One city down, two to go! Sitting in the Paris airport at an ungodly hour waiting to head off to Berlin. I would like to point out that the car hire that we took this morning has easily been the best decision of this entire trip. Booking it I was hesitant, but then I realized just how miserable public transportation would be at 4:00 in the morning, and here we are. I have enough energy to write this, so..
Yesterday was a fairly good last day in Paris. Maybe not on par with Day 2, but good nonetheless. We grabbed our free breakfast (croissant, coffee) and headed to Cemeterie Pere Lachaise, home to the stars (ie Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde). The famous gravestones didnät interest me that much, but the set up of the place is just amazing. Entirely above ground, massive, ornate crypts crowded together through cobblestone walkways. Add the creepily barren trees and it is easily spooky, in such a good way.
Afterwards we headed to Montmartrethe artists quarter of Paris, home to the Sacre Couer church and the Moulin Rouge. After a breathless hike up a hill (only to be rewarded with a foggy view of the French capital), we walked around the Sacre Couer and back into the village, which is largely overrun by tourists but the backstreets are very quaint and pretty.
We walked down the hill to find lunch which, for me, consisted of the ultimate in comfort food, french onion soup! I also got a little plate of escargot. It had to be done. They came out with a few tools of destruction that took me an awful long time to figure out how to use, but eventualy I got the hang of it, and they were delicious! Probably because they are drenched in garlic butter, but surprisingly good for the amount of flack that they get. Definitely a good decision to try something new!
We walked around a bit more, mostly to find the Moulin Rouge, Parisian letdown number 2 (although at night it probably looks incredible). What can I say, cinemetography these days…We took the metro over to Rue St. Honore and explored the ‘good life’ for awhile (ie, pretending we could actually afford those amazing maryjanes in Chanel–ugh). The streets drip in designer, which, as Kelly noted, ‘was a bit painful’. Although she also pointed out something else. Don’t you always feel like Paris is like the mecca of chic? When every woman personifies classic and effortless style? Back in London, I am put in my place every day by stylish heel-clad woman who look dressed to the nines by nine in the morning. Definitely not the case in Paris. Certainly not to say anything BAD against their style-it just didn’t stand out to me. A little odd, very surprising, and absolutely comforting knowing that the city of style isn’t all it’s made out to be.
From here wa passed onward down the street (rue) to the Louvre and (almost) shamefully stepped in a massive Starbucks. For nearly two hours (half of which I spent passed out in my arm chair. One of my days highlights, of course. We finally gave in to the coma and headed back to the hostel roughly at 7:00 for a solid nights sleep (which ended up not starting until 10:00…obviously).
My ears hurt from the overusage of earplugs-by the way. Excited for the possibility of sleeping without them in Germany! We did meet some nice people, though, which is what I love about hostels. There were two girls in our room who actually just came from Interlaken, which is weird, and jad just gone skydiving, which is just…bizarre. They were glowing about it, though, so I am all the more excited! But first–Berlin! Home of many an art gallery and curried sausage..should be interesting!
