Rediscovering Paris

Paris

Whilst I chose Brussels as my Erasmus destination, one of my close friends from University chose Paris and so, within a few weeks of moving abroad I had planned my weekend visit. I had been to Paris twice before but both when I was a lot younger and so although I vaguely remembered it I was extremely excited. Only 2 hours and 7 euros by coach I chose this option and arrived late on Friday night ready to make the most of it.

Pigalle

The appartment that my friend was staying in, and therefore the one I would be sharing, was located near to Pigalle metro station, just opposite from that famous red windmill- the Moulin Rouge. Arriving here itself was an experience. I hadn't quite prepared myself for the sky high sex shops and neon lights that surrounded me, however, despite the obvious stereotypes, the bars and terraces seemed to be buzzing and I felt safe enough. On entering her appartment what struck me was how little my friend was actually getting for such a large amount of money. Paying almost double what I was a month for a space half the time I was not regretting my decision to move to Brussels. Anyway... I cleaned myself up and we hit the town, ready for a few drinks and to practice our best French. Somehow, however, we ended up in a karaoke bar surrounded by middle aged men asking for our numbers where we sang a few of our favourite Britney Spears classics before heading onwards. On our walk to the next bar we were walking along the pavement and were unfortunately nearly caught up in some kind of brawl so decided to call it night - not the best start but we decided that it was not a complete disaster as we wanted to enjoy the next day.

Day 1

Saturday morning we bounded out of bed nice and early, and headed on out to see the sights of Paris. First of all we went to see the Moulin Rouge and from there we took the Petit Train de Montmartre ride up through the cobbled streets on Monmartre to the Sacré-Coeur. On the way up, the audio in the tram told us the history of all the sights we passed including the famous café from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulin that I had studied in school as well as many other beautiful buildings. We bumped over the stones and wound up the streets taking in all the sounds and smells. At the top, we scrambled out of the train in order to see the view of below-a breathtaking skyline of Paris with the iconic Eiffel Tower standing out in all its glory. We sat on the steps a while listening to the buskers until we began to feel hungry and so we headed into a café for lunch. Due to the extortionate food prices we could both only afford a sandwich each but that was enough and we chose a table by the window so that we could watch the artists as they drew caricatures of the tourists outside. Having warmed our fingers a bit with a cup of tea we then jumped back on the train to take us down the other side and continue it's tale about the marvellous history of this beautiful place.

Once we had finished our tour we took the underground to Champs Elysées, where we walked all the way up to the Arc de Triomph. As it was early November, the sun was casting beautiful golden shadows on the Arch at this point and it was beautiful to see. From there we speedwalked (Paris is cold in November) to the Eiffel Tower. We decided not to go up the tower but instead to go under it, at which my parents decided to FaceTime me. Having no idea I was in Paris due to a small miscommunication on my part, I think they were fairly surprised to see the Eiffel Tower in the background but delighted to see I was enjoying myself all the same. We didn't spend long at the Eiffel Tower. I know that seems like a waste and I can understand why people might think that but I am a (extremely) ameteur photographer and so I was in favour of views featuring the Eiffel tower rather than views of Paris FROM the Eiffel Tower. Nonetheless it was breathtaking to see and highly worth the wait.

From there we took the tube to see the Louvre all lit up and night and, took the same picture that so many tourists take a day. It was getting really quite cold by this point, but this perhaps was to thank for the small number of people at the Louvre with us. We ate dinner in a French bistro around the corner before heading home to get ready for our night out.

The night is a bit of a blur really. First met up with some of the Erasmus students my friend had met in Paris at a couple of extremely busy cocktail bars with great happy hours and then we went to the terrace on the roof of the Galeries Lafayette to watch the Eiffel tower with all its sparkling lights. From there we headed to a huge club with different music on each floor where I bumped into the sister of a friend of mine from school and that's most of what I remember. BUT I had fun so I guess that's the important thing really.

Day 2

Head spinning and feeling slightly worse for wear we forced ourselves out of bed slightly later than planned and headed in the center of Paris for some Brunch. My fantastic friend had made a bucket list of places to go and chose a restaurant called Benedict famous for... you guessed it, Eggs Benedict of all varieties. We waited a LOOONG time, what felt like an eternity with my banging headache, in queue for a table and I have to admit that it was worth the wait. Perfectly cooked poached eggs - something I have yet to master- atop mouthwateringly fresh ingredients was the perfect hangover cure, combined with the most delicious smoothie it was bliss although in my most comfortable hangover outfit I did feel slightly out of place. (N. B - wear smart clothes. )

By the time we had finished it was getting a bit later and so we decided to stay in the centre and go shopping. I was surprised by the number of cheap shops we found and we both ended up buying coats for less that 20 euros (Bargain!) before heading to the coach station.

My Overall Experience

After spending a weekend in Paris I did feel a slight pang of sadness knowing that quite a few of my friends were in Paris together sharing their experiences. I also felt a bit jealous as they were living in such a stunning city with so much history where something was always going on and for a second I regretted my decision to move to Brussels instead of Paris. However, on the way home I had a while to think about it. I had made real Belgian friends that I would keep for life. Who had introduced me to their families and immersed me in the culture and as a result I think I was speaking a lot more French than many of my peers. I also realised that although Paris is beautiful and magnificent, it was so large that I think i would have felt trapped. The locals didn't seem to be particularly polite or willing to help when compared to the ones I had spoken to in Brussels and I can to the conclusion that however incredible it may be, I would always prefer Paris as a holiday destination, as a place to visit but never as a place to live. A city that large could never be home to me.