Paris was everything I ever wanted and more.
We flew in super cheaply on Ryan Air and we landed in Paris Orly. It was pretty frustrating trying to figure out how to get into the city, and then we ended up having to sit on a crowded bus for nearly an hour. We got dropped off and still had to take the metro to get to our hostel too. Off to an absolutely exhausting start. We bought some metro tickets and were looking at a map when a lady stopped us to try and help, surprisingly nice for what I expected from Parisians. She also explained that we didn’t need any tickets that day because the air pollution was high! So we saved them for the next day (which also turned out to be a high pollution day).
We made it to the hostel, which we loved. I have rave reviews of St. Christopher’s Inn Hostels. We rocked up and they upgraded our room to a private one for free! Can’t get much more magical than that!
The first night in Paris we ate a meal at the hostel’s restaurant and then went to Notre Dame. It was so beautiful, I couldn’t believe it. There was a choir inside and the ceiling seemed to swell with the music. We really took our time walking around, and I’m so happy we did because I might have missed one of the most amazing relics in any church – the crown of thorns. Its all the way at the back of the cathedral and it’s barely lit, you really need to look for it. I was amazed. Even if it isn’t the “real” crown of thorns, the power of that much belief and history makes it a really special relic.
While I was standing there, staring, with my jaw on the floor, someone called Lucas’s name. “What?” We both looked around. “There’s no way someone is calling for you, is there?” And this guy came up and shook his hand, “Lucas, it’s so crazy to run into you here, man!” Lucas introduced me and the guy said his name was Lars and introduced his girlfriend too. They knew each other from their time at university in Prague. The craziest part, besides the fact that they even noticed Lucas, was that they weren’t meant to be in Paris that day, and they hadn’t planned to come to Notre Dame at all, since they had both seen it before! It just felt like all the stars were aligned.
We parted ways and headed towards my favorite part of Paris- the catacombs. We had such a hard time finding it, we went to where the map said it was, but there wasn’t anything marked there. Just a small kind of shack looking building. I almost thought it was a house, and I was way too nervous to just go inside. I made Lucas open the door and there was a lady at a desk. We looked at each other and before we said anything, she said “26 Euro.” Lucas was so taken aback, he asked in English, “is this the catacombs?”
“Oui.”
We payed and she pointed to the stairs, so down we went. The air was getting musty, and the walls were turning green the deeper we went down. At the bottom of the stairs was a long tunnel and we followed it until we saw an incredibly old man sitting alone in a folding chair.
We walked through an archway and Lucas translated it for me- Stop, this is the empire of the dead. It felt like we shouldn’t have been allowed in, especially not alone. We walked slowly, talking about life and death. Sometimes we were silent. It was the only experience I’ve ever had like it, and when we reemerged to the Paris streets, bustling with Christmas shoppers it felt like a completely different world. For the rest of our experience in Paris I couldn’t stop thinking about all the dead beneath our feet.
The next day we woke up early to spend as much time as possible in the Louvre. We both had lists of artifacts that we were dying to see- a full day of art. It was incredible, I loved seeing the book of the dead, the Egyptian artifacts, and the statues, Lucas loved seeing Hamurabi’s code and Liberty Leading the People.
After the Louvre, we were starving, and we were lucky to find a McDonalds underneath the museum, where we indulged in some French sprite, which is better than any other sprite you can get. After our very late lunch, we walked along the Seine, and headed towards the Eiffel tower, which was on strike. I thought, at least we got to see it, and we walked through the Christmas markets drinking hot Vin Chaud and eating Nutella filled beignets.
We tried to visit the Pantheon the same night but it closes early. Luckily because it was closed I had the chance to peek into an interesting looking church that I probably wouldn’t have seen if we had gone straight into the Pantheon. The church was Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, beautiful white stone, spiral staircases, and the body of St. Geneviève – the patron saint of Paris. It was such a special find.
The next day was our final day in Paris. We walked past Notre Dame in the light, walked along the Seine, saw the Moulin Rouge, the Arc de Triomphe, walked Champs Elysees, and when we went to see the Eiffel Tower again, we saw that the strike ended early! I was elated. We went up the elevator and stopped on the first floor, where I was absolutely shook to see a fully fledged ICE RINK. We walked on the glass floor drinking Vin Chaud and taking pictures before going up to the next level, where there were shops and restaurants, and the third level, where you can walk around Gustave Eiffel’s apartments. There are wax figures and signs inside.
We still had some time in the day, so we walked back towards Notre Dame where we went inside the Paris Archaeological Crypt where we learned about the rocks and quarries of Paris. Right across the street was a wonderful little cafe where we got some escargot and French onion soup!
The final thing we did in Paris was visit the Pantheon. Lucas had stopped at a book stall on the walk and bought a couple of books. One of them happened to be Voltaire, and when we saw his grave, it was another one of those fateful moments. It was really special to pay our respects to so many important figures.
I love Paris!
Finding Eden 