Germany: Paris, France

Rewind…..Back to the Start (well kind of the start)

I have already talked about Barcelona so let's move to Paris. We took an overnight hotel train from Barcelona to Paris which was more expensive than expected but that's another story. Anna and I got very interesting tickets on the train. We were in different cars because the cars were split into men and women cars. In my car where two African guys that spoke Swahili and a French guy that spoke only French. Definitely an interesting situation for me. Honestly I think I spoke fewer than ten words on the whole trip. I just went up in my top bunk and didn't come down until we had made it to Paris.

After a refreshing (yeah right) night on the train we arrived uneventfully in Paris. After figuring out the metro system we took a stab at where our hostel may be and didn't shoot too far off. Paris was probably my favorite city on the trip. The trees along one of the main boulevards were lit up with a huge farris wheel at the end of one boulevard. We had to ride the ferris wheel and had a great view of the city from the top. We did a lot of wandering the first day but then bought that typical tourist bus ticket and saw all the major sites of the city.

The Eiffel Tower was amazing. The first time we saw it was at night and it was lit up with blue lights. On every hour thousands of light bulbs would go off on the tower to give the impression it was sparkling. I actually liked It much better at night than during the day. During the next day we paid to go all the way to the top and it was an awesome view. Since Paris only has one skyscraper you can see for miles.

On Christmas Eve we went out to a wonderful meal at a piano bar with authentic French cuisine. I am an avid food lover so this was one of my favorite parts of Paris. I think I had grilled duck with a pepper sauce and homemade mashed potatoes finished off with a flaming homemade ice cream. I think Anna had Mexican. She is not the same food lover as I am so getting French cuisine wasn't a priority for her. After dinner we went across the street and waited in line for the midnight service at Notre Dame Cathedral. We were very lucky to get in because I bet at least a few thousand people were waiting. This was a great experience even though the entire service was in French. Incense was used heavily during this service, I mean heavily. We had to stand right when we got in but thanks to Anna's reconnaissance work, charm, and good looks we were able to get a couple single seats near each other.