary, complete with maps, metro stops and directions, prices, most of the important places, etc. Gotta love Google and Wikitravel. The first important thing to note is that in Europe, one pays by person in a hotel. I'm not sure how it works in the US, but I remember putting my whole a family in a room and not paying for 7 people. We had booked a room with a double bed, thus technically only two of us were allowed. The other members of the group had gotten good as sneaking additional people into hotel rooms earlier in the summer, so by this time they were pros at it. This includes scoping out the hotel during check it, taking our bags with them, or as much as they could, and then us entering the hotel in waves at night, and the same in the morning. The sleeping arrangements were quite amusing. We slept four on the bed horizontally and one on the floor, for whom we had to request an extra blanket. During the day, we put up the do not disturb sign, so that no maid would notice the ridiculous number of toothbrushes out, etc. You may wonder why we didn't use a hostel. There are lots of reasons, but this was probably the cheapest. I only paid 23EUR for lodging the whole weekend (two nights).

Saturday consisted of roaming around the Louvre gardens, the Tuileries, and then going on a New City free Paris Tour. There is a company that does free tours of certain European cities and you just tip what you feel appropriate at the end. The tour guides are all young people, mostly made up of foreigners who have been living there and have come to love the city. Most tours are 3-4.5 hrs long. Ours didn't necessarily include a lot of walking, since we stopped a lot to hear what our guide had to say. She was great, and I learned much more about Paris than I ever knew, which isn't saying much, since I didn't know much to begin with. :) We met at Place St. Michel in the Latin quarter ( so named b/c it's where Sorbonne University is, and when it was first founded, Latin was the only language spoken there.) and continued to the police station, Pont Neuf, Ile de la Cite, Louvre, Tuileries, Champs Elysees, etc. We must have stopped at more, but she also showed us a lot from the distance. I would definitely recommend the company if you ever go to Europe.

Afterwards we headed out to dinner in the St. Germain area, which is a great place to hang out in the evening. Not the most expensive food but not the cheapest. From there we went to the Eiffel Tower. We didn't have time to go up that day, so we just walked around and laid out on the lawn. It was so surreal. It's the one icon of Paris, and yet while lying under it, I still couldn't believe I was there.

The next day we headed to Versailles. It's ridiculously expensive to go tour, especially because at this point they have certain water/music shows in the garden, making the garden cost extra, which it ususally doesn't. It's a very odd feeling walking around this palace, knowing what took place in certain rooms. Palaces are similar to cathedrals, in that once you've seen one, you've basically seen them all. I read a lot about Marie Antoinette, so this palace meant a lot to me. However, when standing in the hall of mirrors, it doesn't seem quite as majestic anymore. I'm not trying to be negative. It was still awesome being there, but as a friend pointed out once, sometimes the reality of locations dreamt about don't perform up to par. Versailles has been a dream and when it became reality the clouds and distant longing disappeared. It became what it truly is, instead of a figment of my imagination. I think this had to do with the fact that no one lives there anymore. I'd like to see what effect Buckingham Palace has on me. In the end, I think a previous revelation of mine fits this scenario. Although I like traveling, I much prefer living in certain places for longer amounts of time and trying to become a 'local'. In that way, I'd much rather be a part of history or relive it than walk hallowed halls.

Due to time constraints we weren't able to make the catacombs, so we headed over to Notre Dame. I had bits and pieces of my first trip to Paris still in my memory, and everything was the same, down to the altar and candleabra on it. The structure is of course incredible, most especially the side transepts. Apparently it was the first cathedral to use flying butresses...shows what I know. We spent relatively little time there and headed over the Eiffel Tower to actually go up this time. It was like waiting in line at Cedar Point, I was in such a good mood. We only went up to the second floor, as opposed to all the way to the top (13th I think?), in order to save money. It was kind of amusing picturing where Tom Cruise proposed to Katie, but in general, it was very exciting to go up, because this was something I hadn't been able to do during my first stay in Paris.

We then headed to Sacre Coeur, which some people claim is more beautiful from Notre Dame, at least from the outside. It's a church in the Byzantine style situated atop Montmartre. It is quite beautiful and calming. I believe that while there, one would like nothing more than to sit on the steps and lawn and look over Paris or picnic. It is remarkable how quiet people are inside. Absolutely no one breaks the rules in this basilica, which leads one to ask why and why it's not possible in other churches. I could spend countless hours in Montmartre, as could most people, I think. As you may have guessed, I love going to places that I've read about or studied. Thus Montmartre had a special place in my heart due to my CompLit class last semester on the Harlem in Paris. It would have been nice to track down specific establishments, but alas, time did not allow for such reminiscing.

Monday, the rest of the group left early in the morning (read checked out of hotel at 5:345am), while I stayed the rest of the day. This means I got to wander around the city for a LONG time. This was also the epic day of being hit on. Thus the title of the entry, "No means no, right?" I think I got hit on about 4 times, and that doesn't include some guy's second attempt. Since our hotel was a block away from the Bastille, I just headed down that way before heading into town. Pick up attemt number 1. Some Arab guy who wanted to get coffee with me and sing Arabic to me. At 6am I was more than not interested. He actually would not leave me alone and somehow managed to give me a kiss on my forehead before I escaped (and yes that is the appropriate verb, since that is what it felt like). I think I'm WAY too nice to strange men, but so far I'm safe....

I then headed down to the Champs Elysees, so that I could see the Arc. It was quite nice being there so early in the morning, as I got to see the sun rise and there was absolutely no traffic around, which basically doesn't happen otherwise. On my way down back into more central Paris, this black guy started talking to me. He was actually quite nice and much less pushy or insistant than the other guy. He's merely worth noting for keeping track purposes and that these two guys occured within probably 20-40min of each other. I wanted to head down to the Sorbonne campus, and although I didn't find it/was too lazy to trek the entire way without knowing if I was actually going to find it, I managed to see more of the Latin quarter.

Later I ended up sitting in the Louvre gardens again and just tried to enjoy the sun and take a small nap, since I was exhausted. Thus begins pick up number three. I seriously think I was asleep when he was calling to me. I opened my eyes to see someone bothering me from my slumber, and although some people would call him good looking, I was not a happy camper, also knowing what was coming. I don't even know what the conversation contained anymore, just that he wins for most bizarre and uncomfortable offer. He wanted to get something to eat and shower together. My French is good enough to know I didn't misunderstand. He would not leave. At some point he squatted down and tried to get me to give him a good bye kiss, which I thankfully avoided. He said I was mean. Finally he left (I left a lot out...), at which point I decided to move to a different location because of him and the sun had moved. I accomplished the latter and found more sun. Unfortunately said guy came back and found me. ( I wasn't THAT far away from before, but still...)He said he missed me and continued to give me the same offer as before. I told him there were other pretty ladies in Paris, but he said I was the prettiest (whether or not that was true :P doesn't matter...) I just ignored him this time till he left. He basically put me in a pissy mood for the rest of the day, and at that point I just wanted to be home. Unfortunately is was only like 11am. The rest of the day is not worth retelling. All in all the trip to Paris was a lovely success, but there is much to be accomplished in the future there.

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