La Vie en Rose
For example, I dedicated a whole paragraph to prices of the tickets. Guys, I would fully recommend to travel to Paris by bus and especially with the night line. You can sleep throughout the trip, fares are very low (max. 25eu) and the coach itself is pretty comfortable.
But those are just facts which you can find on the internet yourself.
I went to Paris because I was fed up with Amsterdam. I needed a break from this city. I do love it, but it's nice to leave it at least for a day, come back and be able to look at it differently.
I always wanted to visit Paris but in my head it sounded like an expensive trip, something nearly unreachable- while a return ticket for a bus cost me 30eu. I stocked up on sandwiches, made sure I was prepared for any weather conditions and left Amsterdam on a Monday night.
I knew exactly what I want to see and how much time will it take me to walk through the city.
I arrived at Paris Bercy at 6:30 am and had about 8 hours to spend in the city.
The plan was to: walk to the Eiffel Tower to be there at sunrise, next move to the other side of Seine and make my way to the Arc de Triomphe. From there I would walk down Champs Elysees, see the Grand Palais, stand on the bridge of Alexander III, find Rue Royale to walk up to Opera Garnier. From there walk down to Louvre and end at the Notre Dame cathedral.
I also had some spare time for small breaks and buying some souvenirs.
And I made it!
Walking to the Eiffel Tower in the morning was wonderful. I was moving along the Seine trying to inhale the rhytm of the city. Lots of people were out on an early run so I felt safe even at that time of the day. When passing by Musee d'Orsay I noticed a guy with a backpack rushing towards me from the opposite direction. I was pretty sure he will try to sell me something or kidnap me. But when he made it all the way down the street and stopped in front of me he simply asked do I know how to get to the Eiffel Tower! Oh boy, how cool was that. I was a first timer in that city and I got to lead someone to its most important attraction. We were about 30 minutes from the Tower. I told him that it is exactly where I'm heading now so we got on our way. I learned that the guy was flying back home to the States from Jordan, but that he had to change flights in Paris. That gave him 5 hours of spare time, so he decided to get into the city centre, see the Eiffel Tower and head back to the airport.
We had quite a nice chat and in no time we found ourselves standing under this huge, steel construction which until now I knew only from TV and postcards.
I took pictures of my fellow traveler, he took pictures of me and afterwards he ran to the metro to get to the airport on time.
It was a foggy morning and although I am a fan of sunny weather, this misty aura made the experience a lot more beautiful than you could imagine. Top of the Eiffel Tower was covered by fog, so it gave the impression of the tower being taller than it really is. I went under it to look up and it that moment someone started talking to me. It was a guy selling key chains and miniatures of the tower. I wanted to get myself one but couldn't decide on the color (silver or gold?). He also tried to sell me on of the miniatures but I told him I only had 5eu in cash so I couldn't buy both. In the end I departed from under the Eiffel Tower with 6 key chains and one miniature tower. And I got it all for the amount of money mentioned above!
Next I crossed the bridge over the Seine and started to make my way up to the Arc de Triomphe. The name of the street on the map I had with me was not the same as the one I had in front of me on the board, although it supposed to be. However I decided to trust my intuition and started walking ahead not worrying at all.
After about 20 minutes I noticed the Arc shaping up in the distance in front of me. When I finally got there I couldn't stop smiling! It was beautiful, so grand and majestic but so regular in the eyes of Parisians. After looking at it for a while and taking pictures I began my walk down the Champs Elyseees. I swear to God that I haven't seen so many nicely dressed people since my visit in Milan teo yesrs ago. Both women and men would be wearing really simple but flattering clothes. Shoes always matching the bag, coats in colors of dark blue, black or gray. Hair nicely done. Not too much of jewelry.
Smart but pretty. Simple yet elegant.
I did stand out in the crowd, but come on, I wouldn't wear heels for a run through the city!
I know that Champs Elysees is filled with ridiculously expensive shops like Louis Vuitton or that it is a home to a very fancy Abercrombie&Fitch office, I am even aware that it was fashion week in Paris. But the people I passed by gave me a lot to think of. The devil is in the details!
I was about to take a right turn and go in the direction of Grand Palais when I noticed this charming news stand and its owner, who was rearranging some newspapers in the front. Oh boy, wasn't that a perfect shot! I quickly set up my analogue Canon AE-1 and held it up to my eye to catch the perfect frame in the view finder. And in the moment when I was about to take that picture, the man from the stand noticed me, started screaming something in French and waving his hand. Damn it! So what could I do? I pretended I didn't see him, turned around and walked away real quick.
Making may way by the Grand Palais was quite an achievement as Louis Vuitton was expected to arrive there for a fashion week show. Alright, as much as I enjoyed looking at nicely dressed people at Champs Elysees this was too much for me. People in designer clothes, with their hair styled in the most 'original' ways trying to get in front of everyone else to make sure they will get to see some celebrities. I tried to give them all a funny look in order to emphasize how unimportant this whole event is to the world but they all seemed to be very much caught up in that world.
So I just moved on, to the Bridge of Alexander III. I've seen some pretty things in my life, but that bridge and overview of the city that you get from it is simply uncomparable with anything else. If you stand with your back to this crazy crowd gathered in front of Grand Palais you see the Army Museum in the distance. It looks as if it would be standing at the end of the bridge, far far away, But that's just the horizon messing with you because naturally the bridge ain't that long! When you look to your right you see the Eiffel Tower in the distance, if you look to your left- Notre Dam. If you pay attention to details you discover all of the ornaments on the bridge and it leaves you in awe. I felt like this could be the highlight of the whole trip and I still think it was. I swear I was close to grabbing anyone who would walk by me to shake them up and scream in their face 'ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?!'. But I decided to hold my horses and slowly get back on my way (I did however slip a loud 'BITCHIN'!' while standing on the bridge).
