The Memories We Gained In Paris During Our Epic Adventure... One Most Certainly For The Books

Pepe Le Pew, the little french rascal of a skunk, once said during a scene in a Disney series, "you know... it is possible to be too attractive."  Yeah, well, he lies as bad as he smells.  He makes us oblivious Americans' assume that the French are lovably and sweet. The realization- they're smooth, sly, and sour.  

Paris, oh Paris, how beautiful of historical sites you have, but how unwelcoming of people you have.  The mass majority of people may be easy on the eye, but the glaring looks and snarls made it quite uneasy.  Maybe if they just listened to Trevor Hall's 'Where's the Love' they would cool down and be just a tad more approachable. Big maybe though.

To put into perspective:
It was like a scene from Westside Story.  Nate, Jordan, Brian Chapman, David Byrne, and Nate Engel made up the gang. We were the Jets, the typical Americans, hard nosed, stubborn, and looking to have a good, unconfrontational time.  The french were the Sharks, stylish and looking to not give any ground.  As we arrived late on the first night, we decided to venture out.  Not knowing ANY french, reading the map was interesting.  Well, actually, it was impossible.  Ten minutes into the trip we were as lost as the three blind mice.  We were 'not in Kansas anymore' as the group jokingly said numerous times to each other. Walking in circles, we finally looked to the only skyscraper in Paris to use as a land mark.  On the flight in, we met with a UW- River Falls graduate that Nate recognized and were to meet up for some chow.  A half hour walk turned into an hour and half race for sanity.  Tired and driven by hunger, we finally made it a restaurant called 'The Hippopotamus' - our first mistake.

It was late, around 11 PM, the place was hoppin as if it was happy hour at Apple bees.  Packed and filled with people of all ages, literally all ages- there was a group of 60+ year-olds having tea, we were able to sit right away.  The waiter, a middle aged gentleman, looked like a cut out from a GQ magazine.  Though, his english was real shaky which made speaking to him close to impossible (something that was common during the trip).  After pointing to the pictures on the menu like the typical tourists we were, our order was in.  Jordan decided that his PB&J at the hostel would be ok so he just ordered a Mojito.  Brian, Engel, and David got a half order of chips (fries) along with a few mozzarella sticks filled with a variety of veggies (disgusting) and Nate got a sample platter (second mistake).  Most of the group enjoyed the meal, Nate on the other hand did not.  The sample platter consisted of 6 dips and a newborn-baby-portioned bowl of crisps (chips)- costing 10 EUROS.  Needless to say the restaurant had zoomed in 10x on the platter that was on the menu.  After three bites, the crisps were gone.  Assuming that, like in the states, where you could ask for more crisps, Nate did just so (third mistake).  After the meal was complete, the bill came.  Little did Nate know, but the small side of extra crisps cost the same as the meal it's self. Awesome. After dropping half our bank account, we got up to the leave.  It was 1 AM and there was a waiting line to get in.  It was weird to see people coming in to get a meal so late.  Though, we soon found out that that is how the culture is over there. Psh- weirdos. Now it was time to try to make it back to our beautiful, extravagant, 5 star, marvelous, all inclusive hostel.  hahaha- it's opposite day, right?

The hostel- a cut out of a third world county.  To say the least, we now respect what we have.  A bed that is comfy, floors that are clean, sheets that aren't bloody, walls that aren't paper thin, bathrooms that don't look like Big Foots cave, doors that are hole-less, and roommates that you know. Our first hostel experience was... an experience. Located halfway down a dark alley, it was site for sore eyes. Jordan can be thanked for picking this beauty out.
Night one was eventful.  Nate, the hard sleeper he is, was able to sleep like a baby.  The others, not so much.  They were awaken at 4 AM by screaming and pounding that lasted an hour and a half. It was a mix of guys and girls, but no  one had the guts to see what was the matter.  All they could do was curl up in their wool blanket and hope the door wouldn't get broken down by the barbarians that were yelling outside.

Come morning it was time to see some sites. First was shower time. Very crucial.  This was awkwardly the nicest area of the hostel. We locked our bags to the beds and headed out.  First stop was the Statue of Liberty.  A smaller version of our massive statue.  Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower.  Holy big.  We paid a small fee to go up a third of the way and once on top, we did some ice skating... seriously. As we got down, we wanted to snag a few photos from higher ground.  We started to walk and soon realized we were in a vicious game of red rover.  We were the runners and the Nigerians were the wall.  They were carrying small, janky Eiffel Tower key chains and looking for money- and were very persistent on doing so.  They were able to pick up Nate because he was oblivious to what was going on and was more focused on taking a million pictures of the Tower.  They were able to stop Nate, grab his hand, wrap some string around it and begin to make a bracelet.  As they began to make the bracelet, Nate insisted that they were not going to get paid, but all they could say was 'oh you know Bob Marley, you know, no woman no cry' along with a variety of song titles and jibberish.  While this was going on, Nate was trying to get the attention of the others.  After a few seconds, Jordan and Engel came to the rescue but soon was pulled into the same trap as Nate.  The bracelet only took a few minutes to make and the Nigerian wanted 20 EURO! Nate laughed in his face and told him that was not going to happen.  Nate was able to throw change at him but he wanted more.  Tensions rose and more Nigerians came out from the shadows, Nate and the other two were able to bargain them down to 5 EURO each and they parted ways.  What a relief.

Next we trekked to the Champs Elysees- which was just a huge Arch with a 8 lane turn about surrounding it.  It was something to see.  No lanes, just ridiculous driving with many honks.

Then we headed to the Louvre. Wow. This place was something to see.  Holding the Monalisa, this museum is known as the most famous one because of that.  Though, due to the hundreds of school tours and the lines being way too long, we were content with walking around as much as we could without paying, taking some photos and then leaving.

The Notre Dame was our next stop.  This cathedral was massive.  Hundreds of tourists were walking around and snapping photos.  We were able to get in without charge and walk around.  Words really can't describe it. It's just one of those things that you got to see.      

So it had been a long, exhausting, terrifying, 7 hour, 6 mile adventure.  We were ready to go home- as if that was any better.  We were done for the day. Great, now we had to find our way back and travel completely across Paris.  Needless to say, we got lost which led to a two mile hike that took two hours. Just great! When we FINALLY returned, we were met by Chelsea Plant who is there studying abroad for the semester in Paris.  She had a club lined up for us to go to for the night.  And, remember, the night life starts much later than in the states.  We took the sketchy metro to her apartment which is located in a MUCH nicer part of Paris, had a few, met her friends from all over the US, then jumped back on the metro to hit up the club.  After a long night of dancing and meeting random french people, we laid our heads to rest close to sun rise.

The next day we packed up, checked out, met back up with Chelsea and walked around Paris a bit.  This was SO much better having Chelsea with us.  She is fluent in french and knows her way around.  Two key factors that none of us possessed.  Our flight to Barcelona was to depart later than night, but we were done with Paris.  So rather than walk any more, we decided to head to the airport early, catch some shut eye and prepare ourselves for the night in Spain.

Stay tuned for the the Barcelona blog- we probably should spend a bit of time on this new thing we just discovered called studying- such a weird concept...