Spring Break : France (Days 13-15)

I had to be up early to catch the bus from London to Paris. I took an Uber from my hostel and got there around 7am for check-in. The bus left at 8am and headed for the Euro Tunnel. The bus stopped before the tunnel at a small mall where the UK checked our passports and we had a chance to buy food or travel items. We got back on the bus and headed for the train that would take us through the tunnel. Before our bus boarded the train, we also had to stop again for the French passport check. Then a security guard checked our bus and let us board the train. While we were on the train there wasn’t much to see, this was my view while we were in the tunnel.

The bus let off at a major bus stop and I took a subway to my hostel. The subway was fairly cheap, less than 2 euros per ride. I unpacked in my room and explored a bit. The first night I met up with someone who knew one of my friends from Truman who was studying in Paris for the semester. She showed me around, then we got dinner and drinks with her and some friends.

The next day, which happened to be Easter, I got out to explore Paris. I didn’t realize that Easter was a busy time here and many of the attractions were either fully booked or had crazy lines, so I mainly just tried to see as much as I could outside. First I went towards the Notre Dame.

After a bit of exploring around the area, I headed to the Louvre. The Louvre was also insanely crowded, and also much bigger than I expected. The Louvre also has a bunch of gardens in front of it.

I managed to find one attraction without a crazy line: The Conciergerie which was once a Royal residence but later turned into a prison. Its most famous prisoner was Marie Antoinette. It was incredible seeing the inside of a medieval style building.

I looked around the area a bit more before moving on to the Eiffel Tower. All around were street vendors selling French food such as crepes and panini sandwiches.

The Eiffel Tower stands on its own, away from the other sites. Like the Louvre, its bigger than it looks on screen and has a large set of gardens in front of it. I took the time to sit around here and read.

The last sight for the day was the Arc de Triomphe. Its surrounded by a large roundabout. To get in it, you have to go underground (like the St. Louis Arch).

After this, I took the subway home for the night. The last two pictures in this section show the view from my room. For some reason, we weren’t allowed to open the window here, so the room got pretty hot at night (but not unbearable).

The next day I did what I did in London and took a free tour. I saw a few of the same things I saw on my first day exploring, but everything had a lot more detail than I got just from looking at it. At the end of the tour I went with a couple people from the tour to see the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Co. but there was a line to get in. We skipped going inside (queuing for a bookstore felt strange) and went down the street to have lunch in a French Cafe. We got a three course meal for 15 euros, which was a good price until they charged over 5 euros for a huge bottle of water. The meal was well worth it but it definitely felt like they were trying to shake all the money they could out of English-speaking tourists.

I liked the tour so much I booked a second tour with the same company, this time a paid one of the village Montmartre. Our tour started by the Moulin Rouge and took us around the village where a lot of impressionist artists (including Vincent van Gogh) lived. The tour left off in an amazing spot with a view of the city. The tour guide had suggested to end the trip seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, so I headed there next.

I reached the tower just in time to see what the guide had been talking about: after nightfall, the tower “sparkles up” in a light show on the hour. I stayed by the tower for a bit before heading back to the hostel.

I woke up the next morning somewhat relieved my trip was over. It was an amazing journey, but I was going to be glad to not have to travel every other day for awhile! The next trips I plan, I’ll just stay in one city instead of so much moving around. It was just a short flight back to Dublin and a short bus ride back to Maynooth. I unpacked and took a couple days to recover.

At this point I’ve decided on a few more trips before heading home. Before the semester ends I’ll visit Amsterdam, Berlin, and have another short trip to the UK. After the semester I’ll be exploring Ireland with my family, London with Eric, and then Italy with one of my international friends from Truman. One the way back into the states I’ll stop for a few days in New York City, then fly home on June 23rd. It’s been a life changing trip so far and it’s not over yet!