Pardon et Non Merci

Jess and I had all of Paris to explore and a whole day to do it in! One of the perks of traveling on your own and without a group is that you get to decide where you go, what you do, and when you do it! Jess and I climbed out of bed around 10:00-ish again and had a heart breakfast of more Nutella on bread while I screenshotted the directions to all the places we could potentially want to go! We decided to go to the Pompidou first, then Notre Dame, then hit the Eiffel Tower and see how we felt from there!

We began the journey by taking the Metro 4 Montrouge to Etienne Marcel which was supposed to be a 6 minute walk from the Pompidou, but while I had screenshotted the metro directions I neglected to even look at the walking map of how to get from the metro to the buildng. Jess and I wandered the streets for a good while trying to find our bearings but we really didn't mind as we got to walk the city of Paris, checking out the window displays to see the latest Parisian fashions. Most of it was casual business wear apperently, but some of it was just lovely! After walking in the complete wrong direction for a while we found a mad on a bus stop that managed to point us in the right direction and we eventually found ourselves outside the pompidou. While we didn't go in we had to at least look at it in memory of that time my mother and my uncle Brendan went to visit it but my mother never actually got to go inside because she was waiting for Brendan before going in but he was actually already in the museum! By the time they found each other it was already time to leae and it's a moment my mother has told us about for years so we too had to go and sit outside the Pompidou as she had.

  There's a large plot of cement outside the entrance that many
people were spread out on, reading, eating, chatting, and lounging, so Jess and I fit right in taking a seat and taking in the absolutely hideous building in front of us. I mean it's wicked ugly. What's the deal with modern buildings all being designed to look like they're still under construction? Why did we go that route with architecture? In the Pompidou's defense though, it is a modern art museum and there is a large hampster-tube type thing winding around the museum which visitors can walk through to see the view, so it kind of had to look ugly on principle.

After that detour we walked back to the metro (without getting lost) and took the Metro 4 Montrouge again to Saint-Michel where we located the Siene and followed it to Notre Dame! On the way we heard a particularly good musician playing in front of the Saint-Michel Fountain which was an excellent soundtrack to our walk towards possibly the second biggest tourist attraction in Paris. We took loads of pictures here from every angle we could get of the majestic cathedral. Again, we did not go into this building as there was a line leading almost into the street to get in and we were more there to see the outside architecture. We took a seat and people-watched, a favourite pastime of ours, and enjoyed a cookie each from our stash of treats. There were several doors open around the cathedral so we poked our heads in and saw some of the stained glass windows and interior design and the literal wall-to-wall crowds of people and were quite content with having done things our way.

On the way back to the Metro we saw a number of little shops on the bridge-side and we took a look at the wares. Paintings, magnets, postcards, posters, and keychains were the main sellers, but some were quite unique and fun to peruse! We didn't buy anything, but it's always fun to look! At that point we had to pee and just weren't willing to pay the 80 cents to a euro 50 to use the public toilets and took the Metro 4 Clignancourt back home. We did a quick shopping trip and picked up some canned ravioli and kiwi for our dinner that night so we wouldn't have to do it later and stopped off at our flat to relax for a minute. We were there about 20 minutes, eating a snack, refilling our water, and using the bathroom before we set out again into the great unknown. Well, sort-of known.

At the metro we took the Metro 4 Montrouge to Strasbourg - Saint-Denis then boarded the Metro 1 Sevres to Iena. There we followed our intuition of which way to go and as we turned a corner on an empty street we got a fabulous first look at the Eiffel tower! It really is a rather ugly monument, but it's too iconic to not absolutely adore! We walked the streets until we arrived at a heavy construction zone where patrons seeking the Eiffel tower were directed around to the East Entrance.

It was a bit of a walk but we arrived there and navigated our way past through the forest of street vendors. At this point we were experts in getting by these folks who sell mostly useless bits of nonsense such as Eiffel tower trinkets and water and whatnot. We learned early on that the best way to get through is to master the use of Non Merci. You say it as you go and keep walking. They're going to ask you more questions or ask where you're from or things like that but they really really don't care and just want you to hang around longer so they can convince you to buy things. Don't do it man, just say "Non merci" and carry on with where you're going. This phrase was the second most common we used besides "Pardon" which is used all the time because 1: French people stand real close together and you will whack someone or get whacked and 2: Tourists just stop in the middle of everywhere and you smack into them as well as other people trying to avoid the people stopping. My advice for anyone going to Paris would be to definitely get used to saying those two phrases often and liberally.

