The First of several very, VERY Late Blogs: PARIS

So, Paris is Paris, everyone dreams of visiting, everyone who goes falls in love, and everyone who lives there is, well... snooty, but that is besides the point. I was given permission by my host mom to be allowed to go to Paris without parents. But only me and Hunter, one of my friends were allowed to go, she didn't want a large group going, which I can completely understand, and my host sister also came with us. We started the day very early, it was still dark when we left! We almost missed out train and ended up having to sit in front of the bathroom door; this was much better than we originally had thought!

The first person to use the bathroom, was about 15 minutes into the voyage. The first person was a mid 20's female, perfectly capable of figuring out the automatic door which consisted of one button to open, one button to close and a lever to lock. You think that the whole world would be able to grasp that. Most people figured out that you needed to push the button with the BRIGHT GREEN ring around it to open the door, but this is as far as people's common sense went. once the door was opened there were two buttons to choose from, one was circular with (<>) and, because the door was already open, there was no green ring around it, and the second button was another circular button with (><) on it and there was a BRIGHT RED (meaning close) ring around it... The red automatically stopped everyone from hitting that button... everyone pressed the Non-Lit "open" button, but never even thought to touch the close button. Most of the patrons took ALL of their strength and closed the door manually, pulling it along the track, seemingly run by pressurized air. Yep, everyone damn near pulled their shoulders out of socket to close the AUTOMATIC door! Once inside, virtually no one locked the mechanism by turning a small lever that had a key emblem on it, could it be more obvious!? We ended up stopping about 8 people from intruding on others during their entirely too long bathroom visits. The only one person who did everything correct without thinking was a rather elderly lady who, in french, said "wish me luck" as the door was closing, we all preyed that she locked it, thus making her the winner, SHE DID! we wanted to clap for her upon her exit, but we decided that may be somewhat bizarre and inappropriate. About 20 minutes before we arrived in Paris, a younger woman entered the bathroom, yanked the door shut manually, idiot, and then didn't turn the lever the lock the door, on her way out, the woman could not arrive at pressing the open button. She tugged and tugged on the door, trying to open it manually, we found it entertaining, so we let her try for a pretty good while, before I relieved her and pushed the open button for entry, she looking amused with herself, thinking she found the solution and not knowing that I had pressed the button, then searched for the closing button.... she in-turn pulled the lock lever and got frustrated and left.... then I pressed the close button because it smelled. and then it locked from the inside. The last 15 minutes of the train ride, there was a huge line for the bathroom, and everyone was waiting for a phantom, none of us had the heart to tell the people in line that it was closed.....

We arrived at the Gare St-Lazare around 11:30AM. We took a little tour of the opera district of Paris. We took a small detour into the Galeries Lafayette to see the giant ChristmasTree.  Then we walked to the Bourse (stock exchange) and took the metro to Notre Dame... We walked around near Notre Dame a little then found a Starbucks... I got a great Caramel Machiato and an "American" cookie, it was SO GREAT! I noticed that there was only foreigners, russians, british, and us in the café. There was a potential Frenchman upstairs using the Wi-fi access. After eating, we made our way to the courtyard of the Louvre, then walked all the way from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe. It was A LOT of walking, but definitely worth the experience of just doing it. It rained a little along our route, but we didn't mind, when it got bad, we ducked into a store along the Champs Élysées. After reaching the Arc de Triomphe, we decided to search for a nice, somewhat inexpensive café to grab lunch. We spent 20-30 minutes searching for a decent café, we found a great one! We all got sandwiches, Croque Monsieur for Auberie and Me and a Club for Hunter, and fries. It was good, not too pricy, less than 15Euro a person, which is great for a large Lunch in Paris including a drink. After Lunch, we took a small detour to see the Eiffel Tower then  we made our way back down the Champs Élysées, and to a metro station. We arrived in front of the Gare St-Lazare and bought our return tickets then decided to do another small tour of the area... We made a wrong turn on the way back and ended up about 25 minutes away from the train station, with 30 until our train left! Yikes, we ran, and asked for directions several times... the answer was always "keep going straight" and then we would hit a wall or building and have to turn, then the new direction giver would say "keep going straight" so we never knew who was right. We ended up finding it on our own, and it's a good thing we did, we were tired and drenched, and just as we got on the train, it departed from the station. It was a quick ride home. I read a book called "Talk to the Snail: 10 Commandments to Understanding the French" It is an insight on the frustrations of being a non Frenchman, living in France.


All in all, it really was a great day. I was wiped out after an entire day of walking, but I didn't mind, it was just great! I can't wait to go again! After being there once and doing the overview, now I can make more specific trips to different areas, that will be cool!