Paris!

The bus trip to Paris was long and tiring. It took 9 and a bit hours and we arrived in Paris at 6am, on a Sunday. We were confused because on my clock it said we had arrived at 5am, which was an hour earlier than expected. Later in the day we remembered that there was a time difference between London and Paris. It was actually quite funny. Since we thought it was 5am, and the buses only stared at 7am, we caught a taxi to our hostel. We gave the taxi driver the address I had down and off we went. We arrived in a small backstreet, in a neighbourhood that did not look the greatest, infront of a block of apartments. Needless to say we were a bit confused, as there was no obvious signage for a hostel. Even the cab driver was hesitant to leave us. However after a quick investigation we found the name of the hostel on one of the apartments buzzers, and he felt comfortable enough to leave us. We were still really confused, as it seemed we were going into someone's home rather than a hostel. We rang the buzzer and were greeted with a fairly disgruntled Korean lady. We had woken her up at 6:30am. It was however, our hostel. It is very strange, but it seems this lady has turned her home into a B 'n' B style hostel with bunk beds in all the rooms. She lives in a little add on in the apartment courtyard. Very strange. There is a rule at the hostel that from 11am-5pm it is closed for cleaning, so you have to leave. And since check in wasn't until 11am we weren't able to actually check in yet.

So we left to explore and pass the time until then. We got on a train and went to the last stop. Which happened to be the stop for the Louvre! We had breakfast at a small cafe on the side of the road (Nutella and banana crepe, so good!). We wandered around the outside of the Louvre and took the mandatory tourist photos with the glass pyramids. 

We walked down the road and found a beautiful park that had reclining chairs set up around a fountain that you could sit on. We settled in to people watch and enjoy the sunshine. But I fell asleep. I was so exhausted, that I fell asleep siting up in a hard chair in the sun! And got sunburnt on the half of my face that was facing the sun. Harrison got even more sunburnt! Our skin is definitely not used to the sun after the UK!

Since our clocks were wrong, we showed up an hour after check in, and once again couldn't be checked in and were told to come back at 5. We went to find a grocery store to buy lunch, but soon found out that grocery stores in Paris are closed on Sunday! So we had to go to another cafe for lunch. We shared a sandwich kebab, and it was delicious! Since we were back in the neighbourhood that the hostel is in we decided to look around. It looked far more inviting with people about and cafés open. We found another park to sit in. And I fell asleep again. Not doing well!!  Harrison wouldn't let me sleep anymore, so we lay around in the sun and read our books. 

Since the hostel we are staying at is so small, we were given the chance to meet basically all of the other guests. There is only one table/common room, so we all have to eat dinner and breakfast together. I really enjoyed it! We met a guy from California, a girl and boy from South Korea and a girl from Puerto Rico. We sat around and shared snacks and drinks and spoke about our travels and our lives. It was really nice! Especially since the girls will be my roomies while we are staying here. It's nice to actually be kind of friends with the people you are sharing a room with, rather than just moving around the room in an awkward silence we actually talk to each other. So although the hostel is a bit weird, and isn't in the best area, I am really enjoying staying here. 

Yesterday, feeling much better after a good nights sleep, we went on (you probably guessed it) a walking tour! Sandemans, you have redeemed yourself. We absolutely loved it! Our guide was great and we got to see some pretty cool things, and learnt a lot as usual. We ended the tour near the park I had slept in the previous day! From there we decided to walk to the Arc De Triomphe. It's so huge, that it was incredibly misleading during our distance estimating. It took a lot longer to get there than expected. It was a really nice walk though! We went through the really fancy part of the city, with all the designer shops and fancy resturants. Once we made it to the Arch, we were pretty awestruck. It is absolutely massive! It is such an incredible sight to see.

 Sadly you had to pay to get to the top of it, so we didn't get to do that. But we did walk through/under it which was still pretty cool! It was so beautiful, I really loved it. 

Once we were finished gawking at the arch, we thought it would be cool to walk to the Eiffle Tower. Again, the walk was much longer than expected but was beautiful nonetheless. We walked through some of the more suburban, quiet parts of Paris which was nice to see. I love all the vendors on the side of the roads, selling fruit and flowers and paintings. There is just so much colour in Paris! We made it to the Eiffle Tower! 

Being in Paris, and seeing the Eiffle Tower has kind of made the realisation that we aren't in Australia really set in. In London it kind of just felt like we were back home, because everyone spoke English and it was pretty similar to Australia. But being in a country that doesn't speak English, and that is so incredibly different has made this trip feel real. It's really amazing. So yes, the Eiffle Tower. Let me say, it is prettier in photographs. Yes, it is an incredible piece of architecture but God, it's ugly. You also have to pay to go up the Eiffle Tower, and we have heard it's not worth it, so we didn't go to the top. We did sit around in the park to the side of it and watch all the people go by. It was something that, as tourists, we had to do. But as our new Korean friend said "It's just like looking at a picture in a book". I think that's a pretty good description. 

After a very long day of walking, we finally made our way home.