Like a dream come true

I LOVED Paris! It. Was. Awesome! I knew it was going to be cool, but I didn't realize I'd have such an amazing time.

We were only there for about a day and a half, but that was long enough to fit in plenty of sight-seeing and shopping. And going with Young-Hye was great. Every time we'd see something cool, she'd say "Whoooaa," or "Ohhhh," or "Ooooooh." Well, it's kinda hard to spell, but she'd make a sound that meant, "I'm in awe." Her reactions added to the excitement of seeing everything in Paris.

And, for not really having a plan, I think we did a good job at organizing our schedule. When we arrived Friday, we first went to our hostel. Young-Hye had booked a Korean place for us. We had to take off our shoes when we came in the door and put on some sandals they had for us. Everyone spoke in Korean, so I couldn't understand anything. But it's okay; I'm used to it, having been in Germany for the last few months.

We went to the Louvre. The museum is free on Fridays after 6:00 for people under the age of 26. It's open until ten on Fridays, so that's four hours to spend there--plenty of time for someone like me who's not incredibly into art. While I was there, I made sure to see the Mona Lisa. I couldn't really look up close because there was a large crowd around it. But I already know what it looks like anyway. I saw a sign pointing the way to the Venus de Milo, so next, I tried to find that. I wandered around lost for a while and saw a lot of other interesting artworks and galleries. Then I found the Venus de Milo, also with a fair-sized crowd.
Young-Hye and I met back in front of the glass pyramid thing at 8:00. Next, we walked down by the Seine River. That was one of many times we commented that it would be so romantic to come here with a special someone. We wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at night, so we made our way over there, stopping in some stores to do a little shopping. Young-Hye bought a bag that says Paris on it many times. You see them in every city, even Aachen; I already have one from Berlin. I have never seen those bags in the U.S., but maybe when I go back, I'll find one that says Hartland on it or something. I bought a sweatshirt and a purse.
The line at the Eiffel Tower was huge, and very slow-moving. I think we were in line for like an hour and a half. But as we waited, it got darker and darker as the sun set. Young-Hye had just looked at her phone to see what time it was. "It's ten o'clock," she said, and a few seconds later, the lights on the tower came on. "Whooooaaaa." Sometimes, the lights twinkled for a sparkly effect. Other times, the tower glowed blue.

We bought tickets for the third level, at the very top. First we took an elevator to the second level; then we had to switch elevators to make it higher. We had to wait in another half-hour line for the second elevator, but it went by fast. Looking out on Paris, the City of Lights, at night was absolutely breathtaking. People kept cutting in front of us in line because we were too busy looking out at the city over the railing to pay enough attention. The top was amazing too, though for future reference, I think the second level is high enough. But if you're gonna come all the way to the Eiffel Tower, and invest all that time in line, your first time, you have to go the whole way up. We tried to find famous landmarks from up there, but we could only recognize the Arc de Triomphe.

By the time we made it down from the tower, it was very late. We took the stairs down from the second level; about a third of the way , we knew that was a mistake. By the time we got to the bottom, my muscles in my legs were quivering. It might even be free to take the stairs up, but after that, I don't think I'd ever consider it.

The next morning, we woke up at 8:00. The hostel served breakfast at that time. It wasn't like breakfast at other hostels. At other places I've been, they have a small continental breakfast available, usually just Brotchen (little bread rolls) with jelly, nutella, or butter, and some cereal. This was an authentic Korean breakfast. It seemed more like dinner to me. They had rice, a meat sauce to go on top, or a vegetable stir-fry type thing. And they used chopsticks. I felt kind of awkward. I should have just gone with the flow and did what everyone else did, but I mostly just stared.

The first place we went after heading out was the Sacre Coeur, a church at the top of a hill. We had a nice view. Inside, it was a very reverent atmosphere. Most of the cathedrals I've been in have signs asking you to be quiet and respectful, but this place was especially so. No pictures were allowed. There were people sitting in the pews praying. The Sacre Coeur was cool and unique in that respect. Then we tried to find a university Young-Hye had read about--a very old school, where Marie Curie had studied, I believe. We were at the very north end of Paris, off the map a little, even. There, we saw several outdoor booths set up, selling clothes, jewelry, accessories, etc. It was very similar to the market in Bruges. Stuff was pretty cheap, so Young-Hye and I did some spending. Then, when we finally found the university, it was all gated up so we couldn't go inside or anything.

