So let me give you a little bit of an exposition before you come with me on this literary excursion. First of all, Paris is the city I've dreamed about my entire life. Second of all, I would be spending my 21st birthday there--the birthday us Americans dream about our whole lives (haha). So basically this trip was going to be EPIC.
And it was.
Are you ready to relive this adventure with me? Yes?
Alright, Let's go.
First Day: February 28th-- my kinda birthday. I'm a leap year kid so I just gotta settle with Feb. 28th for another three years.
We left Canterbury late on the 27th on a bus. We went from the bus to a ferry to cross the English Channel over to France. While on the ferry Lauren bought me my first legal (American) drink! The girls also got me the cutest mini birthday cake that they snuck all the way onto the ferry so we could eat it at midnight for my kinda birthday! How sweet are they?!? I really adore Sarah, Lauren, and Lindsey. I am so blessed to have met such wonderful girls to travel with!
We arrived at coast of France...hopped back on our bus....and rode it into Paris. We got into Paris really early in the morning so we took the metro to pick up our Paris Passes. These passes basically got us into a bunch of stuff for free and let us jump all the lines at all the touristy stuff we wanted to go to and gave us unlimited metro rides for a flat rate. It was a pretty good deal if you managed your time to see a ton of stuff...which we did. So we definitely got our money's worth.
After we picked up our Paris Passes we headed to our hotel. Our hotel was AWESOME! It is called the Hotel Royal Fromentin. This particular hotel was in the neighborhood of Pigalle in Paris which is super close to the village of Montmartre on the hill. If we walked out of our hotel and turned the corner you were lookin' straight at the Moulin Rouge. I was in heaven (which is ironic because we were in the red light district...so more like hell, haha) because that's basically my favorite movie of all time. It was a safe area but there was a ton of sex shops and cabaret clubs. Although the area was a little raunchy for my taste, the hotel was wonderful. Sarah and I being history nerds figured out that our hotel actually used to be a cabaret itself, called the Don Juan Cabaret. It was opened in the 1860′s and didn’t close until 1950. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway and Vincent Van Gogh used to be regulars there and would often come there for a bit of Absinthe. They still serve it at the hotel so of course we had to try some!
On the 28th, we started to take advantage of the Paris Pass. It all began at the Chocolate Museum. We definitely cared more about the free samples than the history of cocoa beans though! Then we went down the street to the Grevin Wax Museum, which is sort of like Madame Tussaud’s. Not going to lie though...I was really disappointed that there was no Taylor Swift wax sculpture.
After the wax museum we were all pooped from our travels so we decided to take a "quick" nap then go out for dinner and drinks. Well, 2 hours later we woke up and decided to postpone our crazy night time adventure so we decided to just go to this place down the street from our hotel called the Indiana Cafe. Then we went back and had an early night so that we could get up the next morning for a fun-filled, crazy busy day.
Second Day: March 1st
The next day was Friday. We got up fairly early, had a wonderful (and free) breakfast at our hotel of fresh croissants, cheese, cereal, orange juice, and tea. The waitress didn't speak any English so I had to whip out my French skills! Luckily, I remembered a lot and successfully ordered us breakfast numerous times. I was so proud of myself in Paris! The other girls had taken Spanish throughout school so I was the only one who knew some French! Each day more and more French came back to me. I think if I would've been there for a month I would've done pretty decent in normal conversations. After breakfast we headed toward the main part of Paris and hopped on a Red Bus Tour…this was part of the Paris Pass, and it gave us two days on the red double-decker buses with unlimited travel. We only used it the one morning but it was a good way to see the main sites of Paris and think about what we wanted to do. We started at the Arc de Triomphe, passed the Eiffel Tower, and we hopped off at the Louvre. We then spent a little over an hour in the Louvre, saw the Mona Lisa (which is so small) and some of the Greek and Roman statues and sculptures (like the Venus de Milo).
At the Louvre we were getting a little hangry (hunry+angry) so we decided to whip out our baguettes and cheese that we snatched from the hotel’s breakfast. After the hanger passed, we went to the Musee D’Orsay for a bit. This museum is in what used to be Paris's old train station. It was beautiful. We saw Van Gogh's Starry Night and many other famous works. In the middle of the day we then went to a place called O Chateau for a wine tasting, another Paris Pass activity. How cool...I mean classy...is it that I had a wine tasting in Paris for my 21st birthday?!? Am I lucky or what? Not only could I drink wine legally...I got to drink some of the best wine in the world for free...in PARIS. So cool.
The wine tasting was an hour long and they gave us three normal-sized glasses of wine, like the amount you would be served in a restaurant. Needless to say, we were feeling quite well after this activity and we all bought French champagne that was actually made in Champagne. Next, I stopped and confidently asked for directions in French (it must've been the liquid courage). We began to make our way to the Champs Elysees because I really really wanted to stop at Laduree, a French dessert and macaron shop that all my French courses never failed to mention. I had to teach the girls that macarons≠macaroons. I had never had macarons, but I had always wanted to! The place was just as I had imagined. There were so many beautiful French pastries and lovely decorations! I was in love.
Next, we took the metro back to the hotel to get ready for our night time birthday extravaganza! We got all dolled up and headed out for the evening. We decided to do a Seine river cruise, which was also included in our Paris Pass. We thought it included dinner...but alas...that was too good to be true. But I think us seeing the Eiffel tower sparkle as we cruised down the river fed us more than food ever could. However after the cruise and the sparkling we decided that food was still a good plan. We went to the closest cafe by the Eiffel tower to grab some dinner. The waiter was a very nice and friendly older Frenchman who didn't speak any English. Once again, I tried to use my French skills to make sure we ordered what we wanted. Since everything came out alright I assumed I did an okay job. I ordered a traditional French meal: Steak-frites...which is basically steak and fries.
Although I didn't have the traditional 21st American birthday, the girls made my birthday absolutely unforgettable. They knew that at UT it is a sorority tradition to make your friends a list of 21 tasks to complete on their 21st birthday. So to make me feel a little more at home they made me a sign of my very own! It sparkled and everything! One of the tasks on my checklist was to order and eat something that I had never tried before. So at this tiny cafe by the Eiffel tower I ordered...escargot. It wasn't too shabby, but it was definitely not my favorite thing I've ever eaten.
We then decided that the Latin Quarter (where we had planned to go) was too far at that time of night because we would have had to take a taxi back, which was expensive. So we headed back to the hotel and stopped at a sort of sketchy bar in the Red Light District to grab a drink. The bar was definitely something new. We saw a few drag queens, and the bartender took a liking to me and teased me bit. He gave me an extra shot, let me come behind the bar, and gave me a surprise and unwanted peck kiss before we left the bar. I was throughly grossed out, but the girls thought it was the funniest thing...and encouragingly kept saying "well now you can say you've kissed a Frenchman". Even though it's not the night we had in mind, it turned out to be a lot of fun and we had some good laughs.
I know...I know...it's a lot to take in. Just take a breather...eat some cheese or a baguette, and we'll resume this adventure tomorrow. My Parisian Adventure Part II will be coming your way!
Au revoir!