When last in Paris, I saw museums. Many, many museums. Paintings, sculptures, painted sculptures, paintings of sculptures, you name it, I saw it. Things I did not do? Visit the Eiffel Tower, go inside Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur, eat steak-frite. You know, the things you go to Paris to do, I did not do. Luckily, I got a second chance. After a slight mishap, we arrived, exhausted, in Paris. Unfortunately, it was far from smooth sailing. We arrived at our hostel (named Oops, on Goblin Street), only to be told, "We're sorry, you can't stay here. Our water is broken." (This may not be surprising to those who have the power of rational thought: our hostel was named Oops, and located on Goblin Street...how could anything possibly, ever go wrong?). We ended up, surprisingly, eerily near where I had stayed on my last trip, at a friend's appartment (shout out Laura McElherne!). We dropped our stuff off, and went off to buy some supplies, mostly pastry, for a picnic near the Eiffel Tower. I practiced my French, we bought hot, hot bread, and everything was finally perfect. After eating way too much food, the only thing left to do was to climb the Eiffel Tower, and then w
alk from there to the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs d'Elysses, all the way to the Louvre. Which was quite far. To make up for the exhaustion, we drank amazing liquid chocolate. This may have defeated the original purpose of the intense walk-a-thon, which was to burn off the insane amount of pastry we ate, but hey. You're only in Paris once. Or twice. However many times you're in Paris, it's an obligation to eat as much or more than humanly possible. We then headed to the Latin Quarter, for happy hour, later arriving at the hostel and instantly falling asleep. The next day, we hit up Versailles, which cannot be a real place. There simply cannot exist a place as grandiose and majestic and elegant as Versailles. Doesn'
t process. After wandering around the gardens, we picnicked by the reflecting pool, and harassed the rowers, some of whom were truly "gifted," while narrowly avoiding a swan attack. After getting back from Versailles, we strolled around Montmarte, feeling classy, and while checking out a wineshop, we stumbled into a secret restaurant behind, where we ate lots of cheese and pâté. Our last day in Paris had arrived, and we spent it wandering around the cemetary, looking for Baudelaire's grave, and the catacombs. Creepier than expected, the catacombs lasted for far too long. Going underground into a narrow tunnel when all the walls are made of bones...makes your skin crawl a little bit. We followed that up with some steak-frite (one more thing off the Parisian check list) and a stroll along the Seine, ending in a quick tour of Notre Dame. Afterwards, we checked out the view at Sacre Coeur and rode "the fun," as Megan liked to call it. We finished the night with wine, cheese, one crazy Frenchman, and dancing with newfound acquaintances. It doesn't seem like it really happened, but, it did.
