A blog from the city of...
Paris.
Paris, France. Jamie didn’t want to go to Paris for longer than a day because she didn’t think it was worth it. I think dumb mistakes are my forte. Paris was amazing. Rome was dreadful. Who would have thought?
I went to the London Luton airport on Sat night and stayed there for my early 7 am flight. I was up all night since I didn’t want to crash on the floor of the airport and there were no seats available to sit in. I sat at a café, reading celebrity mags and contemplating how much I can’t stand Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Poor Jen. So after doing this for 5 hours or so, we finally boarded the plane and I didn’t even last pass the “air masks will drop from the ceiling put them on as so….” Next thing I know we landed in Paris. Talk about gorgeous weather!! A beautiful 80 degrees all day, nice light breeze and something we don’t see in London – the sun. I got burnt a little on my shoulder. Key there – shoulder. Not shoulders. Apparently the sun only fancied my left shoulder, not the right. Anyway, I searched for my tour bus that I had previously booked only to find out that it doesn’t exist. Awesome! I need to contact them to get my ₤17 back = $34. I ended up jumping onto a different tour bus but it only went to 9 sites. This was fine, because it was May Day in Paris which means that nothing is open. Another stellar decision on my part, that meant that I didn’t get to go into the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa. I did see the Eiffel Tower (day/night both) and the Notre Dame. I didn’t go inside though because the queue was really long. You know me, the patience isn’t there to stand around and wait. Actually, I didn’t go up in the Eiffel either. I need to work on the patience thing I suppose. But it does give me an excellent reason to come back to Paris now, since I didn’t get to see anything. Next stop on the Paris in a day tour was to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery to see Jim Morrison’s grave. These tombs and mausoleums are so old. It was really peaceful there, I could have stayed all day if time permitted. After riding the bus and walking around a bit more, I finally got in contact with Dayna & Karen (who were there since Thurs – they stuck with the original plans). They said to meet them in the Moulin Rouge district. Give you one guess… I don’t have to spell it out. So we went into a few shops but soon became bored. You can only take so much. We then went into the Latin/college district to go and eat dinner. Karen & Dayna said to pretend you speak a different language, that the men will do anything to get you to come inside and eat at their little restaurants; I didn’t really know what they meant. The men (& women too) grab your arms, tell you to look at their menus and they can give you a free drink and this and that. All the menus are a set price: appetizer, main & dessert. I don’t think men understand the words – No Thank You. You know how they always tell us women to say No means No and how guys usually don’t understand the word No. They really don’t in Europe. “No, thank you but I’m not interested. No, I’ve already eaten. No, I’ve already – No I’ve – NO…..” It is really annoying. We finally found a place to eat and as soon as you get inside, they give you a tiny little drink (the free drink) and present you with the worse table service ever. I think we waited 10 minutes before getting drinks and a menu. Anyway, guess what I ate!!! Escargot! It was really good actually, I wasn’t sure that I would like snails but I do. A very interesting meal to say the least. After that, there wasn’t much to do if you weren’t going to drink, so we just walked down the little streets and then decided to call it a night. I did go back to the Eiffel Tower to get some pics of it lit up though. There are these men, who I refer to as terrorists (only because they sell the dumbest junk and it could only be to fund one thing, right?) who are pushing these lit Eiffel towers at you. I don’t want one! Just as the same as the terrorists who sell cigarettes on the corner of the street here in London, I know you are there, if I want one, I will come to you and get one. NO! I DON’T WANT A LIT UP EIFFEL TOWER. Again, some don’t take No for an answer. I was going to start swinging my purse at them at this point. I decided it was in my best interest to just get onto the metro and get to the airport. As my luck had it (I’m not being facetious here) I met a guy who worked for Boeing and he asked where I was staying – told him at the airport. He told me that he and his coworkers had an extra room at the Hilton that I could stay in. I told him that was a nice offer of his bed for the night, but no thanks. He was like “No, we have an extra room, empty” I couldn’t believe my luck. So, I took him up on the offer and I stayed at the Hilton – in a room all by myself! He set an alarm for me and came back this morning to wake me up at 6 am for my flight. Things like that don’t happen to me. I was thinking the whole time, ok – what’s going to happen here – is someone going to break in, are there hidden kilos of coke stashed in the drawers or in the closet… Broke down Palace! I wasn’t sure, but he was true on his word. No one bothered me all night and I got to take a great shower and sleep in a comfy bed (only for 4 hours or so). Walker came and knocked on the door at 6 am to wake me up and then took me to get a shuttle to the airport! There are some really nice people in the world; it just takes me a while of going through the nasty ones to meet them. Then Dayna surprised me with “Hey, Nick is coming to pick us up and take us home, we don’t have to take the train or the tube”. I was like ‘Thank you…. Thank you….’ So that was my trip to Paris in a nutshell. I really had a good time.
