Parigi (Pear - ee - jee): The city of love. My friend Robb and I decided to take a trip to Paris and see what it's all about. This entry is probably going to be relatively short (comparatively...) because quite honestly, it was not my favorite place in the world. I feel like a brat casually tossing my trip to Paris aside because, c'mon... how many people ACTUALLY get to go to a place like that? So don't get me wrong – the city is undeniably beautiful, the history is incredible, the Eiffel Tower is magnificent; but I think two days was enough for me.
Thursday night: Late flight into Paris. Sat in between two Parisian men, one of which ONLY spoke French, the other one nodding in and out of sleepy consciousness, intermittently woken up by his friend to translate something from French to English. The flight was short – a little over an hour. When we were over the city, the Frenchmen sitting at the window tapped me and pointed out the window, saying something that sounded like, “tour ee-full” as if it were one word. (Toureefull, if you will.) He probably thought I was an idiot because I had NO clue what he was talking about until propped myself up a little only to look down and see the Eiffel Tower. Light bulb. I responded, “Oooohhh! The Eiffel Tower!” and it was one of those times where I felt embarrassed by how ugly the English language translates beautiful words. (Whenever my friend Robb and I couldn't pronounce something in French – which was always – we jokingly said it in a horrific southern accent which really points out just how good we are at making pretty sounding things sound uncouth.)
We stayed at place called Love and Peace Hostel which was quite an interesting/fun place. Only people between the ages of 18 and 35 can stay there, so it's chalk-full of young people. This was made evident when we showed up to see neon lights displaying the name, and the hostel actually just looked like a bar. There were flashing lights coming from the ceiling and the actual bar itself; there was music pumping; the bar was set up so that all of the hard liquor bottles were turned upside down and put into taps above the bar tender, so to mix drinks, he had to put the glass slightly above eye-level and push the tap like it was a soda fountain. It was quite the energetic enviornment. We kept pacing back and forth in front of the bar trying to find where the entrance to the hostel was, and it wasn't until the British 20-something bartender yelled out to us to come in and informed us that the tiny door that looked like a closet was really a narrow staircase winding up to the rooms which were sitting right above the bar. So fun! After dropping our stuff off and making small talk with our 26-year old roommate from California who was backpacking through Europe for a month, Robb and I wandered around the canals which you could see from our window. We eventually found this awesome little bar where we bought a bottle of wine and my favorite thing of all time: crème brulee! Ordering it was quite the hassle as Robb and I realized that the only things we knew how to say were, “bonjour!” and “baguette!” (Just kidding- we could say “thank you” too. Well... sort of.) I thought that since it boarders Italy, the French would have SOME Italian, but boy was I proven wrong. Some people had a bit of English, but the weekend included a lot of awkward gestures and pointing accompanied by snobby stares from the French. 
We really went to Paris without any sort of agenda so for the first day we just wandered around. We walked to the Notre Dame from our hostel and picked up a bus tour of the city which was convenient because it was like a sure way to make sure we saw everything. The commentary was HILARIOUS - one of the things this lady said was literally: “This bridge is a sight to be seen; to walk, hold hands, and to dream.” But we got to drive by all of the major places in Paris and hear about the history. I was joking that we should have started a tally to see how many times the commentator mentioned Napoleon the First and how amazing he was – they love them some Napoleon over there. We hopped off the bus at the Eiffel Tower and wandered around the parks for a while. It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend in terms of weather (65° with a soft breeze) so we walked around and sat in the grass under the tower for a while. That night, we got a bottle of wine and a baguette and sat at the fountain across the street in front of a museum and watched the Eiffel Tower all lit up. At midnight, they set off a ton of lights so that the tower looks like it's sparkling. It was absolutely beautiful and one of the most memorable things about our time in Paris.
The next day, I accomplished two of my "things I must do while abroad" goals: 1. climb the Eiffel Tower and 2. make friends with someone in my hostel. I was waiting for Robb in the lobby and was chatting with a kid staying in our hostel named Ryan, and invited him to tag along with us for the day which was super fun. He's 21, goes to Arcadia University which is known for its study abroad program, and is a photography/communications major. He is AWESOME. (He actually decided to stop off at Milan so I'm going to give him a tour of the city later this week.) We went to the Louvre and picnicked in the courtyard, saw the Mona Lisa, saw a sphinx, saw Michaelangelo's Dying Slave and Venus statues, and saw some Botecelli. It was one of the few times I didn't resent the fact that Providence College requires us to take 20 credits of Development of Western Civilization, because I appreciated the art a lot more than I thought I would.
After the Louvre, we walked to the Eiffel Tower (which is kind of a hike) and decided to CLIMB the tower rather than take the elevator. This was a good decision because we would stop whenever we wanted and take pictures of the awesome views. Plus, now I can say that I CLIMBED the Eiffel Tower! Very cool. Unfortunately, it started raining just as we reached the last summit for the stairs, the layer below the top of the tower. We were waiting out the rain and while Robb and Ryan were in line for something, I decided to go outside and sit on a bench under the roof. Apparently I was feeling particularly outgoing that day, because I started talking to the kid sitting next to me who turned out to be a 19-year old from Toronto who took a year off between high school and college to travel. He started in the Middle East for his Jewish pilgrimage and was spending four and a half months backpacking by himself throughout... well... EVERYWHERE. He was a really nice kid with some great stories, so I invited him along with us as well. The 4 of us ended up being a great group and we had a really fun time together at the top of the tower, getting lost around the city, and going out to eat dinner. Despite the rain, it was an awesome day in my book. 
Robb and I left the next day, and that was a situation I'm not even going to get into because it will just make me mad. In short: it started out with us not realizing that it was the European daylight savings, and ended 13 hours later as what I can only describe as the epitome of Murphy's Law. Let's just say flights were missed, bus maps were misread, bags were searched, liquids were taken away, and both the French and Milanese metro systems failed me. Maybe ask me about it in 2 months when it's not such a sore subject.
All in all: Paris was obviously beautiful (duhh...) but WAY WAY WAY too expensive. I thought Milan was expensive, but Paris made it seem like Sicily (aka, super cheap). I never appreciated how hard it is for kids in my program without any Italian background to get around the city until I found myself in Paris without any way to communicate. Despite the cost, the language barrier, and the rain, I'm very lucky to have experienced Paris and I'm glad that I got to meet the people that I did. I don't think I need to go back there again, but I'm very grateful for the experience.
Next weekend: Naples (Napoli), the Amalfi Coast, and POMPEII!
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