The other week, my friends and I were trying to decided where to go for our next adventure after Birmingham. It was pretty unanimous that Paris was to be our destination. In a matter of hours, we had booked ourselves a trip to Paris!
We set out on our journey, after readying the car as we were driving to Paris. I ask you, how many women does it take to air up tires, figure out radiator fluids and the like? Just so you know, it takes 5! I greatly enjoy travelling with my group of friends as we never seem to have a dull moment, and I can say for a fact that others find us greatly amusing, or at least the French seemed to!
To the Port
We drove down to the car ferry in Dover full of excitement (and non stop chattering); not even the miserable rain could dampen our spirits! Our ferry wasn't scheduled to leave until the evening, but we decided to give ourselves extra time to visit the White Cliffs of Dover. For the most part, the rain had stopped by the time we arrived; however, a heavy fog settled in which meant you could not see very far. In fact, it was quite foggy that one didn't even realize that you were being overtaken (passed) by another person until they appeared next to you. This happened to one of my friends. A poor, innocent walker was trying to get around us, and my friend nearly jumped out of her skin because he surprised her as she did not see him until he was striding past her! We encountered the same man later on our hike and he kindly took a group photo of us on our way back to the car.
We returned to the car a bunch of drowned rats, covered in mud! The wet, chalky ground had made it somewhat challenging to walk as mud caked to the bottoms of our shoes. Luckily, we were able to somewhat clean ourselves before heading to the docks to continue our journey.
Getting the car onto the ferry wasn't too difficult, despite the lack of signs indicating where to go..
It was a 2 hour ferry ride to the French port so we settled down with a cup of tea/coffee, depending on preference, and relaxed. The water was somewhat choppy and you could feel the waves hitting the boat, but it wasn't bad. Once we reached the other side, we disembarked and set off for Paris!
Driving in Paris
In the UK, one drives on the left side of the road and the speed/distance is in miles. On mainland Europe, one drives on the right side of the road and the speed/distance is in kilometers. There are also other specific requirements for driving in France. We had to have a road kit that included reflective vests, road triangle, and other stuff as well as a GB sticker, breathalyzers, and headlight stickers to redirect the beams from the headlight since we were in a British spec car. Again, I ask, how many women does it take to put on headlight stickers? Well the answer is 5 plus a French guy that had been watching our attempts to figure out the directions (which in our defense, there was over 100 steps)! I'm positive our headlight stickers did nothing to correct the beams as I'm sure they were more than likely not on right; however, we went on our way, destination Paris.
It was about a 3 hour drive from the French port to Paris which involved a toll (a pretty expensive on at that), but we successfully navigated the situation with little confusion (?). We finally reached the city of Paris close to midnight, Paris time. Thus far, we had encountered very little stress in reaching our destination.. Driving the streets of Paris is equivalent to mass chaos! There seemed to be no rhyme or reason or rules to adhere to. It was almost like a free for all! At times it was difficult to know if you were on a 2 way street or just a one way. Is that a roundabout ahead? Not sure, just looks like a very big intersection. Need to enter a roundabout? Enter at your own risk!
We did successfully, I might add, manage to find our car park, only after unintentionally waking up and no doubt upsetting a French man trying to gain access to the parking garage. It was such a relief when we found the hostel in which we were staying, although, we weren't quite sure what we were getting into. We just knew we were tired.
Aloha Hostel
I will say our hostel stay was not what I expected. It was better than I expected, albeit with some surprises. We had a room that had 3 sets of bunk beds and a small sink. Since there were 5 of us, I think we all thought we'd just be in a room all our own; however, we quickly found out that we had a bunk mate. Luckily, our bunk mate was not in when we stumbled into our room around 2 am. Being tired, we took quick stock of the room and got ready for bed. We had brought our own sheets and linens as we thought the hostel didn't provide such things unless we "rented" them. The hostel did provide bed sheets, however, I was quite glad I brought a sleeping bag as the sheets on my bed were not clean! It didn't seem like much time had passed, trying to sleep, that we heard the arrival of our bunk mate and soon after that, his snoring!