Moving on, we reached the ticket centers of the tower and had to ask to be directed to the one that sells the Combined tickets, which have you use the stairs until the second floor then let you take the elevator to the top. The price is way reduced because you have to use the stairs part of the way, and there was a discount for us because we were under 25, so it came to 9 euro and 50 cents for each of us and it is not advertised as being for sale anywhere. They clearly don't want people to know about that offer but we knew in advance and went to a literally empty line that advertises Stairs Only Tickets and bought our passes for a 19 euro combined and started right on the journey up!

Jess and I are expert stair-climbers (sure, that's a thing) so we had a pleasant time going to the first floor and exploring their restaurants and gift shops and then the second floor where we also explored before getting in line for the lift. The shops are all generic gift shops ad the restaurants are way overpriced but it is Paris and it is the Eiffel Tower and whoever sells bottled water there makes a fortune because people taking the stairs never thing to bring enough. We had a light snack on a bench on the second floor as we took in the view before we joined the masses in line for the top. The line to get up was a little long and it had started to rain some as we stood there but Jess and i had our trusty umbrella with us which worked to keep us dry, block the wind, and keep people from standing to close to us, so it was a win-win-win!

On the elevator one girl magically discovered a kinda-sorta fear of heights that everyone basically ignored because we just couldn't be bothered to care about some teenage American trying to make a scene. It was a fabulous view going up which we got to see through the glass windows before we exited, went up one last small staircase, and looked out over the top! As expected it was very busy at the small point, but people mostly came, took a picture, and went back down, which seemed a waste to us but it's their money! They sell champagne at the top which a number of people were buying but Jess and I had our water and snacks and were quite content! We were up there for quite some time enjoying ourselves and the view before we decided it was time to go and got in line to go down. The line was much shorted to go down but was long enough to plan our next stop. As we rode down and began the descent via stairs we decided we wanted to and really had to see the Louvre and the Arch de Triomphe, both of which I'd saved directions for in case. We took plenty more photos once we reached the bottom and walked away from the tower, getting shots of every good view we found because why not!

Back at the metro we took the Metro 9 back to Strasbourg where we then took the Metro 4 Monterouge to Chatelet before boarding the Metro 1 La Defense to the Palais Royal Musee du Louvre! We got out at what they call the Carousel de Louvre which was a literal carousel fo confusion! It's basically a shopping center under the Louvre but it's near impossible to find the exit and I totally think that's intentional! We were walking forever, which wasn't a huge deal because it is a very pretty shopping center as it is near the Louvre and it all artsy-themed, but it was still a maze to locate the exit. We did eventually find it though and exited right outside the Louvre! We, once again, did not go in, but we just wanted to see it and admire it and we definetly got to do that! Once more we navigated the street vendors and tourists with Pardon and Non Merci and found the perfect photo-op spot for this Kodak Moment! The place really is beautiful, even just from the outside! It was crazy to think about all the people who'd been there before and all the people who woud come after us! It was like that for everywhere though, thinking about all the people on their own journeys with their own lives seeing what we were seeing. What a trip!

As it was about 7:30pm we stayed as long as we felt right before heading back on the Metro 1 this time to Charles de Gaulle - Etoille where we exited right at the Arch de Triomphe. We sat and ate our sandwiches on a bench across from the Arch because we were famished at that point from the hours of walking, climbing, and Metro-riding! We watched plenty of people not far from us take pictures together in front of the Arch, happy as could be! Not far from where we sat was the way to the Arch, an underground tunnel which was so cool! Jess and I walked until we saw a line where we saw you had to purchase tickets, which we thought was weird, but got in line anyway to ask about their Under 25 free ticket. About halfway through the line though a security guard explained to someone else that the ticket was just to see the top of the Arch and wandering around is free. They certainly didn't have any signs saying that, but Jess and I hopped out of line and walked up the very thin no-ticket staircase up to the Arch. As we did so the rain had started up again and a pair of girls came running down demanding to return their tickets because of the raid. Tourists.

We pulled out our umbrella and casually strolled the area of the Arch, taking in the statues and architecture as we both realized we had no idea what the Arch de Triomphe was for or about. We still don't know, but it sure was pretty! Lots of people had ducked into the tunnel to avoid the rain so it was fairly empty as we perused our surroundings and got some great clear shots! Having had enough and being very tired though, Jess and I made our way back through the tunnel and to the metro for the ride home. We took the Metro 1 back to Chatelet where we reboarded the Metro 4 Clagnincourt to the Chateau Rouge, our stop home!

Once there we putzed around until about 11:00pm when we made our ravioli (we elected to save the kiwi for breakfast), pulled out some cookies, put on some old French music and ate dinner up on the 'mezzanine' of the flat, a little nook reached by ladder with a large sky-ward window. There we ate and talked until we both couldn't function and listened to the sounds of Paris as we fell asleep.