La Ville-Lumière, The City of Light!

So begin the chronicles of my exhilarating, eye-opening, wonderful, and far too brief European Adventure. Well, to be technical, Southern European Adventure.  Much to my own dismay, about three weeks ago I booked my solo trip to Paris, Barcelona, Rome, and Venice. I am a pretty independent person, but never would I have thought that I would have the guts to travel alone through cities and countries that are entirely foreign to me - an art that my world traveling sister has mastered. And we're off...

I'm not going lie about it...the trip had a rough start. Friday, October 12th I woke up at 3:50 AM and everything was swell. I was packed, dressed, and out the door by 4:30 AM. It is about a five minute walk to the bus route that I was taking to the train station and I made it there in plenty of time, however, no bus. I waited, and waited, and waited. I checked and triple checked the bus schedule, but none of the expected buses were stopping at my stop. After two frantic calls to the tfl, numerous calls to different taxi services, and 50 minutes of me sitting completely alone in the early hours of the morning - finally a bus. The trouble is, as we stopped at bus stop after bus stop, I watched my train departure time inch closer and closer. By the time we reached St. Pancras Station I had about 5 minutes until the train left. This found me sprinting Olympic-style through the streets of London and then running like a chicken with my head cut off around the station trying to find my train...I missed it. An employee of the station found me sputtering and shaking like a leaf and said, "You completely missed it, so you can calm down now." The angel of a woman gave me a free transfer ticket: 7:01 AM train to Paris!

Trains are great. I fell asleep in London and woke up right in the middle of Paris. No passport, no baggage claim, no nothing. I was impressed. Now, I'm not sure if you are aware, but Paris is in France and in France they speak...French. I speak absolutely no French. This led to some heinously touristy situations as I tried to order food in local restaurants. Also, it made the walk from Nord Station to my hostel quite interesting, but alas I finally made it. 


I immediately made my way downtown and took a cruise on the Seine. As it was my first time in Paris, I had no problem being a complete and utter tourist. I think I was the only person on the cruise that spoke English, but nevertheless, it was fantastic. 

I then ventured to Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a very posh and upmarket area in central Paris. Someone asked me for directions in French and I felt oh so Parisian until I had to try and explain - in French - that I speak no French. Oh well. I then crossed the Seine to the Latin Quarter where I had lunch. The waiter wasn't to thrilled at my lack of abilities when it came to his native tongue, but the food was amazing! It was a short walk to Île de la Cité, the island where Notre Dame cathedral is located. The line was absurdly long so I didn't go in, but I was absolutely awestruck. I have to admit, this is probably mostly because of the relation to the Disney movie so I kept praying that the Hunchback would come flying out of one of the bell towers singing. On the way back I treated myself to an Espresso and a Nutella Crepe. Needless to say, it was life changing. 

Staying in a hostel, it is always a good idea to lock one's luggage. However, this led to my discovery that I am completely incapable of using locks. Both of the locks that I used my bags broke and ironically I had to use a key to slice my bag open. Despite that setback, I had a wonderful first night in Paris. The hostel I stayed was connected to a local bar, and I met some wonderful locals and lots of Canadians and Australians (why is it always Canadians and Australians?) 

Day two began with me walking from my hostel to the city center - about a 30 minute walk. Although some of the areas were a little seedy, it was amazing to see how you could find absolutely beautiful French architecture no matter where you were in the city. Every time I heard a British accent I felt like they were my countrymen! This led me to quite the identity crisis as I had to constantly remind myself that I'm in fact American. Speaking of the Brits though, the weather was unfortunately quite Londony. Worse actually, the weather was abysmal. I found myself at Pont Neuf where you can look out over almost all of Paris, and then made my way to the Louvre. The line was obscenely long, and I really was going to grin and bear it, but when I felt the rain seeping into my boots I decided it was time to go.

    My next stop was the Palais Garnier. Probably my favorite part of my trip to Paris. The elegant, massive, ornate opera house was breathtaking. I took a guided tour, and was beside myself the whole time simply because this is the opera house that one of my favorite musicals, The Phantom of the Opera, is set in. We even got to see the box seat that is reserved for the Phantom, and the chandelier that he allegedly cut down. There was also a huge exhibit with costumes, sets, and all kinds of historical information about shows done at the opera house throughout its history. I was there for hours. 

That night I spent hours sitting and talking to the two bartenders, picking their brains about all of the traveling that they have done. Next thing I knew, it was 4:30 in the morning and I had done some serious bonding. From then on, every time I walked in I was greeted with a "Jahhsieeee!"

The next day was again rainy and freezing, but I did my best to see as much of the city as I could. I strolled through Chatalet in the morning, a really pretty cobbled and old part of Paris. Then, I walked up the mountain to reach Montmartre where there are stunning views over all of Paris. Pretty incredible. That night I met some amazing people - a couple from London, three friends from Brazil, a brother and sister from Tel Aviv, two girls from Spain - to name a few. The next morning I got a big hug from the guy at the front desk and he said "We'll miss you Jahsiee! Please please come back soon!" - Hopefully I will. 

The walk through the pretty sketchy area of Paris to the train station in the early hours of the morning was pretty hair raising, but I made it. A man who spoke absolutely no English saw me struggling at the ticket machine and came over and bought my ticket for me, and then I was Barcelona bound!