I wasn't sure what to expect when arriving in Paris. Everyone calls it the city of love or the fashion capital of the world! I expected to see trendy models everywhere and beautiful streets lined with flowers and lovebirds on every corner. Boy was I wrong! This city is BUSY! It's like another New York!
I must admit the area of town where I was staying wasn't that nice. So my first impression of Paris was kind of BLEH. Paris however is very expensive so I chose to save on the room a bit and stay in a hostel several metro rides away from the attractions. I would recommend St. Christopher's if anyone is backpacking and would like a fun and cheap place to stay in Paris.
I immediately made friends with a young German guy, Marty, that was staying in my room. He was actually in Paris the week prior so he knew a little about the area. Lucky me! He recommended checking out this one area of town, Montmartre. Cool with me!
When we first arrived we grabbed an espresso. Oh Europeans and their espressos. So hard for me to adjust as I am use to drinking large volumes of coffee, versus a half of shot of coffee! Oh well, all is good. The area was quite cute actually.
He recommended this viewpoint up the hill, little did I know he was referring to Basilica of Sacre-Coeur! I turned the corner and saw this beautiful church!
It was quite cloudy and rainy so when I got to the top there wasn't a great view.
We continued to walk around and what do you know, Moulin Rouge was right down the street!!!!!!!! I guess this area is a popular sex district, too.
We started to get hungry and searched for a traditional French restaurant. Someone recommended this restaurant right up the street and it was actually amazing! A three course meal for 16 euros! We had an amazing onion soup to start, and bread. A chicken entree with a tasty, almost curry sauce served with white rice. And the dessert was a pear tart pie! It was the best dinner I've had since being on this backpacking trip!
We were told there was live music at the hostel that night, so back to the hostel we go. However upon arriving there was no live music. Marty suggested grabbing a couple bottles of wine and going to sit and chill under the Eiffel Tower. UMMMMMMMMM YEAH OK!!!!!!!!!!!
So that's exactly what we did. It was quite chilly out, but we were able to drink down two bottles of wine! We totally missed the metro though, as it shuts down at 1am during the week. So we had to take a cab back to the hostel. What a waste of 20 euros! UGH
The next day I knew was a big task. SO many sites to see! The Louvre, Arch de Triumph, Lovers Bridge, Notre Dame. But we did it!
I actually saw this neat little art gallery near Notre Dame and wanted to meander in. Upon walking this older man started to approach us. The gallery was small, about 800 square feet. Beautiful oil landscape paintings filled the room. As the man approached us I asked if he was the artist, and he said YES! Sometimes the gallery workers aren't the artist, and I hate that! Anyway, this geltle-man started talking to us in French. In more ways than one I tried to explain I did not speak French nor could understand anything he was saying. This super nice man just continued to speak to us in French, as if he hadn't seen a soul in hours. He followed us as we walked around his gallery, continuing to talk to us as if he'd been waiting on us all day. He showed us pictures of how his art had been displayed around the world via old newspaper articles he had saved in an old photo album. The way he spoke to us was so gentle, so sincere, so caring. I couldn't get over how interestingly this situation was unfolding. He eventually asked us to sit at his small wooden table in the middle of his gallery. We obliged and he came out with champagne and a few snack bites on a blue paper plate. The plastic champagne glasses were the icing on the cake. He continued to talk in French and all I could do was smile and nod. Actually Marty spoke German and Louis could speak a little German so we were able to connect the dots a little that way.
I don't even know if I can explain how beautiful of a situation this was. Its as if love filled the air, my heart and my soul. Sometimes you just have that short experience, that you will remember for the rest of your life. Louis, you made my trip in Paris a memorable one. Thank you.
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