Ich hatte viel Spaß in Paris.

Wednesday morning I left for Paris via a high-speed French train to meet my parents. After stopping in Karlsruhe and Strasbourg, and traveling at 320 km/hr, I arrived in Paris in just over three hours. My only complaint about the train was that many of the bathrooms were out of order and the few that worked were dirty and did not have toilet paper. Thank goodness I carry pocket tissue packs in my purse all the time now! I ended up giving most of mine away to the five or so ladies in line for the bathroom after me.

METRO - Once I gained my bearings at the Gare de l'Est station in Paris, I bought tickets and took the metro to my hostel on the other side of town. For those traveling Paris, the book of 10 tickets are definitely the way to go. Also, be careful in the Gare de l'Est station and only receive help from the people in the official station shirts and vests. There are many other people by the machines there trying to sell you the 3 day Paris pass which is a rip off or trying to distract you to pickpocket. The Metro in Paris is very convenient and easy to use. Everything is labeled clearly and once you scan your ticket and enter the turn-styles you are connected to every line in the network. I learned that the metro lines are only under public roads to avoid any issues of private underground property and the Paris metro is one of the first in the world. The trains are short and always very crowded, but they come every 3-7 minutes so the wait is never very long. I never felt unsafe in the stations, and although they smelled a bit like urine, they were relatively clean.
*At one stop there was a small orchestra of students playing beautiful music in the station.

HOSTEL - I stayed at the Aloha Hostel near the Volontaires Metro stop. Now this was only my second hostel experience and my first hostel by myself so bear with me if you are more hostel experienced and I am complaining about a situation that is very typical. So when I first got there I locked my bag up and went to the Eiffel Tower until I could officially check in. When I returned to check in, I paid the 30 Euro a night in cash, the deposits for a key and sheet, and was assigned to room 100, bed 6 which was supposed to be a co-ed room of 10 with a shared bathroom. I was unable to find my room on the second floor (because it is Europe so the first floor is 0 and the second floor is 1). I consulted with another girl there who went "o no, I bet you are in the courtyard." She took me out the back door to a courtyard filled with plants, mattresses, an old gas pump, ladders, a small cement structure, and a larger cement shed where the door had a handwritten piece of paper taped to it reading "100". I hesitantly entered to find three bunks and a short low-ceiling hallway to another room with a sink and three more bunks. One lower bed labeled 6. So I took a deep breath, made my bed, left my bag and exited to find the bathroom. Guess what was in the other small cement structure...a toilet and sink...so pretty much an out-house. And then I found out that to shower I would have to go up and into the main building. That was fine by me. At least it was inside.

The first night I returned to my bed to find the rooms full of British boys heading out for the night who kindly warned me that they would be returning drunk at 4 am. They did and they brought back two girls with them. Awesome! The second night, I returned to find the room empty except for two guys that were already asleep. When I woke up the next morning, the rooms were packed with Asian guys and their stuff was everywhere. So me and 11 guys, I have to say that the smell was quite strong. It was quite an interesting hostel experience for me.

EIFFEL TOWER - The Eiffel Tower is an interesting structure, I really enjoyed learning learning some history about it by overhearing a Segway tour guide. It was built for the 1889 World Fair, was originally red, and was supposed to be dismantled in 1909. Mr. Eiffel made back his money from building the tower in six months once it was open for visitors. Now it is painted four different shades of grey, with the lighter shades at the top to make it appear taller. On Wednesday, the tower was closed due to a "social dispute". Check out this article for more information on the strike. The local panhandlers are aggressive around the tower and park. They harass you for donations, to purchase tower statues, and to take your picture. I was happy to get away from this area.

It is definitely worth it to see the tower in the evening when it lights up and sparkles for the first 10 minutes of every hour after sunset.

BEER - We had drinks outside on the patio of a fun little brasserie Wednesday. Belgian beer, especially Leffe is very popular in France. Thursday for lunch we enjoyed the French beer 1664. The French add an orange bitter liqueur made in Northern France to beer. It is actually quite good and adds a bit of spice and citrus. We shopped at La Cave a Bulles beer store north of the river. I absolutely recommend this beer store to anyone in Paris interested in craft beer. The employees stock great beer, provide excellent recommendations, and share an abundance of information about things like the French Farmhouse Ale marketing ploy in the US. I purchased a few bottles and a glass that they wrapped and packed in a case for me to ensure easy transport.

FOOD - I explored La Grande Epicerie grocery store and purchased the following items for my dinner on the train: a fruit smoothie drink that was raspberry and citrus, a fruit and nut granola bar, a bag of vegetable chips, a nut bread in the shape of a heart, and some delicious french sandwich cookies that I cannot remember the name of. I also got Ryan a Choc Star chocolate bar with a dog dressed like Snoop Dog on the wrapper. Check some others out here. The cashier at this store tried to rip me off my over charging me by 9 euros for the smoothie. I paid her, then read the receipt, and went back to her. She took me to customer service to get it all sorted out and since nobody spoke English, I stood there like an idiot and waited for my money back.

For meals, we ate French specialties including salmon (too much salmon), biscuits, steak tartare, pizza with a fried egg, a burger with a fried egg, bread, bread, and more bread.

*I like this picture because it contains numerous elements that define Paris.

COMBINED BUS AND BOAT TOUR - This was my first every bus tour in Europe and I have to say that we were able to see a lot of Paris but I did not enjoy it as much as I like the free walking tours. We drove all over the area looking at buildings while listening to a prerecorded audio guide. This meant that we spent a lot of time stuck in traffic and there were too many moments of silence on the audio guide. The boat ride on the River Seine was better even though we were sitting in the middle of a giant group of school kids. The boys and girls waved to everyone on the bridges and river banks, cheering and chanting when they got a wave in return. It made for an amusing boat ride and it was neat to see the city from the water.

ARC DE TRIOMPHE - So this place is ridiculous! The arch is located in the center of a giant unmarked six or so lane roundabout that connects 12 roads of traffic. You can enter the memorial site via an underground tunnel so that tourists are not killed crossing the road. Take a look at the place via Google Maps satellite to get an idea.

We also explored the exterior and interior of the NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL. There was a mass going on at the time and the sound of the pipe organ and singer was amazing inside the large cathedral. The gargoyles on the side are awesome rain water run-offs that are replaced by tacky white pipes when they break. I walked around the HOTEL NATIONAL DES INVALIDES but did not have enough time to go inside the museum.

LES CATACOMBES - Friday morning I waited in line with hundreds of other people for nearly two hours to enter the Catacombes. I had no idea that the line would be so long and arrived there before it opened to find the line already halfway wrapped about the entrance building. For just a few euros I went underground to explore the quarry. After walking for a few hundred meters you enter the cemetery part where the remains of people were transferred beginning in 1786. The rest of the 2 km walk is through walls of bones in a dimly lit environment. When I left, the doorman asked to check my bag, and I looked at him with shock when he told me that he has to check for bones. He pointed to a pile of bones on the table that he had taken from people's bags. I cannot believe that people would steal the bones of the deceased. It is shocking enough that I paid to go look at them and take pictures at this tourist attraction.

I had a great time in Paris and would definitely return to spend more time exploring if I have the opportunity.