As we landed in Paris, I realized there was officially no turning back. I was in Paris, not Geneva, the city I had been planning to fly to for nearly a month.
The first thing I noticed about Charles de Gaulle Airport was that it has the most efficient baggage claim service in any airport I have ever flown been to. Ever. By far. We took approximately 12 steps off the plane and were directly in front of our luggage carousel. Three minutes later we were looking for the exit.
The second thing I noticed while in Paris was that the city is frigid right now. Unfortunately, it remained this way the entire week.
The third thing I noticed was that Kelby and I were going to get know each other very well in a very short amount of time. When we walked into our room at the Hotel Montana near the Gare du Nord Train Station, we both began to laugh uncontrollably. I wouldn't even call it a room. Remember in "Best in Show" when Eugene Levy and Cookie Googleman check in to their hotel only to receive the janitors closet as their quarters for the week? It was like that.
Although one thing that was nice was that Kelby was not once asked, "Kelby...Kelby Blakeley, is that you??"
I didn't take any pictures of the room, so my words will have to suffice. The door to the bathroom didn't completely swing open because it knocked into the bed. This meant that I would have to turn sideways whenever going in or out of the bathroom. Kelby too. And she's tiny. There was a TV, but it was on top of a dresser, so its screen was not visible from the bed. In fact, the chord to the TV was plugged into an outlet in the bathroom, which meant that the bathroom door was never completely closed. But my favorite part was the inside of the bathroom itself. When sitting on the toilet, my legs or knees managed to remain in constant contact with a) the porcelain of the toilet; b) the wall on the righthandside of the bathroom; c) the sink; and d) the door, when it was closed as much as possible. To top that all off, the Hotel Montana charged us the price of a Double room, despite the fact that the room was a Single. The most redeeming quality of the Hotel Montana is that they provide Internet service...at a mere 6 euro (between $9-10) an hour. Needless to say, my relationship with the Hotel Montana is over.
After settling in, we looked for a quick bite and found a cute place around the corner. Apparently, Kelby had given up on out-ordering me at this point. After perusing the menu for a minutes, she asked me what I was going to get, and I mentioned I was considering two different dishes. When I asked her the same question in response, she quickly replied, "Oh, well, we can just share the two you mentioned." Clearly the girl was traumatized, so much so that she was too scared to even say what she was considering ordering. Poor girl.
Realizing that all the touristy sights were closed for the evening, we decided to make an Eifel Tower at Night Run. The structure is really pretty and overwhelmingly large, but more importantly, I won a drink from Kelby when we bet when the tower was erected (1889, of course). The tower was lit up with bright orange lights running up and down, and we would later discover the tower exhibits a ten minute light show every hour, on the hour. In addition to the orange bulbs, fluourescent white lights shot up and down in increasing speeds, a nice touch for the already aesthetically-pleasing tower. We found a nearby bench and talked for a few hours before we realized how crazily cold it was. With the subway closed, we contemplated walking back. We walked for a few minutes and then stopped.
Those 6 euros I spent on the cab that night was some of the best money I've spent on this trip.
The next morning, we stumbled upon a local boulangerie (bakery) for breakfast. Having heard about Parisan bread ad nauseam, my expectations were sky high even for this quick bite. I was floored. I ordered two items: a small loaf of tomato basil bread and what appeared to be a flaky breadstick with mushrooms on it. The tomato loaf was delicious, but it paled in comparison to my flaky, buttery, chessy, mushroom, croissant-like, ungodly bread. We began walking as we left the store, and I couldn't help but stop in my tracks when taking my first bite of the mushroom deal. It was unlike anything I had ever eaten before. It was then when I realized this local boulangerie and I were going to have more amicable relationship than that between the Hotel Montana and myself. I could tell you what Kelby ordered, but all you need to know is that it wasn't as good as mine.
We found the Museum D'Orsay with ease and spent the next hour and a half exploring the huge museum. I enjoyed the works, but I was secretly counting the minutes until I could justify eating again.
***When analyzing the Crazy Level of our plan to visit France together, Kelby and I realized that to all my friends she would forever be known as "Paris Girl while amonst her circle I was "The Boy from Madrid".****
No comments:
Post a Comment