mi mundo espanol: Paris: Day One

Paris: November 5-7

My trip to Paris began Thursday night (November 4). I caught to last bus to Madrid at 8:00 after my last private lesson. I got to Madrid around 10:30 and got a taxi to my friend's house to stay for the night. I arrived, ate the rest of the salad they made for dinner and went to bed. I woke up at 4:45 A.M. and ran outside to catch the taxi waiting for me at 5. My flight left at 6:25 so I had some extra time once I got through security and was able to get myself some breakfast.

Airport breakfast: apple pastry with agua.

I passed out as soon as I sat down on the plane. Before I knew it the man next to me was poking me because the flight attendant needed to make sure my seat belt was fastened... As soon as I got off the plane I followed the crowds to the bus ticket office. Since I flew with RyanAir, I flew into the furthest airport from Paris, Beauvais. So the shuttle was 15 euros and an hour ride into the city of Paris. When I landed I had two missed calls from Lindsay but my phone kept telling me her number didn't exist. I got off the bus and tried to make sense of the directions I had to find the metro. I really started freaking out because I hadn't talked to Lindsay, I had no other way to get in contact with her. Finally, my call went through and I managed my way through the metro to the stop by our hostel. I walked out of the subway and saw Lindsay standing by a cafe, our first European meet up.

We went to the hotel, checked in, changed and headed to the first stop of the day, the Eiffel Tower.

First views of the Tower.

Eiffel Tower in the fall.

Lindsay with Eiffle.

A perfect fall day.

Fall.

Fail...

After spending the afternoon at the Eiffel Tower, we went for lovely French lunch.

Panini, salad and chips.

Got a glimpse of the tower as the sun was setting...

Then we headed to the next big site, the Arc de Triomphe. It only took us about 20 minutes to figure out how you could walk underground to get to the other side... such foreigners.

Arc de Triomphe.

Inside the Arch with the French flag.

Beautiful detail with sunset.

Then we walked down past the shops and had to get some water at McDonald's. We made a cute little Korean friend who helped us find the straws with the little English he spoke. Of course, we thought he was so cute that we had to keep talking to him, asking why he was traveling, what's he'd seen so far in Paris, etc. He did give us some good tips before parting ways.

After our pit stop, we walked back past the Tower to see it lit up at night on the way to the hostel.

Eiffel Tower at night.

The light show on the Tower.

We looked up direction once back at the hotel to a Fondue restaurant and made reservations. Even though once we got there were completely pointless as we had to wait outside for 15 minutes before space opened up. The restaurant literally consisted of two long cafeteria style tables. In order to get to the other side of the table, you had to hold the hand of the waiter and climb over the table. Of course, I was the lucky one chosen to mount the table for the other side....

Once seated the menu was pretty simple: white or red wine (served in a baby bottle) and cheese or meat fondue.