A long long time ago, in January, I finally visited Paris for the first time. Ever since then, I've tried to put my experiences in the French capital into words. But sometimes things are difficult to explain. Especially if you're trying to explain something in your second language. Although I've written blog post upon blog post about my travels, I often feel like I don't get my point across as clearly as I would like. Not unless I share my random thoughts from my trips. Chaotic, honest and sometimes way too personal; They're the only thing that can show you how I truly felt about a destination. I did this for Scotland, Thailand, Belgium, Israel and every other country I've visited and written about in the past two years. Paris will be no different. I had such conflicting thoughts and feelings about the place that this is the only way I can paint you the bigger picture without being overly positive or negative. Ladies and gentlemen, here are my random thoughts about Paris!
I don't understand why the lights on the Thalys are red. I feel like I'm on the Red Light District Express.
Why can't I buy metro tickets here?
Why... do I get a stack of 10 tickets? Wouldn't it be easier to sell a ticket that expires after ten rides?
Barbès-Rouchechouart... Wasn't that some kind of inside joke in high school? I was on the outside of that joke though.
Yay, it's the classic Parisian metro entrance!
My hostel is literally in the best location ever.
I already regret not taking the funicular to Montmartre...
Don't you dare touch me again! I don't want to buy any of your souvenirs and I won't sign anything either! Don't ambush me!
The streets and street art of Montmartre are awesome.
Why is it so expensive to light a candle in the Sacré-Coeur?
Those things look like marshmallows, but they're apparently candles. This is confusing.
It's cold. I can't feel my feet anymore.
So we're canceling a tour the moment it'd start, because only three people showed up? Not cool.
Suck it, Thomas Rhett! I have seen the Eiffel Tower at night!
Why is there a knife on the pavement? Why is that guy cursing? Why is my temporary travel buddy in pain? What is happening? "Keep walking! We have to get out of here!"
I like the Eiffel Tower light show. But what was that knife thing about?
Crêpe is such an awkward word to use in English...
There's snow! On the Sacré-Coeur! And I can see it all from my dorm room window!
So the cemeteries are closed because of half an inch of snow? I'll never complain about the Dutch attitude towards snow again.
Hello Catacombs. I thought you'd be less masonry and more skeletons.
Did I hear something move down that tunnel?! Oh, never mind. Just another tourist.
A heart made of skulls... How romantic...
What sick bastard came up with the idea to stack people's bones like this?
That was fun in a depressing way.
HE GAVE HIS PHONE TO A HOMELESS PERSON (Excuse me while I laugh over another old inside joke from my high school days).
I don't really know what to do now. My foot hurts.
Maybe Paris is just too big a city for me...
Oh. Great. No metro today. How am I going to the Louvre now?
I'll just walk down the Champs Elysées.
I don't understand what's so special about the Champs Elysées.
Oooh, a Disney store!
I don't feel my hands anymore.
I know I'm supposed to go see the Mona Lisa, but to be honest, I'm more interested in the Egyptian Collection.
Getting pushed in the kidneys is too high a price to pay to take a picture of a painting everyone and their grandmother already has imprinted in their brain.
I don't want to be a buzzkill for Hercules, but fighting a hydra the size of a pit bull isn't the kind of heroism I like to see as a statue.
What's next?
When in doubt, visit a botanical garden.
This tropical greenhouse is even better than the one in Utrecht!
Oh my god there's a freaking indoor waterfall!
Lemme see if the cemetery is open now.
If I weren't freezing, I'd stay at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise all day. If these tombstones could talk... There are so many stories to be told here.
Okay, I give up, I'm too cold.
Some people are super chill to share a dorm room with. Others can't even be bothered to switch the lights off when they're the last to go to sleep.
Oh, so now we're not even flushing the toilet anymore? Cool. Glad I'm leaving today.
I'm in love! This book store is the best place in the world!
It's so beautiful, I can't handle it.
Reading Dickens in the café of a bookstore called Shakespeare and Company. Am I a quirky English Lit student yet?
I'm so glad I'm going home.
I'm not going to lie, I really was glad to be going home at the end of my four-day stay. Paris and I didn't get along as well as I'd hoped. I suffered a major bad-luck streak. Yet at the end of the trip, I was also very happy that I'd gone to France and seen all the sights. Maybe I'll go back there one day and make more memories, but probably not anytime soon. For now, I'm happy with my Parisian memories and the old inside jokes.
x Envy
2 Fellow Ramblers
Paris! Who wouldn't want to visit such a beautiful city? OMG. I think the best part about this blog post is your thoughts x) You are way too jokes. But I do hope you get even better memories and more fun the next time you visit the place. :)
ReplyDeleteFrom time to time I doubt if I should continue this type of wrap-up post, but then I read comments like yours and think: "Nah, we're good here" :)
DeleteI solemnly swear that I am up to no good! Wait, no, I mean: I solemnly swear that I will answer each and every comment ;)