Day 1: Paris

Eiffel Tower and the Seine

Brendan and I began our 30 day adventure on Friday night at 9pm.  We left our dorms and walked with our backpacks to Victoria Station (2.5 miles) where we caught our bus which ended up being an hour late departing around 11:30pm.  I listened to music until I drifted to sleep.  As 2am rolled around we were woken up and herded off the bus for border patrol followed by an hour long wait for the next ferry which departed Dover at 3:20am.  While I was excited for my first ferry ride and the fact that we got to get off the bus and roam around the ferry, I was simply too tired to do anything but sleep so I slept until about 5am when the ferry reached Calais at which point I awoke to the mass of people pushing towards the little doors.  My heart stopped for a second thinking the boat was sinking until I realized everyone was just heading for the parking lot.

Our bus ride continued on through the foggy darkness of northern France.  As dawn approached, the fog slowly lifted.  I tried to sleep but instead watched the sun rise and by 7am was quite awake.  Our bus finally reached Gallieni (mere feet outside the Paris city limits) at 9:30am!  Within two minutes of leaving the station and finding a map we were greeted by a friendly local woman offering to give us directions.  We hopped on the metro towards Republique stop and found our hotel where we were lucky enough to be able to leave our 35lb bags.

From there we roamed the city streets for hours.  We first made it through the 10^eme Arrondissement where our hotel is located.  Brendan’s Europe 2012 book describes the Canal St. Martin (10^eme) area as “smack in the middle of the sketchy area… If the gun armories and cash-for-gold stores didn’t give you a hint, we’ll tell you to stay clear of this area at night.”  It’s really not that bad though.  Our hotel is conveniently located right next to Gare de l’Est.  We walked down passed the Modern Art Museum to Notre Dame and had some lunch before finding the Pantheon and then the Luxembourg Gardens.  The gardens were so beautiful—endless amounts of flowers, trees, grass, chairs, locals tanning, and drinking water.  Next we passed the Grand Palais and then the Eiffel Tower.  I came to Paris six years ago but after completing this walk I realized how much I had forgotten the layout of the city.  I recalled specific locations through photos from the trip but certainly didn’t remember how far all these places were from each other.  Here we decided to rest our feet (especially since Brendan was getting blisters) so Brendan checked a few things on his tablet while I napped on a bench for a few minutes.

The sun began to set as we made our way down the bustling Champs-Elyssee towards the Louvre.   For dinner we grabbed a crepe back by Notre Dame and hurried back to our hotel before our feet fell off.  I’d say we’re both really glad that we have a private room with a bathroom and two twin beds after spending a night on the bus (and walking so many miles today).  With the intermittent sleep the night before it felt like Friday just blended right in to Saturday making for one long day.  Definitely looking forward to a good night’s sleep!  Tomorrow we hope to get bikes to make travelling around the city a bit easier.  Thanks for reading!

The boarder and Brendan on the ferry at 3:30am.

The ferry!

The sun rising on our way from Calais to Paris.

The bus we spent so many hours on.

Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Luxembourg Gardens

Some tower thing in Paris

Eiffel Tower

L'Arc de Triomphe -- the traffic circle has 10 lanes and, from the looks of it, no lines...

I loved the book stalls along the Seine.

 

Couples write their names on these locks and then lock them to the fence and throw the key in the water.  (Edit: these tend to be all over Europe).  That's the Eiffel Tower in the background.

I love this photo.  These children (there were three) were so adorable.

The lock bridge.

Grand Palais

 

Notre Dame

We pass the Modern Art Museum each time we leave/return to our hotel.

 

Our lovely room.

We obviously took pictures of a million things we saw today but I figure I'll try to save some of those for the next few days.  We still have a good two days left in Paris!