Our bunk mate did turn out to be a friendly guy from Portugal. He could speak 3 languages and had a civil engineer degree. He kindly let us have the room, insisting he could just hang out in the lounge area. At one point, we were inadvertently screaming at him that he didn't have to leave the room as we were going to use the common bathrooms to get ready to go out so there was no reason for him to leave if he wanted to stay in the room..
Anyways, I won't go much into our stay at the hostel as we mainly used it to sleep and didn't spend hardly any time there. It was a decent, affordable place to stay. I think it is silly to have to "rent" towels, as I feel they should be provided. The breakfast provided wasn't very good, but we didn't expect to have breakfast so it was a small bonus. The bathrooms and showers were a bit cramped. The showers blasted water for about 5 seconds before turning off, so it was a struggle to keep the water running and wash at the same time. Also, the temperature of the water could be adjusted in some showers, some did not have this option, found that out!
Notre Dame
I loved the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame as a kid, and a big reason for that was the cathedral itself. The huge medieval building, a beautiful example of French Gothic architecture with the flying buttresses and of course the gargoyles! Seeing the actual structure itself was just beautiful. Walking around the outside, admiring the numerous statues on the outside and the stain glass and more that could be found within. At one moment, I just had to stop and close my eyes. I was taken back to a Gothic short story I had once read and that has stayed with me called Cathedral by Raymond Carver. Read it, and you'll know what I mean.
Notre Dame first came under construction in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and would take nearly 200 years to complete. In the 1790s, during the French Revolution, Notre Dame was severely damaged. A restoration project began in 1845 when architects Viollet-le-Duc and Lassus were commissioned to restore the cathedral to its original glory. Now, Notre Dame is part of the Unesco World Heritage.
Climbing up the towers was quite the work out! There are around 400 steps, at times very steep, but it was worth it to look out above Paris and see a panoramic view of the city and the bell tower. Notre Dame has 10 bells, the largest being called Emmanuel which was installed in 1681 and is rung 5 seconds before any other bell. Visiting Notre Dame just wouldn't be complete without admiring the gargoyles and chimera statues. Probably the most recognizable gargoyle/chimera is the stryga, Greek word meaning "bird of the night". It's likeness is portrayed in Disney's movie.
Catacombs of Paris
There is no describing the somberness that washes over you whilst walking through an underground maze consisting of 6-7 million skeletons. The Catacombs were formed during the 13th century as underground quarries that provided building materials for Notre Dame and the Louvre which left empty spaces that would later be used during the 18th century as the final resting places for millions of Parisians.
The bones from several graveyards and churches were transferred the underground tunnels towards the end of the 18th century and 19th century as they were feared to be a public health risk (fear of plagues and diseases as well as overcrowding). The first bones to be transferred were from cimetière des Innocents.
First, you travel down the path workers would use to remove limestone and building materials then you reach a door way with the inscription "Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la mort" or Halt, this is the realm of Death. This is the doorway to the ossuary. In 1810, renovations began under Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury that transformed the underground into the mausoleum that we know today. The Catacombs consist of 213 steps and the average temperature is 14°C.
Upon exiting the Catacombs, we encountered a nice guy (owner?) that had a souvenir shop across the road and a eatery just at the end of the street called Le Comptoir. The food was delicious, but best of all were the people that served us. They were nothing less than hospitable and were more than willing to help us learn a little French and offer some tips for the remainder of our trip! Très bon!
The Eiffel Tower
Day 2, after a little more sleep than the night before, we visited the Eiffel Tower, named after it's builder Gustave Eiffel. It is the most visited paid attraction in the world! It was built in 1889 as the entrance for the 1889 fair. At the time of its conception, many criticized the wrought-iron lattice tower, but has since become a world icon and was the tallest building in the world until 1930. It remains the tallest building in Paris.
Musée du Louvre
Built in the heart of Paris, the Louvre building has existed since the 12th century It was originally built as a fortress in 1190 under Philip II. It remained a royal palace, being extended several times to its current state, until 1692 when Louis XIV moved to Versailles. The Louvre opened to the public as museum in 1793 in which it held 537 paintings.
