Bnjour everyone,
I spent last weekend in Paris and it was a blast.
I am still amazed of all the amazing sites I have gotten to see while I have been abroad, and all the countries I have gotten to visit. Paris was an obvious hit and I am so glad I went.
We left Rabat last Thursday and headed down to Casablanca for our flight, travelling just with Dom, we were cutting it a little close. We hit our first minor snag when we reached Casa and had to switch trains and board the direct to airport. None of the ticket machines had any change, so we could not buy our tickets, and the ticket line was much longer then the amount of time we had before our train left, and if we missed it we would surely miss our flight. Dom thought with his stomach and purchased skittles at the convenience store, breaking his 200MAD bill and being able to get us two tickets.
When we reached the Casablanca airport we were greet by the now familiar lack of security, we put our bags on x-ray where a man did not watch them go through, and then passed through the medal detector, with nearly everyone in line setting it off, and no one being stopped.
We made it to our flight with a few minutes to spare in the duty free shop, picking up some supplies for Europe.
The flight from Paris was around three hours, with a time change adding one hour. So we were on the ground at 11pm. By the time we made it to our hostel it was nearly 2am.
Our hostel was in the Monmarte neighborhood, known for its prostitutes and sex shops.
While checking into our hostel they offered us the 4 person room instead of the 10 person room which we had booked, and for the same price so we felt very lucky.
The following morning we slept in until around 11am, after waking up and showering, we headed out of the hostel and followed our noses to a nearby bakery and sampled some of the stuff. It was amazing.
We then headed to a small Italian deli type restaurant and ate our first meal of the day.
Following that we hopped on the Metro (which is very efficient in Paris) and headed for the Arc De Triumph, while it was a neat site, I was largely unimpressed by it. It did not live up to the pictures you see on postcards and in movies.
Here is also where we were exposed to our first Paris scam, where a man walks by you, and tells you he found a ring on the ground next to you, he then gives the ring to you as a gift and begins to walk away before turning around and requesting some money. Since we didn't give him the money he snatched the ring and walked off cursing.
We then walked towards the Eiffel Tower, visible in the distance. This attraction did live up to the hype, and though we did not go up to the top, I am determined to return someday and do so.
This is where encountered our second gypsy scam of three card monte, for those of you who do not know what that is (because I certainly didn't). A man plays the simple game of moving three cups around with a ball underneath it... he moves it and keeps moving it, and then people bet on which one it is under. There were numerous games like this set up around the Eiffel tower and in the heat of the moment I lost 60 Euro, only to be told by a couple passing by that me and my buddy were the only people playing, and the other people "betting" were also gypsies, and were in on the scam, that is why we lost and they didn't. Just as she said this the gypsies gathered their cups and hauled ass.
Still angry about our stupidity, we walked around and admired some of the other buildings in Paris.
We kept wandering until reaching the River Seine and we walked up that until reaching The Statue of Liberty, sister to the one that sits back in the waters of NJ, this was a cool reminder of America.
We saw a large number of diplomatic cars, and as I approached a police officer to ask him what it was, I started with "Do you speak English", to which he replied "Do you know what country you are in, why would I speak English"...Parisians are not known for their hospitality. (Though most people we met were very nice).
After The Statue of Liberty we got to see the Eiffel tower light up, and it is even cooler at night.
We then walked down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
The next day we again woke up later then we would have liked, and headed right back to the French bakery. This time we skipped the Italian restaurant and headed straight for the Louvre. We saw more groups of the gypsies and as I tried to tell tourists what was going on, one of the gypsies hit me in the arm, he was much larger then me so there was not much I could do, and I began to realize how organized their scam was, with spotters up and down the street.
Reaching the Louvre we hopped and line and as he we headed to the ticket booth, some nice lady gave us two tickets as she was headed out.
We walked around the Islamic are for a little while, and then the Coptic art, before heading to the Mona Lisa, which is what everyone is there for anyway.
