when my company landed on budapest for our basis of operation, i was pretty bummed out. we had been looking at london for several months and i was super stoked about that. i had previous co-workers in london, the language barrier is zero and the eurostar is right there. but budapest it was to be.
i quickly jumped on kayak and google maps searching for quick weekend trips. if i was going to be in europe for a year, i was going to make the most of it. the first 3 day weekend we had i decided to stay in town to get my apartment settled. traveling now is a bit more complicated since my kitty requires medication each day, but that's another, longer, post for later.
i'm not a terribly religious person, but i've always enjoyed the easter service at the church i grew up in. i haven't done much besides dinner with friends for easter since i've been in los angeles, i figured with the 3 day weekend, paris was as good a place as any to spend the holiday.
i've been to paris 2 times before, i've hit most of the typical tourist spots, so you won't get much of that here. this trip was all about what i wanted to see.
i had 2 days to get it all in. i landed in paris around 12:30pm and left monday mid-day. somehow, i managed to get everything that was really important to me taken care of.
when i began planning, i discovered that my carry on suitcase, which i've had for 7 years, is technically too large for many of the budget airlines. just to play it safe, i purchased a north face base camp duffle. i'd seen a family navigating the christmas crowds carrying them and thought it seemed like an excellent idea, i was right.
do i look legit? |
day 1: saturday
i flew into charles de gual and made my way to the train terminal. i'd done come research and decided to purchase a 3 day metro card that covered zones 1-5. you can easily get around paris on just zones 1-3, but i was going to be taking the train to and from the airport, so i needed a bit more reach.
on the rer b from cdg to gare du nord |
i decided to stay in monmartre, home of sacre coure and the moulin rouge. i've been to monmartre before, but never really explored that side of paris. i found a good (not great b/c holiday) rate at the hotel le monmartre saint pierre. it was a very small room but, i wasn't in it very much. small rooms are very much the norm in europe.
my plan for the day had been: drop my bags and head towards the catacombs. i've wanted to see the catacombs for a while now. my first trip, when i was 12, we were too late to take the tour and last trip, 7 years ago, my companion didn't want to go, lame. i dropped my bags, swapped out my small purse for my new budapest backpack (i'll post that later) and headed for central paris.
first stop was notre dame. i wasn't going in, but i wanted a specific photo. it occured to me when planning that my first trip to paris had been 20 years ago this very weekend. i decided to commemorate that with a duplicate photo.
paris revolves around me |
this is point zero in front of notre dame, the geographical center of paris. all distances are measured from here. i did a quick walk around the cathedral, i've been up and in before.
notre dame |
i made my way across the bridge to shakespear and co. my plan had been to get a copy of the little prince, which is one of my favorite stories, to leave behind in the apt i'm renting. i also hoped to photograph the stairs which read "live for humanity" but they weren't allowing photos inside. it was so crowded i did a quick in and out, no purchase, sad.
such a long line, such a tiny space |
by this time i was really hungry. i exchanged so usd for euros, should have done so in the airport b/c the exchange rate screwed me a bit, and went in search of food.
i ate so much cheese |
rather than take the train i decided to walk to the catacombs. this turned out to be a slight mistake. by the time i got there the line was too long for me to get in that day. i'm not sure the train would have made that much difference. i decided to get up early on easter and be there before they opened, hoping everyone would be at church.
missing the catacombs meant i was able to make it to bon marche, which i'd never been to. it's like bergdorf's for paris. the escalators and ceiling are awesome.
bon marche |
i hopped the train toward central paris and squeezed in a few more photo ops.
pont alexandre iii |
showing love for belgium |
by now it was nearly dinner time so i hopped the train back to monmartre. i did a full loop near the moulin rouge and settled on a spot that didn't have a wait and looked oddly familiar. it also featured baked camanbert as an entree so, score!
it's basically cheese fries |
as i waited for my check, you have to flag the waiters down here and beg for it, i noticed a massive painting of amelie and that's when it hit me.
cafe des deux moulins |
ahh, flashbacks to film school and seeing quirky amelie for the first time, knowing i could never pull that off.
i wrapped up the night with a nutella crepe, from a tiny creperie wedged in between two restaurants, while i walked back to the hotel.
next week, day 2, aka: the day i spent with all the dead stuff.
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