Bonjour and Au Revoir to Paris

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, but I have been busy being a worldly citizen. Today (1/31/12) I came back from Paris at 8:30 AM after being there for approximately 4 days. One of my flatmates is French and invited me to visit the city when she went home for the weekend. This post will be mostly a recap of my trip to Paris and some highlights from the previous week, which I failed to blog about.

We departed from St. Pancras station London at approximately 4 PM on Friday. After arriving at Nord in Paris, we took the metro straight from the train station to her family’s apartment. Plus side of Paris’s metro in comparison to London’s tube is that it is much cheaper and it has more stops; down side is that it is dirtier and slower. The apartment was in a more residential part of the city, which meant it was quiet and nice to walk around at night without being harassed by tourists. The first night we had dinner at a restaurant that was literally half a block from the Eiffel Tower. My 6 years of Latin proved little use, as I used my flatmate to constantly translate the menus and order for me. I am AWFUL at languages and just too embarrassed to even try to pronounce the words. Even if I did try, I wouldn’t be surprised if the French people couldn’t understand me.

Ze Eiffel Tower

On Saturday, we woke up early eager to walk around and see the city. Paris is a relatively small city and easy to walk. It is especially nice when you have a native with you who can mindlessly lead you around, so one does not waste time getting the bearings on a map. We walked back to the Eiffel Tower then over the Seine River to the rest of the city. My flatmate knew all the best restaurants, cafes, and sights, so I must say I ate and toured well. After walking around for the morning, my flatmate took me to a well-known restaurant named Angelina’s where I got the best hot chocolate of my life. It wasn’t actually a drink. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was in the back melting a bar of chocolate and just putting it in a cup to serve. No matter what this chocolaty liquid actually was, it was delicious. It was so good that I could not finish the full serving…which is saying a lot. Speaking of food, I have a serious addiction to baguettes now. Not just any baguettes, but the French, daily baked baguettes.

After the coffee/hot chocolate break, we made our way to the Louvre to snap some pictures. No worries mom- I made it into the museum later that weekend. The next few stops on our journey were to the shopping district (which had AMAZING hip stores), a view of the city from the top of the Pompidou modern art museum (free for EU citizens, but costly for me!), the gay district, and onto the Jewish quarter. Like a true Hyder, I decided to visit the Jewish quarter on Shabbas, so NOTHING was open. I found a shwarma place (owned by goyim obviously) and got my lunch. I did have the pleasure of seeing the French Frums on their Shabbas walks.

Me & The Louvre 

View of Paris from the Pompidou Museum

From there, my flatmate left me in order to spend some time with her family. Her advice: walk along the Seine river towards the Eiffel Tower (which can be seen from any part of the city). I had my metro tickets in hand, a French cell phone, and a basic understanding of the metro. By myself, I ended up finding Notre Dame. While I was hoping to see the church, it was pure coincidence when I walked up to it. When I found out that the church was actually THE Notre Dame, it made much more sense why it was swarming with tourists.

Notre Dame

I realized that the day was getting late and I was determined to see the Arc de Triomphe. My French flatmate had warned me that the arch was deceivingly far from everything, but me ‘the know it all’ thought that it would be a nice walk. I ended up walking from Notre Dame to the arch. Just walking up the Avenue Des Champs-Elysees took 20 minutes alone. Being the somewhat athletic, rushed American, I got to the arch before dark and snapped a few pictures, while dodging traffic at the same time.

Arc de Triomphe

I found wandering Paris relatively easy since there were maps everywhere and the Eiffel Tower is a great guide. Also, I viewed this venture as a test run for my future spring break endeavors.

