day 1 in paris
it is currently 6:47pm and i’m sitting in my studio apartment at 39 ave junot, paris. “dawson’s creek” is playing in french. i’ve also caught bits of “charmed” and “top model.”
i just ate a frozen pizza, because it was easy, and also part of a baguette and some brie. and a little bit of chocolate. i hadn’t eaten since last night at the airport in boston, and after the day i’ve had, i needed all of it.
the flight from boston to iceland was fairly uneventful. i was in the window seat, and there was no one sitting in the middle seat, so i had some extra room. my plan was to drink a couple nips and fall asleep, since i have a problem falling asleep on planes. well, i drank two, and felt tired, but couldn’t fall asleep, so i started reading “1Q84,” and it’s awesome so far.
i had about an hour layover in iceland, and all i did was grab a soda and some chocolate and sat around. after getting to iceland we had to go thru another security check, and my bag was more thoroughly checked, i think because of all the film that was in there. for the flight to paris, i also had a window seat and an empty middle seat. the aisle seat, however, was occupied by a smelly girl. ew. luckily she didn’t raise her arms all that much…
iceland had snow, which was weird to see, and the runways were a bit snowy and the wings of the plane had to be de-iced. we were delayed a bit, but not much. i watched “the darjeeling limited,” which was quite perfect. i tried to sleep some more but wasn’t successful.
flying over france was awesome - a lot of the land isn’t built up, so there are just little towns spread out over green fields. to get to paris from the airport, i decided to take public transportation since a taxi would have been quite expensive. i had to take france’s version of a commuter rail and then two different trains. i figured it wouldn’t be so bad, and the commuter rail portion was actually really nice. i passed so many cute houses that i wanted to take pictures of. maybe i’ll do some exploring.
also, this guy was traveling the train playing the accordion for money. it put a smile on my face :)
however, once i got to gare du nord to switch to the metro, that’s when things started going downhill. i had to walk really far between the commuter rail area and the metro, and there were numerous steps both up and down to traverse, all the while dragging a 40 pound suitcase and ~20 pound messenger bag. it was rough, i’m not gonna lie. but i managed, and got off at the stop that the apartment renter said was the closest. i didn’t print out a map of the area because it looked so easy to figure out when i had researched it beforehand.
this is where i reveal that i have the worst sense of direction ever, and i cannot follow a map at all. i need a gps to figure out how to get somewhere if i’ve never been before. so, i get out of the station and start going where i think i’m supposed to, only to be lost in approximately 5 minutes. a nice man carrying a case that looked like it held a saxophone or some other horned instrument stopped to help me. i told him where i needed to go but he didn’t know where it was, so he asked inside the pharmacy nearby, and then proceeded to tell me how to go. most of this was in french, so i felt pretty good about understanding him.
so i did my best at trying to follow his directions, but without a detailed map, it was difficult to figure out where exactly i was in relation to where i needed to be. i wanted to stay in this area mostly because i love “amelie,” and i liked the idea of staying outside of the center of the city. the thing about this area, though, is that it’s mostly cobblestone and hills and lots of steps. it’s beautiful, but again, not fun to wander around lost with a ton of luggage. i wandered around for over an hour and when i ended up even farther away from where i started, finally took a cab to where i needed to pick up the keys for the apartment.. from there, it is just a short walk to the apartment. or so they say…
cue me walking around for over another hour. i went in the right direction and then doubted myself (and thought the map was telling me to go the other way, so i did). another nice woman and a pair of russian tourists with an ipad helped me figure out which direction to head. finally, i found my apartment, but i seriously wasn’t sure that i would make it. my legs were so weak that i almost fell once. i am proud to say that i only let myself cry a few tears, because i was determined to get here.
okay, so today was quite an ordeal, and when i got to the apartment i realized i had forgotten to pack pj pants, which was quite sad, because all i wanted to do was crawl into bed and rest. i guess i’ll just have to buy some… i did rest for a bit, but hunger took over, and i headed to the little grocery store across the street for some food. i was going to just stick with the pizza, brie, and ritz crackers, but when i walked out i noticed the patisserie, and i couldn’t pass it up. and it was worth it! the bread is delicious, as well as the cheese :)
i’m finally started to feel excited about being here instead of exhausted by the thought of doing anything. i did get to see a lot of the area today, though i can’t say i really noticed anything, so i’m excited to get out an explore tomorrow. for the rest of the night, i’m just going to be lazy and watch tv i can’t understand (“project runway” is coming up next) and think about what to do tomorrow.
ok, one more awesome thing - there are so many dogs here!!!!! i’ve seen tons of cute dogs, and a lot of them are off leash. when i’m walking around tomorrow (not exhausted and drenched in sweat) i’ll have to see if i can pet any of them :)
i’ll add some pictures tomorrow too.
