It was the first time in a long time that I wasn’t reluctant to clamber out of bed before sunrise. Leaving Emme to her slumber, I dragged my overly-packed suitcase down to the Tube station at the end of her street. I manoeuvred through the growing crowds of early-commuters, carefully aiming to avoid rolling over innocent toes or create bruises with the sheer weight of my belongings. A few train changes later, I hopped off at Russell Square and navigated my way towards The Royal National Hotel where I’d be joining my fellow travellers. After making small-talk amongst ourselves, all 53 of us filed onto the coach and began our journey to Dover where we’d be taking the ferry over to France. My croissant-filled dreams were ever closer to coming true as soon as we crossed the English Channel and disembarked at the Port of Calais. We exchanged our ‘Hello’s’ for ‘Bonjour’s’ and other terribly pronounced French pleasantries as we continued on to our first destination: Paris. It was night by the time we arrived, and dinner at our accomodation was followed by an opportunity to explore the city. From a distance, we could see the Eiffel Tower twinkling like an oversized diamond, and despite thinking that I’d be underwhelmed by its existence, it was just as dazzling as you could imagine. Scaling its many stairs at 10:30pm not only got the old heart pumping, but allowed us to see the most breathtaking views of Paris. Feeling sufficiently awed by the vast expanse of beautiful buildings lined by perfectly parallel streets, we made our way back to the hotel a little after midnight in the hope that we could conserve some energy for the following day. By early morning, many of us were already up and watching the Eiffel Tower from afar as it emerged from the mist that engulfed it. We had but one full day to do as much as we could in the so-called city of love and we certainly weren’t going to let it go to waste. Next on the agenda was the Arc de Triomphe. Anyone who is familiar with the monument is well aware of its precarious location: smack-bang in the middle of the most ridiculous roundabout I have ever seen. Thanks to the attraction’s underground access way, us pedestrians can avoid dancing with death in order to see it up close. Enduring yet more stairs to see panoramic views of Paris was well worth the sweat (and near tears). From the Arc, we made our way down one of the most luxurious shopping streets in the world: the Champs-Élysées. The likes of Louis Vuitton and Chanel took residence here, and it felt as though we were getting to experience a teeny-tiny slither of what it was like to be living the life of someone in the upper percentile. As we approached the end of the colossally long road, a friend and I decided to jump in a tuk-tuk to take us to the Louvre where we could satisfy our artistic and cultural needs. As someone who studied art history at university, seeing legendary works such as the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace and Venus de Milo with my own eyes was absolutely surreal. I was also entranced by the countless royal possessions on display, from furniture, to clothes, to the Crown Jewels. Half the fun of visiting the museum was navigating its maze-like hallways to try and find the exit, which eventually landed us in the courtyard, transporting us to another place in time entirely. It would’ve been all too easy to spend countless hours at the Louvre, but we needed to continue our quest to see and do as many quintessentially Parisian things as possible. With a few hours to spare before dinner, a stroll down the Seine to Nôtre Dame seemed like a viable use of our remaining time. I loved seeing all the stalls set-up along the river filled with some fantastic second-hand books, local art and, of course, numerous souvenirs. Although we didn’t enter the famous cathedral at the end of our walk, we certainly took a moment to admire its distinct Gothic architecture before we were due to return to the hotel and partake in the evening’s festivities. We headed to the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, where, yup, you guessed it, there were more stairs. Stairs aside, we were thoroughly entertained by various street performers before we were redirected down winding cobblestone paths to dinner. A delicious meal of escargot (who would’ve thought snails doused in garlic butter could taste so good) and duck a l’Orange, accompanied by copious amounts of red wine (seriously, where did all these bottles of wine come from) left me feeling satisfied and sufficiently tipsy. After dinner, we made our way through the red light district, passing many adult venues and sex stores along the way. Tonight we were being treated to a Cabaret show, with bottles of champagne on the side. And just as well - the number of exposed breasts and buttocks called for it! Regardless, it was an incredibly fun night of entertainment, full of alcohol-infused laughter. While many opted to continue dancing into the early hours of the morning, I felt as though my feet had outdone their step count for the day and returned to the hotel. Aside from giving this girl the best leg workout to date, I was also pleasantly surprised to find that my perception of this city wasn’t tainted by the images of it that I had seen before: it really was just as wonderful as I’d imagined. Being able to experience its beauty, culture and general atmosphere is something I won’t soon forget. Until next time, Paris.
1 Comment
Anu
17/1/2018 06:04:01 pm
As always, another amazing tale, loved it 💖
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B is:A 26-year-old tea drinking writer of words trying to find her place in the world.
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