I changed my mind and am not traveling to Prague as planned. I am, on the other hand, making a pit stop to see Arnan in Barcelona from the 13th to the 14th then flying home to the States on the 15th. Talk about being a jet setter! London, Barcelona, London, Philly, Erie. Am I going to be exhausted, especially since the Spaniards are known for staying up until 5-6am. I’m going to need to sleep my entire flight home to the states. Let me re-word that; I am attempting to go to Barcelona – I just made my flight arrangements and they just kicked back with the dreaded words: “your card has been denied”. You know what just donned on me, I’m probably not going to get to see Arnan because I have to mail some stuff home and any money that I have left will go towards that. Bullocks! Ugh, I can’t talk about this right now, I have some serious issues at hand. If anyone feels they’d like to support my travel habit and put money into my bank account – please contact me via email at …. Just kidding! Bullocks, bullocks!! MOM, DAD?? Jen, Stac, Bonnie, JP, anyone….
Wait, just thought of something! I could cancel my action adventure trip to Wales (they didn’t have kayaking that weekend and I would have to go coasteering but there really isn’t a point because I won’t jump off the cliffs into the water and horseback riding would be nice but it’s only for 1.5 hours) and go to Barcelona instead… I need to take a pole on this one, so please post your responses on what you think I should do!! Wales trip by myself or visit an old friend in Barcelona!
Paris, France. Jamie didn’t want to go to Paris for longer than a day because she didn’t think it was worth it. I think dumb mistakes are my forte. Paris was amazing. Rome was dreadful. Who would have thought?
I went to the London Luton airport on Sat night and stayed there for my early 7 am flight. I was up all night since I didn’t want to crash on the floor of the airport and there were no seats available to sit in. I sat at a café, reading celebrity mags and contemplating how much I can’t stand Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Poor Jen. So after doing this for 5 hours or so, we finally boarded the plane and I didn’t even last pass the “air masks will drop from the ceiling put them on as so….” Next thing I know we landed in Paris. Talk about gorgeous weather!! A beautiful 80 degrees all day, nice light breeze and something we don’t see in London – the sun. I got burnt a little on my shoulder. Key there – shoulder. Not shoulders. Apparently the sun only fancied my left shoulder, not the right. Anyway, I searched for my tour bus that I had previously booked only to find out that it doesn’t exist. Awesome! I need to contact them to get my ₤17 back = $34. I ended up jumping onto a different tour bus but it only went to 9 sites. This was fine, because it was May Day in Paris which means that nothing is open. Another stellar decision on my part, that meant that I didn’t get to go into the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa. I did see the Eiffel Tower (day/night both) and the Notre Dame. I didn’t go inside though because the queue was really long. You know me, the patience isn’t there to stand around and wait. Actually, I didn’t go up in the Eiffel either. I need to work on the patience thing I suppose. But it does give me an excellent reason to come back to Paris now, since I didn’t get to see anything. Next stop on the Paris in a day tour was to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery to see Jim Morrison’s grave. These tombs and mausoleums are so old. It was really peaceful there, I could have stayed all day if time permitted. After riding the bus and walking around a bit more, I finally got in contact with Dayna & Karen (who were there since Thurs – they stuck with the original plans). They said to meet them in the Moulin Rouge district. Give you one guess… I don’t have to spell it out. So we went into a few shops but soon became bored. You can only take so much. We then went into the Latin/college district to go and eat dinner. Karen & Dayna said to pretend you speak a different language, that the men will do anything to get you to come inside and eat at their little restaurants; I didn’t really know what they meant. The men (& women too) grab your arms, tell you to look at their menus and they can give you a free drink and this and that. All the menus are a set price: appetizer, main & dessert. I don’t think men understand the words – No Thank You. You know how they always tell us women to say No means No and how guys usually don’t understand the word No. They really don’t in Europe. “No, thank