Life in Paris

I really don't know why some people think that the French are snobby and unhelpful. Our time in Paris was full ofwonderful people that were willing to help us out.

When we first arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport we thought are bags were lost because they were the last to arrive. Then we couldn't find the train that would finally take us to the Metro. Finally we found the RER B and tried to squeeze on with all of our bags (6 HUGE bags between the 4 of us with lots of little carry-ons). On the train some man got on who was carrying a rifle without a case or anything which is kind of a sketchy thing, but we made it off the train without any hassles.

At the metro station we couldn't find where to buy tickets and then when we did there was a HUGE line so we thought maybe we would take a taxi. But outside at the taxi line up there was no one there so after 15 minutes in the freezingcold we thought we would brave the metro station again. I had NO idea that the Metro would be so difficult with all of our bags because I thought that it would be handicap accessible...Well i was wrong, SO wrong. We had to make 3 transfers with about 4 flights of steps between the different metro lines. It was very difficult. Lucky someone was kind enough to help Cat carry her bags up the stairs because she was really struggling.

On the next Metro, Cat and I almost got stuck while Kathryn adn Julia got off the train because the doors didn't automatically open like i thought they would. I didn't know how to open them either and trying to get out the other doors my suitcase got caught on the stairs and the doors started closing, but some really nice man lept up to keep the doors open from closing for us.

At the hotel we had to wait an hour because they hadn't cleaned the room for us which kind of sucked because we were all tired and then the "elevator" was like a coffin so it only fits 1 person comfortablly so getting our suitcases to the 5th floor was an experience.

Once in the room everyone went to bed, but I wanted to explore a little bit so I walked around to get a feeling for the neighborhood which was really nice, and when I got back to the hoteleveryone was sleeping so I went to bed too. We all woke up at 4 in the morning, which was funny.

We went to the internet cafe that I found the night before and then to breakfast because we were all starving. We ate a tartine (bread, butter, and jam), fresh orange jucie, and coffee. It was really good and then went to a pharmacie to get some toiletries.

After that we tried to find a cell phone store that was open so we could buy our French cellphones. But since it was only 9 in the morning on a Friday, not much was open. We kept trying toask where to find "Bouyges" but no one understood what we were saying because we were prounoucing it so bad. We finally found a store but the guy didn't speak English, but we were able to speak French and understand each other and eventually we got our cell-phones.

After that we went to this amazing bakery and bought a sandwhich, a drink, and a dessert for only 6 Euros, which is pretty amazing and it was REALLY good. Then we took the Metro to see the Eiffel Tour and the Siene. I didn't know that it was so big. We walked around a little trying to kill time because Julia made plans to meet a monastic priest who lives in Juresalem but was in Paris at the time to go to dinner with him. It was a very interesting meal to say the least.

After dinner we were all tired and took a nap, but we wanted to go to a cafe so I set an alarm to wake us up. Cat, Kathryn, and I went to this cafe. It was nice and we sat at a table by the window. After a while this guy tried to talk to us through the window and then LICKED the window. It was very odd. After the one drink we went back to our hotel to sleep.

The next day we woke up at 7 AM (What an improvement!). We tried to go the cemetrary but I sent us in the complete opposite direction =/ So we just ate breakfast. We had the "Classic French Breakfast" (soft boiled eggs (which weren't as awful as I thought they would be), orang juice, coffee, a crossisant, and bread with butter and jam).

Then we took Julia to the train station, so she could go to Grenoble a day early. There we discovered we couldn't retrieve our train tickets because our cards didn't have the chip that most French cards have. So we went to a ticket window and after waiting in line we found out the we were in the wrong line because she didn't speak English, so we went to the "English" line. Which wasn't moving at all. Luckily everyone in front of us couldn't speak French at all so we got to skip the line and go to someone that did speak French (we didn't want to wait in line and we thought that 3 of us could work together and be able to accomplish what we wanted). This lady was really nice and didn't know ANY English at all but we were able to retrieve our tickets even though some of us forgot our reservation number. We were even able to change our tickets to be able to be on the same train and not have to switch trains either. She was really nice and patient with us.

Cat, Katryn and I then went to the Jardin de Tulleries (the garden right outside the Louvre) which was gorgeous. We then walked to the Obleisk which was really cool and we were able to see the Arc du Triomphe from there. We were a little too lazy to walk all the way there though.

We also went to the Notre Dame. It took us a while because again I got us turned around and we went in the wrong direction =/ but eventually we found it. Then we went back to our hotel on the metro, where this really creepy lady was singing a really creepy song and was asking for money. She was staring at me for a really long time, even though I wasn't looking at her.

We got lunch from the sandwhich place again and it was really amazing again. I went to walk to the cemetary by myself because the others were tired but I just missed it becuase it was closing right when I got there=( I'll have to go there when I go back to Paris.

Once back at the hotel I just passed out becuase I was so tired from all of the walking around. This morning we had to wake up really early in order to catch our train. We met Victor at the station in Grenoble and are going to have a walking tour of the city today.

(Updates will be more regular now that I have wifi)

I meet my family tomorrow!

P.S. If someone asks you if you speak English at a tourist spot say NO!