The Paris Misadventure.
Have you ever had a moment where you just told yourself, “I wanna be in Paris right now.” I have.
Now a benefit of living in Central Germany is the ease of access to many of the neighboring countries. So in my case that idea was not such an outrageous thought. What was outrageous was the amount of time I had to do it in. This idea came to me on just on ordinary week. Work 5 days off 2 days and back to work on Monday. I had to plot out, how I can do this and maximize the amount of time I had in Paris.
On Friday my plan was set. I would leave around midnight after work. Arrive and have breakfast in Paris, and check into the hotel and rest for a little bit, then go out at night. That would give me all evening Saturday and the morning on Sunday. Well this is how it went.
Now it’s typical when you have a plan and everything seems like it’s going to work, for everything to fall apart. It would be easy just to say the plan collapsed and I didn’t go anywhere but that would be too easy. Let’s take it from the top.
Friday could not have been more of a typical Friday, until the end of the day came near, that’s when all these tasking came about. Just when you think it’s going to be an easy day the phone call comes in that there is a list of stuff that needs to be done before anyone can go home. Really! Where was this stuff a few hours ago! So 6 almost 7 pm rolls around and everyone is finally released, thank goodness, now I can set my plan in to motion. If this is going to work I need to get some rest soon but after such a long day I was hungry. By the time I ate showered and got ready to take a nap is was nearly 10 pm and I was planning on leaving around midnight. Already this didn’t look so good.
Midnight rolled around and I was still sleeping. I didn’t wake up till 1:30am and I still had to pack my bag. Despite that I managed to get on the road by 2am. Right now I’m only 2 hours behind schedule but I’m still going to make it or at least I thought so, until the Sandman started catching up with me only 30 minutes into my trip. I didn’t want to give in so I pulled over into a gas station to grab some coffee. That didn’t help. I ended up sleeping at the gas station for a good 2 hours till the sun started to poke through the clouds. Only being an hour away from home and being 6 hours behind schedule I continue my journey to Paris.
From Germany there are two ways to get to Paris: the A4 toll road which takes about 5 hours, or the A61 highways which takes about 7 1/5 hours without traffic. Me being pressed for time should have taken the toll roads but an extra €70 round trip did not look to appealing.
Taking the back country roads is always so interesting. Traveling through France has so many old towns and open fields that you miss when you travel on the toll roads. There are even World War Memorials along the way for the French and American forces. If you really want to get a taste of the historic part of France stay away from the major cities. Of course the major cities have their strong points in history but the difference in seeing a building that is well maintained versus a building that was war-torn in the countryside made a big difference to me.
In Paris I wasted no time trying to find my hotel to take a break. I remember choosing this place because it said “Parking Available” which meant there is plenty of roadside to park against. This would have been an easy task except for the fact that it’s Paris and there was a pretty big farmer’s market going on. Finally, 3 blocks away from the hotel, I managed to navigate my way back to the hotel with my backpack ready for some rest.
This was not my first time in Paris but the time I was here before I really didn’t get to enjoy it the way I wanted to. So this time I made some goals for myself like making it to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The hotel I was in was no five-star luxury resort, so there was nothing to get all cozy about, a very simple room. The bathroom was very close to my bed, and the bed was right next to the exit. I guess the only problem I had to deal with was remembering which door went outside and which to the restroom because in a panic I might end up trapped in a bathroom or trying to relieve myself in the lobby. There was no getting comfortable in that room just yet so I packed my camera and headed for the streets.
Just being in Paris had filled me with this new energy, or maybe it was the wizard reading a magazine, I had a new excitement in me. Walking through the farmers markets heading to the bus stop just made me think about the lives of the people who live there. Of course people always come to tourist areas for the monuments but I felt a sense of wonder just being on the street where the locals come to get their produce and other goods.
It was interesting when I got downtown, I saw something I wasn’t expecting; armed French security forces. I guess the recent political climate deemed it necessary for an elevated level of security. The bus had dropped me off right next to the US consulate building. All this action made me very excited so of course I wanted to document it, but as soon as I raised my camera to take a photo I was yelled at from the other side of the fence. I couldn’t even see the guy I just knew he was serious so I put down my camera and walked away. I really wanted to test if I could just flash my military ID and just walk in, but then I also thought about the ramifications if I was detained. That would not be fun.