Under the reign of Napoleon, the collections grew and the name changed, temporarily, to Musée Napoléon. After his abdication, some pieces that were acquired were returned to their owners. One of the most important discoveries during Napoleon's time was the finding of the Rosetta Stone. Although the French are credited for the find in Egypt, it never made it to the Louvre as it was seized by British Forces upon the defeat of Napoleon. The Rosetta Stone is on display in the British National Museum (possibly one of the reasons for the bitterness between the British and the French).
During WWII, most of the works were removed from the Louvre and hidden at Château de Chambord or Château Valençay. The glass pyramid was built in 1989, and today, the Louvre contains 380,000 objects and 35,000 works of art. It is home to the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and many other works.
I'm not going to give you my opinion on the works of art; however, if you visit the Louvre and cannot find something that makes you just stop and contemplate the meaning, the brush strokes, the use of color or medium, anything, you are doing something wrong. My friends and I had some lively conversations regarding several works, some we liked, some we didn't. Even if you're not an art lover, you cannot help but appreciate but appreciate the history and artistry.
After we could not possibly walk any further, we left the Louvre in search of our last meal in Paris. We ate a place called Le Thermidor (sp ?) which was pretty good. The Creme Brulee was AMAZING! We were also told how deserted most of Paris was after the recent attacks and how the restaurant businesses and tourist businesses have been hurting in general. The man we talked to seemed hopeful that people were coming out again and things would get better.
After our last meal, we went in search of more dessert! We found a patisserie and purchased some of the most beautiful desserts to take back to the hostel and enjoy a quick birthday celebration for our friend! We then sadly and with minor issues, made our way back to the UK and home.
Funnies
What trip wouldn't be complete without some funny mishaps? Well, it's one thing to not understand the language, it's a whole other thing not to understand how the toilets work, at least the public toilets. Like some places in the UK, you have to pay to use the toilet facilities. Unlike the UK, in France, you don't just insert your change and use the turnstile, you actually pay a bathroom attendant who in turns directs you to the loo. After leaving the bathroom, the attendants would go in after and clean and sanitize the bathroom for the next guest. The bathroom in the Louvre mall was pretty neat. It had a whole wall of colored toilet paper and you could purchase all kinds of bathroom related products.
Public bathrooms on the street work in a similar fashion, except their are no attendants. As we found out the hard and embarrassing way, you enter a public stall (there are many around the city), go about your business and leave. There's no need to flush as when you come out, the door closes and an automatic rinse cycle begins (this takes a minute). When it's done, the bathroom is clean and sanitized for the next person. We however, did not know this. Instead we tried to go one at a time right after the other, but the public toilet kept yelling at us in French and opening the door after we tried to close it. One of my friends even had the lights shut off on her. We were going to give up the bathroom idea even though we desperately had to go when the door closed and the rinse cycle began. After the wash was complete, we were free to use the loo. I'm pretty positive any Parisian witnessing our attempts to use the contraption were probably amused by 5 women trying to figure out how to use the bathroom. I think we were all waiting for someone to jump out and say we were on some kind of candid camera/reality show. Nope, that's just how the toilets work.
The Metro is also difficult, well at least difficult to find. Once able to actually find the metro station, it was fairly easy to navigate (similar to the London tubes). The bus system was pretty easy to use, although we were told NOT to pay for the bus which might explain the weird look the bus driver gave us when we presented coins to him. We were told people just smile, greet each other, and go sit down.
If you're going to visit Paris, I'd definitely suggest this website: Tour Paris in...
- Know what you want to see
- Be prepared for to wait in a queue(line), especially during summer- you can purchase tickets ahead of time (I'd suggest this for the Louvre)
- Tour the Lourve in a Wednesday or Friday as it is open later or a Sunday morning shortly after it opens.
- Learn customs and at least some French, greetings, common questions, etc..
- Use the metro or bus system, your feet will hurt if you do not, TRUST ME
- Download the app Citymapper
If I ever go back to Paris, I highly doubt I'd drive. I'd sooner take a train, airplane, or bus, but driving wasn't horrible and people do it all the time. Until next time...
Au Revoir
