I hadn’t realized before leaving home that my plug adaptor was only for Europe and not the UK so I wasn’t able to charge my phone at all while I was in London. Fortunately I had a printed version of all my tickets and reservations as a back-up because I had about 5% battery by the time I needed to board my train.
The EuroStar train is a quick and fairly inexpensive way to get from London to Paris but it’s a bit of a boring ride.
About three hours after leaving London I arrived at my Paris hostel. I knew I couldn’t check in yet but I haven’t ever stayed in a hostel that isn’t willing to hold luggage and allow you to hang out before, so that’s what I did. It turns out my plug adaptor wouldn’t work in Paris either and therefore I had no good reason to hang around the hostel lounge.
I took my camera and went for a walk having no destination in mind and no real sense of which direction I should go. My aimless wandering got me nowhere special so I checked the map, hopped on the metro and found myself at Notre Dame.
I was disappointed to have missed Notre Dame during my first visit, only having seen it as a blob in the distance, so it was a priority this time. I didn’t go inside, that would have taken hours of waiting in line, but the outside was gorgeous just the same. The amount of people just standing around outside taking selfies and simply staring at the cathedral eventually got to be a little much so I took off.
It should tell you a bit about how I was feeling at the time when I say that one of the top highlights of Paris for me was a simple Nutella crepe. The I’m alone feeling was starting to set in and everything around me felt a bit unreal, like I was looking through a window; I can see these beautiful places but I’m not really experiencing them. My excitement level was not super high because of that.
Despite that, I continued on. The Louvre is not a terribly long walk from Notre Dame so that’s where I went next. I spent quite a while just walking around the central square outside the museum; people watching, enjoying the architecture and trying to avoid being in anyone’s photo.
By this point it was making me crazy that I couldn’t check-in with home because of my dead phone. It also made me a bit crazy that I had to spend 10 Euros on a new adaptor when I already have 2, but it was necessary. Adaptor in hand I made my way back to the hostel, checked in and had a little lay down while my phone charged.
Perched atop the highest point in Paris was Sacre Couer which I had no idea even existed last time I was here and was the first stop after my nap. The views from the basilica are nothing short of amazing, allowing you to see much of the city. Of course you have to look through the sea of people on the steps around you, but it’s pretty amazing anyway.
From there I got on and off the metro to see Moulin Rouge, picked up Macarons in Laudree and walked along Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.
Though I had originally planned to go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe I simply wasn’t feeling like it by the time I arrived and decided to go straight to the Eiffel Tower instead.
I had it in my head that it was a short walk between the two and therefore didn’t even consider the metro. I was wrong. Granted, my feet and back were quite sore, it still took ages to walk there.
Everything about Paris felt so different this time versus last and the Tower was no exception. I was underwhelmed and over tired, the long walk felt like such a waste and all I wanted was to go to sleep. I managed to walk around the area for no more than a few minutes before I headed for the closest metro and back to the hostel.
By 8pm I was ready for bed and another early morning train ride, this time to Barcelona.
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