The Adventures of Studying Abroad: Paris Day 2

Day 2 (Sunday the 20th) started in Paris with Jacob and I waking around 10 a.m. and deciding that we should start to figure out how to get home the next day. Our flight was due to leave on Monday morning at 7:15 with boarding the plane at 6:40 a.m. We figured that we would have to leave our hotel around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. in order to be at the airport 2 hours early which is usually recommended and with my punctuality it was a "must". So we were weighing our options such as take a taxi which would have been 50 euros ($68.00) which was more than our hotel costed us per night, take the buses or take the train and the metros. We went and asked our receptionist what she thought and she told us that our only option was the taxi because the trains, buses and metros didn't start running until 5 a.m.

So we asked the receptionist if we could cancel our room for the night and then we would just leave for the airport that night and spend the entire night there. She said that it was not a problem and that she understood our situation. They ended up not charging us a fee for canceling only 6 hours in advance which was greatly appreciated on our part. And on top of that they let us keep our backpacks there for the day so we could continue to explore the city without another 20 pounds on our backs. So we left our backpacks at the hotel and went out into the city for the last time.

We first took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe because I really wanted to see it. So we got off the metro and to my excitement we ended up walking by the Louis Vuitton store (Again I wish Brittney Reissman would've been with me). I told Jacob that we had to go in, so I thought of course I would just buy a keychain or a scarf assuming that they would be ten times cheaper than any of the purses and shoes that they sell. I looked at both and both cost around 250 euros ( $351) . There was no way that I was spending $351 on a keychain when I could spend that much money at home and get an amazing Coach purse or something. So we went to the upper level and to my surprise they had a book section. I scoured these bookes to find the cheapest one and one that was in English and not French, and finally found "the one". It was called Place to Kiss in Paris and was in English as well. I turned it over and to my relief it was only 6 euros. Never did I ever think that I could purchase something at a Louis Vuitton store and only pay 6 euros. So I bought it and came out with my fancy Louis Vuitton bag and a fancy reciept. And for all people knew that I spent hundreds of euros on a wallet or something but no, just a 6 euro book. What a steal! I'm sure Jacob thought I was crazy but that doesn't much matter.

Anyways, we finally got to the Arc and it is huge. There is an enormous round-a-bout surrounding it so to get to the actual Arc we had to go underground and come back up in the middle of the round-a-bout. The Arc is actually a memorial for the unknown soldier which I was not aware of and they have a flame burning at all times in his honor. There were tickets to go up to the top but again with my heights and plus trying not to spend our entire bank accounts we decided not to go to the top.

Next we walked back to the Eiffel Tower so that we could see it during the day. Again there were a million men trying to sell the Eiffel Towers and Jacob and I decided that maybe we should both get one as a souvenier. We saw some in a couple gift shops that ran about 60 euros. The guys were offering them for 15 euros a piece but I new that we could get them cheaper since they were all so competitive. I told him that all we had was 19 euros and that we wanted two of the biggest Eiffel Towers they had. He said "no, no, ma'am I give them to you for 24 euros, good price good price." I repeated to him that we wanted two of them for 19 euros. He finally caved and we got two of the biggest ones for 19 euros all together. We then decided we were hungry and having planned out our lunch we packed 4 jelly sandwiches in my backpack and decided to eat them in the park by the Tower. It was a lot of fun and we even fed some of the remaining sandwiches to the birds.

We then took the metro over to Notre Dame which is where we found tons of gift shops. That must have been where they had been hiding all of this time. Notre Dame was gorgeous and we never went in because a service was just about to start. There were a lot of military men walking around the premises with huge guns which kind of creeped me out but I know they were just looking out for the safety of the tourists. We found a little crepe shop (thanks for the suggestion Joseph Kovach) and Jacob got a sugar crepe and a banana and nutella crepe, and I got a ham and cheese crepe. They were all amazing and I wish that crepes were more prominent in the United States. I think Jacob and I will be trying to make crepes quite often when we get back.

Jacob and I also made a sustainability video for an extra credit project for our Business Management class. We found these bike systems in London and Paris where you can rent a bike (the first half hour is free) and it's a pound and hour I believe up to 3 hours maybe and then I think they just charge a day rate after that. But when someone rents these bikes they can return them to any bike terminal, it doesn't have to be the one they got if from which is very convenient and very healthy for the environment. I'll probably post our video once we finish it.

After it all we took the metro back to our hotel, grabbed our things and took the train to the airport. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. and our flight was not due to leave until 7:15 a.m. So being twelve hours early we were not allowed to clear security until it was close enough to our flight time. In the Charles De Gaulle airport they let homeless people sleep there and cause a ruckis which was pretty scary. The one positive thing from the airport is that it was constantly being cleaned. But the homeless people kept getting in fights and arguements so cops had to step in and it was quite scary to say the least. By midnight everything had shut down (restaurants and stores) so we couldn't eat anything and we hadn't eaten since 3 in the afternoon when we had our crepes. Jacob and I both got about a half an hour of sleep in the airport and had nothing to eat. We assumed that since our flight boarded at 6:40 that we would be able to pass boarder control and security at around 5:00 a.m. No, they didn't open until 6:00 which is odd because airport rules is that you show up 2 hours before your estimated departure time. So that was frustrating to say the least. We finally cleared security and got to our gate, come to find out we had to take a shuttle again to the place where our plane would actually depart from. Jacob and I had 3 seats to ourselves again which was nice. Jacob woke up in the middle of our flight and said "Hey, we're in the clouds, I didn't even know we took off!" Obviously we were pretty tired and we both slept the entire flight.

Once we got back to Edinburgh we had to take the AirLink bus back into Edinburgh and the from Edinburgh we had to take another bus into Dalkeith, all around it was about an hour trip. We made it back just in time for class, still running on almost no sleep and no food. We had class until 5 p.m. last night and lets just say that we went to bed very early.

Overall I can say that I was kind of disappointed in Paris. It was so dirty, and I've been to New York City and London and nothing can compare to how dirty Paris was. Rats by the Eiffel Tower? No thanks. Graffiti on monuments and old buildings? No thanks. Impolite French? No thanks. Granted the sights that we saw were gorgeous and I'm glad that I can say I have been there and that I've seen the Eiffel Tower, the Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame, and the Louvre but that's about it. And even though Jacob and I only were there for one and a half days I felt like I had plenty of time. I'm glad that I didn't decide to spend my Spring Break there because if I was there for 10 days I would go crazy. I felt like the city of Paris is not kept up and not really cared about. Everything was graffitied, every garbage was overflowing, there were rats, and there were a million people pestering us. I felt like London was very clean and the people were friendly and there wasn't anyone pestering us and I felt safe there. In Paris Jacob and I didn't feel very safe and at one point Jacob said "If we don't get mugged then that will be a miracle." Again, I'm glad I've been there and I had fun with Jacob, but Paris is not on my list of places to return to someday. I've been there done that. :)