(no subject)
So now I'm in Paris. Sorry for letting you all hang for a few days again. Getting here was a bit more of an effort than I wanted to do, but nothing nearly so bad as going from Rome to Brussels. France was still on strike (their national pastime apperantely) so I couldn't take a train to Paris, so I had to catch a bus. Unfortunately, my Europass didn't give me a discount, but the lady did give me the student discount, so that was nice of her, so it was only twenty-three euros to get to Paris. It took four hours, but was uneventful, except where we got stopped at the border and the police got on the bus and checked all our passports. I made it to my hostel without a problem, and it's prettty nice. Not Sir Toby's grade of hostel, but nice nonetheless. The bed frame is solid, the mattress isn't saggy, the showers have enough elbow room to wash properly, and there's free wireless and breakfast.
I went on another one of those free walking tours with NewEurope yesterday. As usual, it was great. Three and a half to four hours of history from an Irish girl who's passionate about Paris. She ended up here following a french boy, and here she is two and a half years later. Cliche, but cute. We saw (the outside) of a bunch of museums, including the Louvre, and I learned about the "secret" entrance. The "Lions Head" entrance, around the back, apperantly has a way shorter line, and brings you in closer to the Mona Lisa. We saw the Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower (from a distance), and a ton of other stuff. I ate pasta for the third night in a row, which I'm pretty sick of, but I bought a bottle of pasta sauce and made the whole thing up, so I wanted to eat it. Thankfully this place has a kitchen, so I'm finally wearing down on the food that I've been carrying around with me for the past few weeks. Huzzah! Today I'm thinking of seeing the Notre Dame and hiking up the belltower, and maybe the Louvre. There's also this little shop that is appernatly famous around here for their macaroons and other desserty type things, so I kind of want to go and maybe splurge a bit. France is still on strike, so I might not be able to make it to Copenhagen after all, since I don't want to spend twenty hours on a bus and pay around one-hundred euro or more to get there, so if I can't get a train, I may just take a bus to just outside France and then spend the money I would have spent on a hostel in flying to Dublin early. Maybe I'll end up spending more time in Ireland or Scotland instead. Not a bad trade off really.
I went on another one of those free walking tours with NewEurope yesterday. As usual, it was great. Three and a half to four hours of history from an Irish girl who's passionate about Paris. She ended up here following a french boy, and here she is two and a half years later. Cliche, but cute. We saw (the outside) of a bunch of museums, including the Louvre, and I learned about the "secret" entrance. The "Lions Head" entrance, around the back, apperantly has a way shorter line, and brings you in closer to the Mona Lisa. We saw the Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower (from a distance), and a ton of other stuff. I ate pasta for the third night in a row, which I'm pretty sick of, but I bought a bottle of pasta sauce and made the whole thing up, so I wanted to eat it. Thankfully this place has a kitchen, so I'm finally wearing down on the food that I've been carrying around with me for the past few weeks. Huzzah! Today I'm thinking of seeing the Notre Dame and hiking up the belltower, and maybe the Louvre. There's also this little shop that is appernatly famous around here for their macaroons and other desserty type things, so I kind of want to go and maybe splurge a bit. France is still on strike, so I might not be able to make it to Copenhagen after all, since I don't want to spend twenty hours on a bus and pay around one-hundred euro or more to get there, so if I can't get a train, I may just take a bus to just outside France and then spend the money I would have spent on a hostel in flying to Dublin early. Maybe I'll end up spending more time in Ireland or Scotland instead. Not a bad trade off really.