Bonjour madam! Libby and I
arrived at from Ryanair at approximately 9PM, a nice 2hr flight from Rome to
Paris. I paid €15 for an hour bus ride to the center of Paris that was on the
way to our hostel. After a bit of a struggle to find the underground metro, we
eventually and eventfully got to our
hostel. Thinking Rome was the only place with dirty dogs whistling and saying
all the English they know, "hellllo there," ..we were wrong. Where
there are men, we are annoyed.
After we checked into Woodstock, we went to find food-something to hold us over until the morning. We turned down a street that was colorfully lit up, thinking it would be safe.. Turns out we turned on the street with sex shops, strip clubs, and kebabs. Eating a hearty chicken kebab outside the little window restaurant, the bouncer from the strip club (right next store) jokingly asked if we wanted to go in when we were done eating. Awkward. Walking back to our hostel, we decided to experience the culture and walked into a shop; only for ten minutes due to the intense s&m supplies. It was too much to handle, and I now I can cross that off a list that I never wrote.
Friday morning we woke up to
enjoy a breakfast offered by our hostel. It was a standard breakfast for
Franciscans: croissants, jam or butter spread, coffee, hot coco, tea and
frosted flakes.
Paris wouldn't have been as great
and easy going if we didn't have Libby’s teammate and friend from LAX, Sarah,
who is studying abroad in Nazis, France. She met us at our hostel in the AM and
showed us the Eiffel tower. Wow. The Eiffel tower is not just one of the 7
wonders of the world but a beautiful brown iron masterpiece. The 3 of us
enjoyed eating a panini along with a nutella and coconut crêpe while watching
people. Thinking the Tower was enough; Sara went ahead and brought us to Versailles.
Versailles was the palace that held queen Marie Antoinette’s head...just
kidding but it was the palace that king Louis wanted
built because the (?) (What the Louvre is now) wasn't big enough. It was built out of gold, had a
beautiful garden, and hundreds of rooms. Pure beauty. 
That night we walked up 286 steps
to Basilica of the Sacre Coeur to overlook Paris on the high
point of the city. The steps were worth the view but not the annoying guys.
Note for Roman pests (Men who bother tourists with cheap things to sell):
Paris's guys sell Heinekens. After walking back down those steps got us hungry.
Not being able to leave the tourist area we went into a corner restaurant and
ordered fish e lagoon.
Saturday morning we woke up at 8 to a cloudy day, ate breakfast from the hostel and headed our way to climb the Eiffel tower. It cost €3.70 for students. After we headed to Notre Dome and walked around the church while a mass was going on. On our way to the Louvre, We picked up Tarette and BBQ panini at huré créateur de plaiser on the way. Just like Versailles, The Louvre was free entry for European students with passports. We got even luckier because two French ladies gave us their tickets so we could cut through the long line:) Looking at the Mona Lisa, Romeo and Juliet paintings, we wanted to go shopping.
We headed to Champs-elysées-Clemenceau
mall to find Long champ purses..fail except for finding a store called Raymond
chocolate-macaroons confiserie (Libby is obsessed with Gossip Girl if anyone
understands the connection) Ordering vanilla coconut, coffee, pistachio, and raspberry
we ate them all in one sitting. That eveing we were on the search for a famous
crêperie. We couldn't find Josselin but a French couple told us to go to the
crêperie across the street, "it's famous I swear..trust me, I know the owner!
Very good." but his wife, "You vvant to dance? Jazz? Good eats
too." Okay... Well we took his advice and went into this cute little
famous crêperie called Ty breiz. Free water, but the house wine was €15- worth
of a surprisingly unseeingly green pitcher. Libby’s efficiency at ordering got
her an extensively large whole wheat crepe that was packed full of creamy
potatoes in a delectable cheese sauce along with fresh picked mushrooms and
topped with a single piece of thick sliced Parma ham that was hickory smoked
and turned her dinner course into a filling breakfast resembling meal that was
fit for the king of France....you know the one that got beheaded because he ate
enormous scrumptious dishes identical to that of Libby’s. As for mine- I asked
the waiter what one to get. He said the traditional or one that isn't as
filling. Because I wanted to save room for a dessert crepe I picked the one
with 'some lettuce on top.' and that it had..it was practically a salad on a
crêpe, two thick slices of goat cheese that melted when I cut into it, fresh tomato
slices, pine nuts, and a pile of lettuce mounding the top. As for dessert we
asked for the top pick that had hot fudge, vanilla ice cream and whip cream. We
asked to add bananas and they added two inside...mouth watering. It did not
compare to the crepes on the street...even if they poured a little extra
coconut on our nutella crépe for us.
Enjoying our food we talked to the waiter,
explaining our travels. He gave us an explanation about the French people,
French-fry history, discovery of potatoes, and great advice for Amsterdam and
Brussels. He told us he was Polish but liked French food more, so he wasn't
that impressed with our last destination for our spring break. Finishing our
wine and deep conversation about our future, our families, and how lucky we are
to be in Paris, France, the waitresses started to put the chairs up; a subtle hint
for us to leave. 
Walking outside, the Eiffel tower was still lit up so it was
our mission to walk to it. Stopping into a bar on the way to find a red beer called Kriek, they said it would be a 15minute
walk. Walking along, Libby spotted out El Fares, spécialités libanaises,
"isn't this Lebanese?" and that it was. We walked into a restaurant
that was about to close with one long table filled with happy Lebanese-French
people. I asked for two shots of udah Arak and they looked at me funny,
"shots?" standing at the bar, Libby was able to clear her sinuses
with the big shot glass of cloudy water. They gave us a tray of assorted nuts
while being entertained to the loud group singing to some Lebanese music. The
owner started singing and dancing, soon the table was clapping and we joined
in. Loved it. Reminded me of home, oh church events!! Still on a mission to
find this red beer so highly spoken of, Libby and I stopped into Le Royal Cambronne,
where we got stuck into two lovey dovey young couples. Enjoying some type of
red beer, the owner’s son from El Fares (who bartended for us) walked right in,
and sat by us. He ordered us another glass of beer along with himself and we
had small talk due to his poor English. He asked if we wanted to meet up with
his friends to play pool down the block. We thought why not, and enjoyed
playing at a pool bar with at least ten tables and 7 Lebanese guys. Who would
have thought my last night in Paris would have been with Lebanese guys (note:
Libby no longer thinks I look ‘ethnic’).
Waking up the next morning, we
realized we didn't know our name to our hostel for Brussels because we were
meeting up with Daniella (she was the one who paid for this hostel). We
messaged her, hoping she would get back to us ASAP, and headed off to the bus
station with a little bit of nerve. Avour paris!
Was I able to spend less than €200 in Paris France for a 3 day weekend?
3,40 to climb to second level of Eiffel
tower
€75 for hostel, free entry to Versailles, Notre Dome and the Louvre. Estimated
€12 for metro and €8 for a taxi at one point.
Paninis were around €4, little
sweets and goodies (tarts, crepes, pane eu chocolat) ,80-3,40.
Missed an opportunity
for a traditional long French lunch but enjoyed two good dinners €12 and €22.
Thank you Paris.