I walked by the gardens of the Small Palace and realized it's time to find Rue Royale. I managed that pretty easily and began walking up to the Opera Garnier. I passed by the Intercontinental Hotel, located in a beautiful big building, passed by the office of L'oreal, stopped for a moment to stare at the display of a shop specialized in macaroons and around the corner I found the Opera house.
Now, that's what I call architecture! My God, it was stunning. I decided to have a coffee in quite an expensive restaurant only to be able to sit down and enjoy the view of the Opera for a little longer.
When I satisfied my eyes with that I moved ahead to the Louvre.
While walking down the Avenue de l'Opera I noticed this cute little shop with cookies and chocolates. It was 'La Cure Gourmande' and if you ever come across it- please, do yourself a favor and walk inside! I was greeted by 'Bonjour Mademoiselle, would you like to try our newest biscuit with chocolate- cinnamon filling?' and the lady open the tin box right in front of my face.
Don't mind if I do!
And the biscuit was delicious. I instantly knew I had to take at least one cookie of each flavor (peach, almond, chocolate chip, cinnamon navettes etc.) and bring them over to Amsterdam to share them with someone very special, who is also a sweet- tooth! What better souvenir than this?
Fun fact: when I went to the cashier to pay for these carefully selected biscuits, the cashier greeted me with another piece of candy! That kind of reward system I do like!
I walked out of the store and realized that right next to it, there is one specialized in macaroons. Good God, have mercy! I decided to ignore this one though and went straight to the Louvre.
You see, the thing about Paris is- wherever you look, there is something that you can describe only by calling it 'grand' or 'royal'. As a solo traveler I caught myself constantly mubmling something to myself. I would walk around the city, stop in front of beautiful buildings and say out loud to myself 'Whoa! That is stunning!'!
Pyramid of Louvre, it's really there! Don't get me wrong, I am not crazy. I mean it's just like with the Eiffel Tower, Louvre is something I read about in history books or seen on TV only. And there I was, standing in front of it, turning around and around to catcha glimpse of as many details as possible.
From Louvre I went on and made my way to Notre Dame. I had to think for a while about walking inside, afraid to burst into flames directly after stepping in, but the curiosity won with fear of holy water and I wandered around the cathedral. Ok, I am sorry but I am not on team 'Jesus'. Yet still, Notrde Dame is really beautiful and gives you this impression of something 'holy' taking place during the mass. Unlike churches in Amsterdam, you can feel some kind of divinity.
As soon as I realized that entrance up to the tower is free for visitors under the age of 26 I decided to queue up and climb the stairs to take a look at the panorama of Paris. Standing there, at the top, I realized how much did I walk that day. The Eiffel Tower seemed to be so far away, as well as Arc de Triomphe.
It felt so good to be standing there. I was satisfied with that trip, I was glad and somehow proud that I've seen everything I planned to see and didn't even have to ask anyone for directions on my way.
The Sun was shining, people around me were smiling and seemed to enjoy the city just as much as I did and beautiful Paris was attracting me with beauty anywhere I would look.
But it was time to go. Well, actually I still had some extra time but I had this strange feeling I should be getting on my way already.
I stopped for a moment at the bridge right behind Notre Dame, because I noticed the infamous 'locks of love' locked around the bridge. Next to me stood a couple of street musicians, cafe's were inviting for crepes and coffee, waters of Seine looked clear reflecting the beams of sunshine..
And as I moved a bit further I came acroos a polish library, which also is a home to a museum of Chopin and Mickiewicz. Little gem hidden in a side street I would never notice if not lured by the idea of walking right along Seine for as long as only possible.
That was the end of sightseeing and beginning of my return trip. In about an hour of walking I reached Paris Bercy and realized that something is wrong but couldn't put my finger on it. After taking a closer look at the traffic around the station I realized that all streets surrounding the station are blocked by taxi's. That day, my dear readers, taxi drivers decided to go on strike and leave their cars all over the place making it impossible for buses to get to the station..
And now, one polish girl, one city which citizens NO SPEAKY ENGLY, 1 hour til departure time- the race has begun! I tried calling Ouibus infoline, but they also don't parle english so well, besides that the battery in my phone was about to die. I run to the info point at the station. The lady there tells me the name of the station I need to get to, as all of the buses are redirected there. She says something very fast in French (name of the station) but I also ne parle pas francais, so we have this stare off. Finally she pronounces the name of the station one more time, but this time louder and slower. Saint Emilion! Risking the last percents of my battery, I use google maps to find that station. When I realized how close it was (15 minute walk) my whole body relaxed and I decided to sit down for a cigarette.
In the end I got to the right station, put my butt down to an 8 hour trip back home and with a smile on my face fell asleep surrounded by fellow travelers, who stocked up on fast food meals for their trip. How lovely, how smelly, how noisy. But ok. As soon as they finished chewing I could happily go back to chilling in the comfy seat.
In conclusion: you don't need a big budget to go on a city break, all you need is a strong will and some good preparations before the trip.
To compare Amsterdam to Paris is impossible. Those are two very different cities and each of them has fantastic sights to it. Paris, however, has free public toilets. And that is a winner!
I am going back for sure and for a little longer, too. I realize I've managed to see a lot, but I missed out on Montparnasse, Montmartre (Moulin Rouge and the grave of Jim Morrison!) and Versailles.
But now that I know my way around I can plan things better for my future trip.
Paris, merci, I will be back for more!
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