Paris...

Being the gangster that I am, I never booked any accommodation,  which resulted in me walking, with my massive backpack (more on this later), from hostel to hostel looking for something. I eventually found Le Regent Hostel in the Montmartre district… what a find. I walked through the door and Jack Johnson was playing, there were Halloween decorations everywhere, the staff were all dressed up, there were massive bowls of sweets all over the place and people from all over the world milling around. I was given some clean sheets and shown to my (very clean, bright and cheerful) room and told to help myself to some breakfast: croissants, baguettes, cereal, coffee, orange juice… every morning. They leave the croissants and bread out all day for you to help yourself. Needless to say, we had a croissant with jam for breakfast, a croissant with cheese for lunch and a baguette for dinner (I’m on a LOW carb diet, it’s great). There’s free wi-fi, maps, guides and the staff are really happy to help out with stuff to see and do. I met some really nice people there from all over the world, it’s a really big hostel so even if you are travelling by yourself it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll met some cool people. The hostel is right by the Anvers metro stop,  lots of bars and restaurants, it’s just down the road from the Moulin Rouge, the Sacre Couer and only a few stops on the metro from all the main attractions in Paris, it’s great. Go there.

 The Eiffel Tower...

It's the most beautiful at night when it’s all lit up, on the hour the lights change and the whole thing starts twinkling, it's really pretty. A good idea is to go just as the sun is about to set, so you see it at day and at night. . I love the beautiful little carousel underneath it, and the guys selling crepes and toasted chestnuts, the artists trying to convince you to let them do a portrait of you, and the guy playing his saxophone, it’s everything you would imagine it to be, and, although, it’s a majour tourist trap, you really do have to see it. The queues to get up to the top are just ridiculous, if it’s the view that you’re after then rather take a walk up to the Sacre Couer, it’s the highest point in Paris and you can see just as much, you don’t have to wait in a queue and you don’t have to pay anything.

After you’ve been inside the Sacre Couer take a walk to the artists square, I don’t think that’s what it's called, but it’s a beautiful little square PACKED with artists all set up, painting beautiful pictures.. You can stand there and watch them painting something and buy it straight after, pretty cool. I ended up buying a beautiful little water colour painting from on old lady, I’m not sure if it’s going to survive my trip around Europe but I couldn’t NOT buy one.

Walk back down to the main street and keep going till you hit the Moulin Rouge, you’ll see it straight away, it’s JUST like in the movies. It’s in the “red light” district of Paris but it’s not at all shady, the street is packed with sex shops and artsy theatres, and cafes, there’s a great vibe there. Just past the Moulin Rouge is the little Cafe where Amelie worked, go in and have a creme brulee, it would be a crime not to!

Next was the Louvre which was just incredible. It is ABSOLUTELY mobbed with tourists but there’s an entrance around the back that people don’t really think is a proper entrance, but it IS and you hardly wait at all. Apparently the main queue can take a couple of hours, nooo thank you. It was pretty stressful inside there so unless you’re dying to see the Mona Lisa or Venus then go to Musee D’Orsay, it’s a little less crowded. Now, after waiting for ages to even get close to it, and fighting my way through the crowds I eventually saw it, the Mona Lisa, and, well, it's so much smaller than I thought it would be, you can’t get too close to it and it’s behind a glass wall. I looked at it, took a picture (without the flash, unlike some of the other happy snappers who were clearly illiterate) thought, cool, THAT’S THE MONA LIIIISA, and then walked away and felt bad that I didn’t look at it for long enough or appreciate it as much as I should have, so I walked back and looked at it again, and looked at it some more, and thought hmm yes that is a VER naaaz painting and looked at it some more and then walked away. Museums aren’t really my thing, especially when they’re flooded with tourists but I was cool to see all the painting I studied in art history. What I want to know, is WHY is everyone always NAKED, and why do the men always have such small ones. How funny is this sculpture, it’s just a group of men all standing around staring at their tiny ones. Haha. Haha, at least I’m not immature right? God imagine being SO immature.

 As I was saying, the Louvre... here it iiiis

 Aaaand the Mona Lisa...

Chocolat chaud is a pretty big thing in Paris and I made it my personal mission to find the very best, try the pear and vanilla  at Jean-Paul Hevin or the L'Africain at Angelina's. You cannot leave Paris without having tried a macaron. Laduree is THE best but there are other smaller places that are less expensive but just as good. I tried the fig, the pistachio and the passion fruit… oh delicious. If they didn't cost R20… EACH, I might have tried more. Right by Angelina’s is the Pont des Arts,  the bridge with all the padlocks, I already mentioned it in an earlier post.

And then, there are the other touristy places, like the Notre Dame, which is so incredibly intricate and beautiful

A walk along Champs Elysees up to the Arc de Triomphe

 

 I personally loved just walking around the parks, and through the streets, into the quirky little shops and bars. I loved the street art, if you have time do the street art tour.

My time in Paris was everything I thought it would be. I saw incredibly beautiful things, I met cool people from all over the world, I ate delicious food, I drank delicious(ly cheap) wine and well, I saw the MONA LISA and the EIFFEL TOWER didn't I? All in all a very succesful start to my travels.