On Wednesday morning I caught the Eurostar back to Paris. With the time difference and trying to find an ATM and then figuring out how to get to my hostel, it was nearly noon by the time I had dropped my stuff off and was ready to go exploring. I went and talked to a nice man in the tourist information booth, and he gave me a map of the metro complete with little pictures of all the big tourist destinations. It was very handy for finding my way around. First stop was Notre Dame de Paris. What a beautiful cathedral. It was quite dark inside, but I still took a whole bunch of pictures. They're up on facebook. I spent about half an hour there, but as I left ready to set off again I spotted a bunch of people lined up along the side of the cathedral. I went over to check it out and it was a tour of one of the towers for five euros. I decided to join them, and waited in line. The very top of the tower was closed, but we went pretty high up. There were four hundred and something stairs to where we went. That's a lot of stairs.
Here's me at the top. It was really cold in Paris, colder and wetter than London, which was a bit disappointing :P The view up the top was gorgeous, even though you couldn't see very far because of the cold.
Hanging with some gargoyles. In the distance you can just make out the Eiffel Tower. After walking around a bit and taking lots of pictures of gargoyles, I decided I was too cold to stay any longer, so down I went. By then it was around 2pm, and I hadn't had any lunch, so I got one of these!
It's a nutella crepe. They love their nutella in Europe, and when I was waiting in the line for the tower tour across the road from about five shops that sold them, I realised I hadn't tried one since I'd been here. It was pretty awesome, but so messy :P
After my lunch, it was off to the Eiffel Tower. There were so many tourists there it was crazy. As you walk along the road leading to it there's all these guys selling miniature towers from blankets on the footpath. I wanted a keyring, but I only had a twenty euro note and I wasn't willing to take the chance that they'd make change. They looked like they'd just give me a whole pile of Eiffel Tower crap instead. I ended up finding a proper stall thing a bit further away, and bought my cheap trinket there :P
Just chilling under the Eiffel Tower. Seriously, it was bloody freezing! I didn't go up, mostly because I didn't have much money left and I'd already seen as much as you can on the top of Notre Dame. It's not the right time of year for epic city views :P
Next I was off to the Louvre. The outside was really pretty, which was just as well because I had to wait in an epic line to get inside. Then I had to wait in another epic line to buy a ticket. By now I was really tired, so I just trudged through some of the galleries and tried to appreciate the whole art thing. I saw the Mona Lisa. It looks like all the copies, I wasn't that impressed :P Eventually I decided that I'd had enough and my feet hurt, so I headed back to my hostel.
The hostel was pretty dodgy, with it's rude french receptionist and wanting us to pay for sheets. I decided to just sleep on the bare mattress, I was beyond caring at that point. The shower looked awful, and you had to pay for a towel as well, so I forfeited my last chance for a shower before leaving Europe. I cheered up a little bit because I found someone to chat to. I was sharing with a Canadian guy who stayed in the room all evening with me and was therefore a captive audience :P We were also sharing with four other random dudes, and it turned out that they all snored. Gah. I didn't have a very good sleep, and it was up again at 6am to catch my train to Amsterdam.
I went to collect my luggage, and it wasn't in the locker I'd left it in. I was too tired to really have a panic attack, but I was a little concerned when I asked the guy behind the desk where it was. Apparently I was supposed to have paid up front for the whole week, but they don't exactly give you that option. Once you've put in enough coins for 48 hours, it locks the door and prints your ticket. I even asked the lady behind the desk if I needed to give her more then, and she glared at me and told me it was fine. Anyway, the dude had my luggage out the back, so he went and fetched it and I paid the extra monies. All sorted. Then I caught my train, and napped all the way to Amsterdam.
Here's me at the top. It was really cold in Paris, colder and wetter than London, which was a bit disappointing :P The view up the top was gorgeous, even though you couldn't see very far because of the cold.
Hanging with some gargoyles. In the distance you can just make out the Eiffel Tower. After walking around a bit and taking lots of pictures of gargoyles, I decided I was too cold to stay any longer, so down I went. By then it was around 2pm, and I hadn't had any lunch, so I got one of these!
It's a nutella crepe. They love their nutella in Europe, and when I was waiting in the line for the tower tour across the road from about five shops that sold them, I realised I hadn't tried one since I'd been here. It was pretty awesome, but so messy :P
After my lunch, it was off to the Eiffel Tower. There were so many tourists there it was crazy. As you walk along the road leading to it there's all these guys selling miniature towers from blankets on the footpath. I wanted a keyring, but I only had a twenty euro note and I wasn't willing to take the chance that they'd make change. They looked like they'd just give me a whole pile of Eiffel Tower crap instead. I ended up finding a proper stall thing a bit further away, and bought my cheap trinket there :P
Just chilling under the Eiffel Tower. Seriously, it was bloody freezing! I didn't go up, mostly because I didn't have much money left and I'd already seen as much as you can on the top of Notre Dame. It's not the right time of year for epic city views :P
Next I was off to the Louvre. The outside was really pretty, which was just as well because I had to wait in an epic line to get inside. Then I had to wait in another epic line to buy a ticket. By now I was really tired, so I just trudged through some of the galleries and tried to appreciate the whole art thing. I saw the Mona Lisa. It looks like all the copies, I wasn't that impressed :P Eventually I decided that I'd had enough and my feet hurt, so I headed back to my hostel.
The hostel was pretty dodgy, with it's rude french receptionist and wanting us to pay for sheets. I decided to just sleep on the bare mattress, I was beyond caring at that point. The shower looked awful, and you had to pay for a towel as well, so I forfeited my last chance for a shower before leaving Europe. I cheered up a little bit because I found someone to chat to. I was sharing with a Canadian guy who stayed in the room all evening with me and was therefore a captive audience :P We were also sharing with four other random dudes, and it turned out that they all snored. Gah. I didn't have a very good sleep, and it was up again at 6am to catch my train to Amsterdam.
I went to collect my luggage, and it wasn't in the locker I'd left it in. I was too tired to really have a panic attack, but I was a little concerned when I asked the guy behind the desk where it was. Apparently I was supposed to have paid up front for the whole week, but they don't exactly give you that option. Once you've put in enough coins for 48 hours, it locks the door and prints your ticket. I even asked the lady behind the desk if I needed to give her more then, and she glared at me and told me it was fine. Anyway, the dude had my luggage out the back, so he went and fetched it and I paid the extra monies. All sorted. Then I caught my train, and napped all the way to Amsterdam.
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