If you're anything like me, you may have wondered why all the ex-patriots move to Paris. So many of the greats moved there. Not only American greats, but many of the best minds from England and Ireland moved to Paris as well.
I've been to Paris before, but it was only for a day and about 5 years ago. I was excited to make my return to say the least! Unfortunately, I barely got two days in this glorious city this time around. However, I fell back in love with Paris just as quickly as I fell for it the first time.
Unfortunately Jacqui and I were down one musketeer this weekend as a marketing project kept Mary Jo from joining us as planned. However, we decided to trek on. We left for Dublin Thursday night and spent the night in preparation for an incredibly early flight on Friday. We landed in Beauvais and took the bus into the city. We hopped a couple metro trains and arrived at our hostel on Montmartre. As it was already noonish and we were very tired from a day of travels, we decided to explore around Montmartre for the day. We walked up to Sacre Coeur, which has a stunning enough view itself. We went up in the dome to take in an even more breath taking view of the city.
The plaza just in front of the church seems to be someone of a haven for street performers. One of the performers we saw was truly incredible. He started off juggling a soccer ball on a platform, which was normal enough. However, when he started doing it on a railing, we were more impressed. THEN, he went on to climb one of the iconic Parisian light poles and do tricks with a soccer ball while hanging off the side of it. Everyone on the steps was in awe! It was truly amazing.
We then decided to make our way to Pere LaChaise Cemetery. This cemetery holds the graves of many famous people including Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison. Unfortunately the cemetery was closing as we were making our way to Morrison's grave, so we never saw any of the specific graves we set out to. But we still saw tons of beautiful monuments and the crisp fall air added something beautiful to this somber place.
As it was finally after 4pm, we headed back to our hostel to finally officially check in and see our room. At some point we were switched to a private room (which ended up being pretty nice) and we even had our own little balcony!
By this point, we were EXHAUSTED. So, we had a quick dinner up the street from our hostel, took in a bit of night air on our balcony and headed to bed!
Day two we were ready to go! And of course we found one of our favorite modes of travel - the hop on hop off bus. Our lovely receptionist helped us get tickets and find the closest stop - whoever said all the French are rude, must be really picky about how people act. Of course, not everyone we met was the nicest, but all of our waiters etc. never made me feel unwelcome. When I stirred on the crowded metro, I had a woman ask me if this was our stop and politely shift around so we could get out (by the way she asked me all this in French and I understood & replied in French - so hey AP French wasn't so much of a waste now was it!).
Now after riding the bus around a bit, we decided to get off at the Louvre and ended up spending a good deal of time in there. Of course, we didn't see even close to the whole thing but we did see a lot. I got to see a few Carravaggios (one of my favorite artists) and a TON of really famous works.
A Renoir that I fell in love with.
After visiting the Louvre, it was time to wander off to a late lunch. We ended up hopping off the bus on the Champs-Elysees. We were on a part of the street that does not normally have stores, but this time of year is covered in little white booths. Some were selling soap, others jewelry, and others food. Here we grabbed some fresh off the stone crepes and ate them while we strolled around and waited for the next bus. We took the bus to the Eiffel tower of course! Unfortunately we didn't get to go up in it. The lines were so long and we still had a lot to do!
We were off to Notre Dame and the areas around there. Now along the way on the bus, we saw the Arc de Triumph, the Gare du Nord, and many other landmarks that we unfortunately did not have the time to jump off and see.
We went in Notre Dame as soon as we got off the bus. Unfortunately, the sun wasn't bright enough to really get the Rose Window, but it is still one of the most incredible churches I've ever seen. After going inside, we wandered around Notre Dame and the banks of the Seine. We found some nice shops and a nice place to grab some dinner - after all we had to stay around Notre Dame until nine.
At nine o'clock we hurried back to the square in front of Notre Dame to see my friend Steph and a couple of other friends from Syracuse. Steph, Lorne, and Veronica are all studying in Madrid and happened to be in Paris the same weekend! Of course, Steph and I found this too good to be true and arranged to meet!
We all talked and walked back towards our hostels together. We weren't together all that long but it was so nice to see another familiar face from Cuse after so long! After bittersweet goodbyes, Jacqui and I headed back to our hostel. Another exhausting day had us sitting and chatting on our balcony taking in the Parisian night air before quickly crashing into our beds.
We didn't have much time before we had to head to the bus stop in the morning. So, we grabbed some more fresh crepes and did a little bit of shopping around Sacre Coeur.
And then we were sadly off the airport complaining that we didn't have nearly enough time in this wonderful city.
Now I can't speak for Jacqui, but I know I can't wait to get back to Paris. Rome was nice, Edinburgh was amazing, but Paris is indescribable. As the French say, it has a certain Je ne sais quoi.
Maybe someday I'll end up like Gertrude Stein (other than the whole living with a lesbian lover thing) and be saying, "America is my country, Paris is my hometown."
With love, from Ireland!
Biff
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