you but I’m not interested. No, I’ve already eaten. No, I’ve already – No I’ve – NO…..” It is really annoying. We finally found a place to eat and as soon as you get inside, they give you a tiny little drink (the free drink) and present you with the worse table service ever. I think we waited 10 minutes before getting drinks and a menu. Anyway, guess what I ate!!! Escargot! It was really good actually, I wasn’t sure that I would like snails but I do. A very interesting meal to say the least. After that, there wasn’t much to do if you weren’t going to drink, so we just walked down the little streets and then decided to call it a night. I did go back to the Eiffel Tower to get some pics of it lit up though. There are these men, who I refer to as terrorists (only because they sell the dumbest junk and it could only be to fund one thing, right?) who are pushing these lit Eiffel towers at you. I don’t want one! Just as the same as the terrorists who sell cigarettes on the corner of the street here in London, I know you are there, if I want one, I will come to you and get one. NO! I DON’T WANT A LIT UP EIFFEL TOWER. Again, some don’t take No for an answer. I was going to start swinging my purse at them at this point. I decided it was in my best interest to just get onto the metro and get to the airport. As my luck had it (I’m not being facetious here) I met a guy who worked for Boeing and he asked where I was staying – told him at the airport. He told me that he and his coworkers had an extra room at the Hilton that I could stay in. I told him that was a nice offer of his bed for the night, but no thanks. He was like “No, we have an extra room, empty” I couldn’t believe my luck. So, I took him up on the offer and I stayed at the Hilton – in a room all by myself! He set an alarm for me and came back this morning to wake me up at 6 am for my flight. Things like that don’t happen to me. I was thinking the whole time, ok – what’s going to happen here – is someone going to break in, are there hidden kilos of coke stashed in the drawers or in the closet… Broke down Palace! I wasn’t sure, but he was true on his word. No one bothered me all night and I got to take a great shower and sleep in a comfy bed (only for 4 hours or so). Walker came and knocked on the door at 6 am to wake me up and then took me to get a shuttle to the airport! There are some really nice people in the world; it just takes me a while of going through the nasty ones to meet them. Then Dayna surprised me with “Hey, Nick is coming to pick us up and take us home, we don’t have to take the train or the tube”. I was like ‘Thank you…. Thank you….’ So that was my trip to Paris in a nutshell. I really had a good time.
I changed my mind and am not traveling to Prague as planned. I am, on the other hand, making a pit stop to see Arnan in Barcelona from the 13th to the 14th then flying home to the States on the 15th. Talk about being a jet setter! London, Barcelona, London, Philly, Erie. Am I going to be exhausted, especially since the Spaniards are known for staying up until 5-6am. I’m going to need to sleep my entire flight home to the states. Let me re-word that; I am attempting to go to Barcelona – I just made my flight arrangements and they just kicked back with the dreaded words: “your card has been denied”. You know what just donned on me, I’m probably not going to get to see Arnan because I have to mail some stuff home and any money that I have left will go towards that. Bullocks! Ugh, I can’t talk about this right now, I have some serious issues at hand. If anyone feels they’d like to support my travel habit and put money into my bank account – please contact me via email at …. Just kidding! Bullocks, bullocks!! MOM, DAD?? Jen, Stac, Bonnie, JP, anyone….
Wait, just thought of something! I could cancel my action adventure trip to Wales (they didn’t have kayaking that weekend and I would have to go coasteering but there really isn’t a point because I won’t jump off the cliffs into the water and horseback riding would be nice but it’s only for 1.5 hours) and go to Barcelona instead… I need to take a pole on this one, so please post your responses on what you think I should do!! Wales trip by myself or visit an old friend in Barcelona!
posted by Jamie at 5/02/2005 06:21:00 PM
1 Comments:
I'm glad that Paris was fun...but did you substitute Moulin Rouge for HOT HOT Arnan??? I hope not. So the answer to the question is...SCREW WHALES! Go where you have an old friend (w/benefits???) and enjoy the company of a person that will revel in your company!!! Duh!
~E
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