We landed at Beauvais Tillé or BVA, a small airport about an hour outside of Paris. Thankfully Whitney has an international credit card with a chip, because all of the ticket machines only accepted that type of card. The ability to buy our tickets from the kiosk saved us about 30 minutes of waiting in line to buy them. On the bus to Porte Maillot I met another American student, Amanda, who was backpacking all over Europe. Before I passed out from exhaustion I found out that she was from a small university in Colorado, and was travelling alone. She had bounced across the continent catching rides from city to city through an app called BlaBlacar and told us she would be sleeping in BVA airport since she was only in Paris for the day. I told her she was brave, and travelling alone was something I could never do. We invited her to come along with us on our Paris adventure, but once we arrived at the train station she disappeared to do her own thing.
We stepped off the bus and into the cool Paris air and realized, we had no idea which way to start walking. Luckily Amanda was around long enough to lead us into Congress Center Porte Maillot where we were able to connect to WiFi. I’m thankful that the night before we left Meredith’s dad complied a two-day itinerary for us to follow so we weren’t overwhelmed upon arrival. Since we didn’t have a hostel booked, we just started making our way towards the first stop on the list Tuileries Garden.
None of us had gotten much sleep on the plane so trudging into the city with our backpacks seemed like a daydream. But we snapped back into reality when we caught our first glimpse of the Arc de Triomphe welcoming in us into the city. That’s when I looked at Meredith and Whitney with wide eyes and said, “Y’all we’re in freakin’ Paris.”
We passed shops and cafes just trying to take it all in. We passed Laduree vowing to return for a few of their world-renowned macaroons as well as the original Louis Vuitton store (which had a line outside to get in.) When people describe Paris, “beautiful” is an understatement. No matter which way you turn each building looks like the original style, unlike Dublin whose cityscape blends old and modern architecture.
When we finally reached the Pont des Arts we all saw the Eiffel tower, standing in the distance. Naturally we snapped a few pictures and the continued making our way to the Tuileries Garden. On the way we passed the remnants of the old love lock bridge. By the time we reached the Tuileries Garden we were all starving, chilly, and in desperate need of caffeine. Before I embarked for Paris my friend Rachel raved about the crepes, so my lunch consisted of a chocolate and banana sweet crepe and diet coke. Although it wasn’t the most nutritious choice when I ate the crepe I started tearing up a bit. Perhaps the tears were a result of sleep deprivation and hunger, but regardless it was pretty dang good.
I expected the Tuileries Garden to be similar to Powerscourt Estate so I was pleasantly surprised that this garden wasn’t so much of a garden and more of a public park. Couples were picnicking, children were kicking around a soccer ball, and numerous people were just sitting in lawn chairs reading a book. We continued to walk through the garden until we reached The Louvre.
From my friends accounts I was expecting to immediately fall “in love with The Louvre” but my first encounter with the museum was less than ideal. Along the walkways surrounding The Louvre as well as on the museum grounds themselves pushy peddlers will approach you pushing you to buy a selfie stick, miniature Eiffel tower, or one of the 50 Eiffel tower keychains they keep on a big ring. There are literally hundreds of these men in the city, scouring out tourists in popular spots. You always knew when they were approaching by the clinking of their key rings.
Little did we know he was a con artist.
Once we pushed past all the peddlers we had the opportunity to take pictures in the famous “touching the point of the Louvre” post. We were clearly struggling to get the camera angle justtttt right, so a street photographer approached and offered to show us the right place to stand. He seemed friendly enough and his service was taking Polaroid pictures. Initially Whitney asked him to take a Polaroid of her by the Louvre pyramid, and then we all gathered for a few group shots. We were expecting the 5 polaroids to be about 5 euros each or so because we hadn’t seen the prices displayed on his camera case. So when we told him we had taken enough pictures he said, “Okay that will be 280 euros.” All of our mouths hit the ground. No way. I just wanted to walk away from the scam, but we ended up giving him 50 euros to give us the pictures and leave us alone. Needless to say I wasn’t a big fan of the Louvre at the time, but at least we got a few cute pricey pictures from the experience.
To top it all off, we found out soon afterwards that The Louvre isn’t even open on Tuesdays, so to see the museum we would have to return the next day.
From The Louvre we walked along the the River Seine to see Notre Dame. The architecture was breathtaking, the gargoyles were unreal, and the 8 year-old in me criticized Walt Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame for not doing it justice. Like most attractions in Paris the line to get into the cathedral was hours long and time to spare was the one luxury we didn’t have on this quick trip.
We then crossed the Seine to the Latin Quarter, which was another interesting experience. Located in the heart of tourist central, the quarter is filled with tacky gift shops and mediocre restaurants competing with one another’s prices. Each had it’s own variation of a 3-course meal for 12.99 euro. At this point it was really pressing that we find WiFi to book a hostel for the night, so we stopped at one of the French restaurants in the quarter. Even though we had to deal with a rude waiter and a lukewarm plate of overpriced mussels, we had successful booked three beds at The Louvre Youth Hostel.
Since we booked our beds so last minute we were assigned to a 5th floor 6-bed all female dorm room. When we got into the room we laughed because like the rest of the morning it seemed like we brought the luck of the Irish with us from Dublin. The only unoccupied beds were up a fireman’s ladder in a dark loft. To make the most of an unusual situation, we lovingly dubbed the loft “the treehouse.” And took much needed power naps. This was the turning point in day one, because even though the morning was trying to say the least, the rest of the day couldn’t have been more spectacular.
We jumped up from our naps at around 6:15 p.m. feeling refreshed. We headed downstairs were the hostel’s very helpful receptionist mapped out directions to each place we hoped to visit during our time there. We heard from numerous people that the Eiffel tower’s lightshow after sundown is nothing short of amazing. After seeing person after person stop in a local patisserie in Montmartre, Ronde des Pains, and come out with baguettes we figured they must be something special as well. So we decided to buy some baguettes and have a picnic in front of the Eiffel tower. We left Ronde de Pains with two baguettes and a meringue as big as my face. Then we took the metro to the tower and purchased a meat tray, brie, and a bottle of champagne at a nearby market. We set up our makeshift dinner on the tower lawn and cheered to making it to Paris, walking 13.1 miles, and surviving a crazy day – and I got another chocolate and banana crepe because YOLO. We met another group of 3 girls from the states who were travelling together to celebrate finishing grad school. They were excited when we told them we were going to Italy in a few short days, they said Florence and Rome are absolutely breathtaking. Even though my Dublin adventure will be coming to an end soon, another one is about to begin!
Also PSA: The peddlers have no limits, when we were picnicking in front of the tower guys kept coming by trying to sell beer, champagne, and wine. There’s no way to ignore them, but they’re harmless once you firmly tell them “No” a few times. #struggs
RocknRove 