Post Mona Lisa we headed to the LoveLock bridge, where people write their name and the name of their significant other onto a lock and lock it onto the bridge, and throw the keys into the Seine.
We continued walked and eventually reached Notre Dame, and after a walk around we decided we would come back that night for mass.
We continued on, first to subway, and then to Pantheon, which we did not actually get to enter, as it is no longer a Catholic church and costs money to enter....which is my kryptonite. We decided to go into a nearby church, this has become a hobby of mine in Europe, as nearly all churches are always open, they are always beautiful, and may of them contain the bodies or relics of saints or some other important person.
After some gelato we headed back to Notre Dame for the French language mass and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.
We went to a fairly nice streak place a couple of Metro stops away. The problem with this is that I grew up eating well done steak. In France, well done is a foreign concept, and I am pretty sure the steak goes directly from the cow to your plate, with no fire time. Needless to say I sent mine back for a little extra time of cooking...I actually sent it back twice.
After dinner we called it a fairly early night as we wanted to get some stuff done before leaving on Sunday afternoon.
We woke up again a little later then we wanted on Sunday morning...it must be something about Paris.
We headed up the hill to the Sacre Couer, only a few steps from our hostel, a beautiful cathedral at the top of the hill overlooking Paris, it was an awesome thing to see. After passing through all of the vendors towards the bottom, and the Sub-Saharan Africans who tie bracelets around tourists wrists and then demand payment, we made it to the top.
The view was indeed amazing, and the inside was stunning.
After the Cathedral we walked around a Christmas market that was taking place around the outside of it, and then headed back to the Italian deli for lunch.
We then headed back to the hostel to gather our things, and finish the supplies we had purchased back in Casa....we then headed to the metro and headed back to the airport, and onward to Morocco.
This was my last major trip during my time abroad.
Six days left.
Before I leave I will post about the very end and some farewell notes, and then at least once more when I return home to the states.
Shokrun,
Kevin
Arabic Word of The Day- باريس- Baris- Paris
I spent last weekend in Paris and it was a blast.
I am still amazed of all the amazing sites I have gotten to see while I have been abroad, and all the countries I have gotten to visit. Paris was an obvious hit and I am so glad I went.
We left Rabat last Thursday and headed down to Casablanca for our flight, travelling just with Dom, we were cutting it a little close. We hit our first minor snag when we reached Casa and had to switch trains and board the direct to airport. None of the ticket machines had any change, so we could not buy our tickets, and the ticket line was much longer then the amount of time we had before our train left, and if we missed it we would surely miss our flight. Dom thought with his stomach and purchased skittles at the convenience store, breaking his 200MAD bill and being able to get us two tickets.
When we reached the Casablanca airport we were greet by the now familiar lack of security, we put our bags on x-ray where a man did not watch them go through, and then passed through the medal detector, with nearly everyone in line setting it off, and no one being stopped.
We made it to our flight with a few minutes to spare in the duty free shop, picking up some supplies for Europe.
The flight from Paris was around three hours, with a time change adding one hour. So we were on the ground at 11pm. By the time we made it to our hostel it was nearly 2am.
Our hostel was in the Monmarte neighborhood, known for its prostitutes and sex shops.
While checking into our hostel they offered us the 4 person room instead of the 10 person room which we had booked, and for the same price so we felt very lucky.
The following morning we slept in until around 11am, after waking up and showering, we headed out of the hostel and followed our noses to a nearby bakery and sampled some of the stuff. It was amazing.
We then headed to a small Italian deli type restaurant and ate our first meal of the day.
Following that we hopped on the Metro (which is very efficient in Paris) and headed for the Arc De Triumph, while it was a neat site, I was largely unimpressed by it. It did not live up to the pictures you see on postcards and in movies.
Here is also where we were exposed to our first Paris scam, where a man walks by you, and tells you he found a ring on the ground next to you, he then gives the ring to you as a gift and begins to walk away before turning around and requesting some money. Since we didn't give him the money he snatched the ring and walked off cursing.