Getting away from there I started walking towards the Louvre. I’m always reminded about the scene from the movie Eurotrip, “To the Louvre!” I was told last time I was in the Louvre that if you spent one minute at each exhibit in the Louvre it would talk a week to see everything. Because I didn’t have a week and my end goal was to make it to the top of the Eiffel Tower I went straight for the Mona Lisa. Plus when I bought my ticket the lady said there was only 25 minutes left until the museum closed. 
I think a normal person would have just left, but me, I thought to myself, that’s enough time to get a photo of the Mona Lisa, and there I was the closest I’ve ever been to that painting. To this day I do not believe that is the real Mona Lisa. Would they really risk exposing such a priceless painting? I mean, I understand that they have signs everywhere saying no flash photography but really how many people listen. The glass protecting the painting is dingy from all the exposure to hard light. Truly I do not believe that is the real painting. After 20 minutes all the security guards started roping off areas they have already cleared. I took that as my clue to leave.
I quickly made my way upstairs and out of the museum to get over to the Notre Dame. I was looking at the free map that I got from the hotel and it looked to me as if it was just around the corner. This time I wanted to be touristier, and thinking that my next destination was just around the corner, I started negotiating with a bike/cart driver. €10 later I was on my way to the Notre Dame. Being that I have been to a few major cathedrals I have become accustomed to seeing the lines that form to enter these fabulous sites. What was a surprise was the length of the trip to get from the Louvre to the Notre Dame. I almost felt bad for the guy because I had talked him down from his normal price. The sights along the way are always interesting. Paris is definitely not a driving city. There are many modes of transportation available. In Paris now you can rent these small electric smart cars! And there are special parking areas where you can park and charge your car and the spots are near the major tourist attractions.
My favorite and most consistent part of any church has always been the candles. The prayer candles are always something you can look forward too. I guess for the amount of time I had left I wasn’t taking my time anymore. I walked in, took a loop, said a prayer, and headed out. That may have sounded like it took all of five minutes but it is hard not to get lost in there. By the time I went back outside you could tell it was starting to get late because the sun was starting to get heavy behind some of the taller buildings. I stared at the free map that had a rough diagram of the bus line to figure out how to get to the Eiffel Tower. My goal was getting closer.
According to the map I had to catch a bus on the other side of the river, go a couple stops down, get off, get on a different bus, get dropped off somewhere near the tower and then walk towards it. Or take a subway directly to the stop under the Eiffel Tower. But of course I didn’t figure that out until I was walking from stop to stop trying to figure out which bus I was supposed to take. Finally I noticed a staircase that led underground; there were a few people utilizing it so my curiosity was peaked. When I checked it out this staircase looked like it led to nowhere. At the bottom were just 3 lonely turnstiles keeping me from the train platform, so I did what any normal person who was a stranger in a different country would do. I jumped the turnstile.
The crazy part was I didn’t even know if I was on the right side to get to the Eiffel Tower. Me, not knowing any French at all scouted out someone who looked like a young student, in my mind they would at least know some English. My plan was somewhat successful but I’m pretty sure I still came off as a little ignorant. When I got to the Eiffel Tower stop, I didn’t think it would be too complicated getting out of the subway. Boy was I wrong. These turnstiles were a little different. When I went to walk out I was confronted by these tall doors that blocked access to the turnstile until you presented a valid ticket to unlock the door. Now if you remember from earlier I jumped the first turnstile to get onto the platform, I thought it would be that easy to get out, I didn’t have a ticket. Before becoming as nervous as a trapped cat I noticed that the turnstiles leading onto the platform were a little more lenient and if I timed it just right I could escape right after someone just boarded the platform. I was sure that I was going to set off some alarms of that security was going to give chase after I made it over or something. I had it timed, I saw my target and I made my move. As soon as I was over I just looked down and did not stop moving forward till I was out of the subway station. Nothing happened. No one gave chase or even turned to look at me. Boy was I relieved to make it to the surface and there in all its glory was, finally, the Eiffel Tower.