We then went to the Arc de Triomphe. Somewhere in there, I think we stopped for a bite to eat. "Quick" is the name of a fast food place; we saw a few of them in Paris. I got a crispy chicken sandwich from there--yum yum.

We waited in line for tickets to go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. This time, there was no elevator. We had to climb. It had a spiraling staircase and lots of steps, just like a lighthouse. The view from the top was great. I liked seeing Paris in the day. It's not as enchanting as at nighttime, but you can see so much. The Arc de Triomphe has roads angling out from it in all directions, like the center of a star. A couple asked us to take their picture for them. "It's tough being on your honeymoon and not having any pictures together," said the guy. Young-Hye and I exclaimed in unison: "Aaaaawwww!" It was so romantic; we couldn't get over it! I might have to change my Hawaiian plans and head to Paris for my honeymoon instead. (Imaginary honeymoon--of course I don't have any real plans yet)

Back at the bottom of the Arc, we saw the tomb of the unknown soldier. Then we walked down Champs-Elysees. That street had lots of shopping; it was all expensive, designer stuff. Paris is definitely a fashion-conscious city; a majority of the people walked around in dressier clothing, both guys and gals.

Champs-Elysees ended near the Seine. There, we took a ferry down to the Notre Dame cathedral. I liked the Gothic architecture. Inside, the ceilings were so high, and there was a ton of stained glass. It was nice, though I'd say the cathedral in Cologne was equally impressive. After that, Young-Hye and I just wandered around Paris. We took a trip to anywhere that looked noteworthy on my map, which Simone lent me. We stopped at the Hotel de'Ville, a cemetery, the Bastille monument, and more. We ate in a fairly expensive but not outrageous restaurant for dinner. We were going for a place that served authentic French cuisine. We both ordered the same thing. The waitress gave us English menus, but we still had to ask a lot of questions about what everything was. Good thing we asked too, because I almost ordered raw meat or something. They had escargot on the menu. Young-Hye said she'd had some before and it was pretty good, but I wasn't brave enough to try any. We both ended up with steak and French fries. (Now that I think about it, I guess I should have tried to get some French toast, French dressing, and French silk pie too while I was there, eh?) I got a glass of wine, since it's France. It was terrible; and then I felt all dizzy afterward. I don't know why I keep trying alcohol; it never tastes good. For dessert, we ordered creme brulee. It was a vanilla custard that had a layer of caramelized sugar on top, made by heating. Well, I don't know exactly, but it tasted good.

We took the subway a lot. I don't think Young-Hye likes walking too much. We had some interesting experiences on the metro. Many times, we'd see someone performing on an instrument in one of the cars. People would just ride around, play a little ditty, then walk through the car asking for money. At one point, someone boarded the metro in our car. Right in front of me, he plopped down his portable sound system and turned on some music. Then he wrapped a big black sheet around two poles (the ones people usually hold on to when they have to stand) to create a makeshift stage and took out some puppets. All he did was bob their heads to the music. People actually gave him money; I wasn't impressed.

And, one time, I witnessed a pickpocketing incident. The thief was not successful, but it was scary. I didn't know what was happening at first. A woman was saying, "What are you doing!?" And I saw someone get off the metro and run away. It looked like a kid. I was still confused. "Did they just try to pick my pocket?" asked a guy. "Yeah." "Thanks." Wow. He seemed pretty calm about it. Young-Hye and I held our purses a little closer and shuddered.

In the evening, when we were running out of ideas of where to go, Young-Hye said someone had told her to check out Pigalle. It was a stop on the metro, so we went there. When we climbed the stairs out of the subway station, we didn't see what she'd expected. The streets were lit up with neon signs. It was definitely the spot for nightlife in Paris. It was very near Moulin Rouge. I saw more than I wanted to when some girls wearing dresses stood over an area with air blowing upward. And I saw the word "sex" so many times I decided to start counting. I was up to about eight when I got distraced by some crepes from a small snack bar place. I ordered one that had nutella and bananas. It was a bit too chocolaty for my taste.

Finally, we headed back to the hostel after a long day. There, the Koreans were all having some beers and snacks. I joined them for a little, but I was so tired, and it's really hard being part of a conversation in another language, so I headed to bed. I couldn't sleep very well because some girl was snoring. And the next morning, we had to wake up at six to catch our train. I was extremely exhausted all of Sunday, but also very happy. Paris had been such a blast. The train wasn't so comfortable since I had most of my stuff piled around me. I had a lot of shopping bags; I bought a lot. I bought most of it with the intention of giving it as gifts, but I kinda want to keep it all :-)