We then walked towards the Eiffel Tower, visible in the distance. This attraction did live up to the hype, and though we did not go up to the top, I am determined to return someday and do so.
This is where encountered our second gypsy scam of three card monte, for those of you who do not know what that is (because I certainly didn't). A man plays the simple game of moving three cups around with a ball underneath it... he moves it and keeps moving it, and then people bet on which one it is under. There were numerous games like this set up around the Eiffel tower and in the heat of the moment I lost 60 Euro, only to be told by a couple passing by that me and my buddy were the only people playing, and the other people "betting" were also gypsies, and were in on the scam, that is why we lost and they didn't. Just as she said this the gypsies gathered their cups and hauled ass.
Still angry about our stupidity, we walked around and admired some of the other buildings in Paris.
We kept wandering until reaching the River Seine and we walked up that until reaching The Statue of Liberty, sister to the one that sits back in the waters of NJ, this was a cool reminder of America.
We saw a large number of diplomatic cars, and as I approached a police officer to ask him what it was, I started with "Do you speak English", to which he replied "Do you know what country you are in, why would I speak English"...Parisians are not known for their hospitality. (Though most people we met were very nice).
After The Statue of Liberty we got to see the Eiffel tower light up, and it is even cooler at night.
We then walked down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
The next day we again woke up later then we would have liked, and headed right back to the French bakery. This time we skipped the Italian restaurant and headed straight for the Louvre. We saw more groups of the gypsies and as I tried to tell tourists what was going on, one of the gypsies hit me in the arm, he was much larger then me so there was not much I could do, and I began to realize how organized their scam was, with spotters up and down the street.
Reaching the Louvre we hopped and line and as he we headed to the ticket booth, some nice lady gave us two tickets as she was headed out.
We walked around the Islamic are for a little while, and then the Coptic art, before heading to the Mona Lisa, which is what everyone is there for anyway.
Post Mona Lisa we headed to the LoveLock bridge, where people write their name and the name of their significant other onto a lock and lock it onto the bridge, and throw the keys into the Seine.
We continued walked and eventually reached Notre Dame, and after a walk around we decided we would come back that night for mass.
We continued on, first to subway, and then to Pantheon, which we did not actually get to enter, as it is no longer a Catholic church and costs money to enter....which is my kryptonite. We decided to go into a nearby church, this has become a hobby of mine in Europe, as nearly all churches are always open, they are always beautiful, and may of them contain the bodies or relics of saints or some other important person.
After some gelato we headed back to Notre Dame for the French language mass and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.
We went to a fairly nice streak place a couple of Metro stops away. The problem with this is that I grew up eating well done steak. In France, well done is a foreign concept, and I am pretty sure the steak goes directly from the cow to your plate, with no fire time. Needless to say I sent mine back for a little extra time of cooking...I actually sent it back twice.
After dinner we called it a fairly early night as we wanted to get some stuff done before leaving on Sunday afternoon.
We woke up again a little later then we wanted on Sunday morning...it must be something about Paris.
We headed up the hill to the Sacre Couer, only a few steps from our hostel, a beautiful cathedral at the top of the hill overlooking Paris, it was an awesome thing to see. After passing through all of the vendors towards the bottom, and the Sub-Saharan Africans who tie bracelets around tourists wrists and then demand payment, we made it to the top.
The view was indeed amazing, and the inside was stunning.
After the Cathedral we walked around a Christmas market that was taking place around the outside of it, and then headed back to the Italian deli for lunch.
We then headed back to the hostel to gather our things, and finish the supplies we had purchased back in Casa....we then headed to the metro and headed back to the airport, and onward to Morocco.
This was my last major trip during my time abroad.
Six days left.
Before I leave I will post about the very end and some farewell notes, and then at least once more when I return home to the states.
Shokrun,
Kevin
Arabic Word of The Day- باريس- Baris- Paris
No comments:
Post a Comment