August 31 - Paris (delayed post)

August 31st
Paris, France

Today we decided to sleep in (yesterday left us sore and in need of rest). We did not wake up until the maid came in to clean our room (just before noon). Upon awakening we rushed down to the front desk to try to reserve another night. We were told that they did not have any more space in our dorm for tonight! Luckily, I was able to sweet talk the lady working the front desk into giving us the private room (sweet at the top of the hostel) for the same price we were paying! Our new room is the nicest we have had yet.

After moving our stuff up five flights of stairs we were ready to start seeing some sights. We grabbed a few chocolate croissants and our new buddy, Prab of Australia, and headed out for the day. Unfortunately, Prab did not have a metro pass or a museum pass so we had to sneak him in/out of every place we visited. Our first stop was Notre Dame. The entire area was packed with people (I think it’s because the weather was awesome today!). We wanted to go up to the top but there was a 40-minute wait so we settled for exploring the ground floor. It was quite interesting and had a lot of history. But I thought it was strange that the building also had some newly installed plasma screens (no idea what they are for).

After thoroughly inspecting Notre Dame we began to meander toward the Pantheon. It was a very large building that also houses a crypt. Usually the ground level of the building is home to a large pendulum. Unfortunately for us, the pendulum was undergoing some renovations. After finding this out we decided to check out the crypt. Some of the most important people in the history of France are buried here. To of the names that I immediately recognized were Victor Hugo (no quite sure what he did) and Pierre Curie (very famous scientist).



By the time we left the Pantheon we were all famished. We stopped at a local café for some crepes. I chose one with smoked salmon and cream cheese. It was very good but kind of small…I also want to add that throughout our trip, I have been using the restaurant bathrooms to fill up my water bottle, as the drinks here tend to be very expensive (ε 2.50)!

After lunch Peter decided he was tired and wanted to go take a nap under the Eiffel Tower. We made a plan to all meet up at 6:00 by Notre Dame in hopes of going up to the top.

Prab, B and I headed for Museum d’Orsay (thanks for the tip Stevie!). This museum is very cool because it is housed in an old train station. It makes for some very large open rooms that are great for displaying statues. We spent over two hours checking out a variety of art.

When we left the museum it was only 4:30 and we had some time before meeting Peter. Still, we headed for Notre Dame and decided to hang out in the area. After feeding the birds, it was time to lie down and wait for Peter.

When Pete arrived we were disappointed to find that the top of Notre Dame had already closed (no more people are allowed up after 5:45). We could think of nothing better to do than eat. We headed back toward our hostel and had a large Turkish meal (pork, rice, salad, bread, and French fries) for very cheap.

Our plan for the rest of the night is to pack up our things. It is our last night in Paris and we have to be ready to leave early tomorrow. We are hoping to have time for a stop in Versailles on our way to Amsterdam.

Thought: I cannot believe that we are already leaving Paris. It seems as though we just arrived. I have a feeling the trip is going to start going by very quickly.