Paris, City of my Dreams

Friday, August 26th PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At 8:30 AM, we arrived in Paris. It was freezing and raining, and we were in shorts because of Barcelona’s 100-degree weather. Haha. I ran to the closest bathroom and threw on a turtle neck I happened to buy in Lisbon and jeans. It’s really irritating to have to pay to go to the bathroom, but you know, I respect that they are taking advantage of a basic human need. If I need to go, I need to go. Even if that means I will pay you a euro. Having not eaten for 12 hours, we found a café in the train station and had our first French meal. The directions that the hostel gave us from the train station were really vague, so I tried to call them on the payphone and called on a couple of French people to help me figure out how to use the darn thing. The hostel guy was pretty rude on the phone and didn’t even help me, so that was a waste of 2 euro. We took a local metro to our hostel – Woodstock Hostel, off the Anvers train station. Check in wasn’t until 3 PM, so we dropped off our bags, and sought out a) more food and b) our overnight train ticket from Paris to Nice for the night of Sunday the 28th. We got our tickets and then ended up eating breakfast outside the train station and this perfect café, where I ordered a country pate sandwich. DELICIOUS. o Spanish speaking waitress o The way the tables are set up on the sidewalk - Went back to the hostel and napped - Freezing when we woke up and headed to the Champs D’Elysees to do some SHOPPING! I had my mind set on finding a cape, which I didn’t do the first night. - Dinner was with a perfect view of the Arc de Triumph. I wanted someone to pinch me the entire time. I spent way too much on dinner, but it was my first time in Paris, and I was in love. I ordered foie gras, caprese salad, beof carpaccio, and chocolate mousse. Oh dear lord. Also, it continued to be freezing the entire time we were eating dinner, so that was hilarious. We requested to be moved 30 minutes into the meal, and our waiter put us below heated lamps. - Were deliriously satisfied by the end of the meal and wandered towards Arc de Triumph to take pictures, when it began to downpour. Rain + freezing = pneumonia. We ran for our lives to the metro. - Passed out. - Facebooked my friend Mélina, who used to be my cousin’s aupair, and she said she would be arriving in Paris in the morning! So, it was decided we would meet around noon…somewhere. We exchanged contact information and hoped for the best. - Hostel is worst yet. Room was situated on a courtyard, so we had to cross the courtyard to get to the bathroom. Also, everything smelled bad. Also, the management was rude.