After successfully journeying back to the apartment via the metro (very proud of myself), Jade and I prepared to go out that night. She took me to a crepe restaurant which I had a tuna, olive, egg, and cheese crepe and for desert had a savory crepe for desert.  There we did a pub-crawl, as my flatmate decided to show me all the bars in the area. The plus of this was that my flatmate knew all of the bar owners/bartenders/bouncers. No coverage charge and good atmosphere. This was the night I was informed by the French people that I had to be either Middle Eastern, Cuban, or Puerto Rican. I wasn’t about to jump in and tell the French people around me that I am actually an Eastern European Jew since that may not have gone over so well, so I took their genealogy guesses in stride. Thank you Cills-Hyder genes for my dark skin, hairiness, and dark hair. Also, I was informed that it was good that I was American since I am loud and they could hear me over the music. Thank you again Cills-Hyder genes.

My flatmate and I at a local Bar.

Side note on the bars: It was all American music. At one point, a bar was playing Gangster’s Paradise, which is probably the whitest, least bar-scene song ever written by man. Moreover, I had the pleasure of watching Washington play Arizona in college basketball.

On Sunday my flatmate cooked me a typical Sunday brunch, which consisted of baguettes, eggs, croissants, and everything else that was good in the world. My flatmate took me to an open market where I saw interesting French food, which by Kosher Laws I was forbidden to eat most. I did try a fascinating food that was a paste made out of fatty duck liver. Mmmhm. Later we went to the Luxembourg Garden where the senate building is. In the afternoon, I was left alone again where I finally went to the Louvre. I got to geek out with the Ancient Roman art, such as the Winged Victory and Venus de Milo. The museum is huge, but I did get to see the big things, such as the Mona Lisa, and I reached the required quota of Jesus pictures.

Venus de Milo

Winged Victory

That night, my flatmate took me to a Canadian bar, which she liked and visited frequently. There I ran into an amalgam of people: Canadians (weird, right?), Swedes, Mexicans, French, and American. Since once again my flatmate was best friends with the bar tenders, we got to help them close up and stay after hours.

On Monday, the two of us journeyed up to Sacre Coeur to get a nice view of Paris. We went into the church too, which was very nice inside. I saw pictures of Pope John Paul visiting the church and decided that this must be a great church since that Pope was the man.

View from the Sacre Coeur

Sending love from the Moulin Rouge

The whole area on the hill was filled with artists, so it was a nice walk around the streets. While walking down the hill, I was given a tour of Paris’s red light district and I got to see ‘the’ Moulin Rouge. I got the afternoon alone again, in which I wandered more aimlessly around the city. The place was literally freezing and at one point it started snowing, so I was forced back to my American ways- meaning I went into a Starbucks and got a coffee, as I let the snow blow over (no pun intended?). On this walk, I saw a man get arrested on TV and cute elderly couples walk in the garden in front of the Louvre. Truly eventful. Later, my flatmate and I went to an authentic French-Japanese restuarant and then called it a night early since our train was early the next morning.

Arriving at Kings Cross was at first a relief, but remind me never EVER attempt to take that tube from that stop at 8:30 AM. We had to wait like 5 trains before we finally forced ourselves on. Rush hour on the tube is not a pretty sight.

Now back, I was hoping that London would be a little warmer than Paris, but alas- it started snowing here too! What?!

Some highlights of the previous week were:

1. Going to the British Museum. The amazing part about London is the free museums. You can go to for an hour one day and then go for an hour the next without feeling guilty about buying a ticket. It is so awesome.

2. Finally going to the National Gallery. The first time I went was with my health and society class, where we studied the depiction and influence of medicine in art. A fun fact I learned was the Monet suffered from cataracts, which influenced his art later in life. Also, van Gough was a fan of drinking absinthe. The drink has been known to cause people to see things in a tint of yellow, which would explain why a lot of his paintings have yellow themes. I went again the next day with a friend. This time we put on an improv show for ourselves as we comically narrated the paintings.

3. Booking my spring break! This spring break I will be spending two weeks making a loop around Europe! Cities that I am visiting consist of Amsterdam, Vienna, Prague, Krakow, and Berlin. I now have the burden of e-mailing every person I know who have been to those place asking about public transportation, sights, and hostels. It will be worth it though!

That is it for now!

I will post again at the end of this week!

Au Revoir!