So, Paris was a whirlwind. A lot happened in the last few days. I shall try to recount it all. Remember to check out the photo gallery page! It started with an interesting travel day on the chunnel train. We were stopped for 3 hours while they dealt with flooding and “trespassers on the tracks”. Eurostar did give us a twix and a glass of water, so that’s nice. We ended up not getting the AirBnB until past 11pm though, and we were all starving. And no one was open. Except this one burger place that literally stayed open specifically for us. It was so nice of them! Our waiter likes to play video games, so if that’s your thing and you ever play a Frenchman named Alexandre, it could be him. Preface The Paris metro system is almost impossible to traverse smoothly. I don’t like looking like a tourist (more than I already do); I like trying to figure things out on my own without asking too many questions, but holy cow. That was never going to happen on this metro. And it legitimately doesn’t get easier. Now picture five women trying to figure it all out as a group, running around like a small pack with unfolded maps blowing in the breeze. You laughed. I know you did. That was how every day began. And concluded. I also ate a croissant every day. Day One
Day one was our long walking day. We started at the Eiffel Tower, and we went all the way to the top. Which, thankfully, is reached via elevator. Amazing views of the entirety of Paris, it really is a fantastic structure. We then walked across the Seine in order to get better photos of the tower on our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Last time I was here, it was so crowded and it was hard to get a photo at the best angle, which is in the middle of the road. But this time it was much more clear and less close to death! Next we walked down the Champs-Elysees to the Tuilerie Gardens, which is located outside of the Louvre. We didn’t go in the Louvre yet though, that was planned for another day, so we carried on down the Seine towards Notre Dame cathedral. On the route, we passed a few bridges, including the Arch Bridge, that used to hold thousands and thousands of locks. But this past June, they were taken down, mostly due to the heavy weight being enforced on the bridge. It’s a safety thing as well as preserving the historical bridges. We ended the day at Notre Dame, where none of the gargoyles talked to me. Sad face. Day Two Our entire day was spent at Versailles! I was super excited for this day because I hadn’t been able to go to Versailles the last time I was in Paris. Everything was amazing, from the main palace to the gardens to Marie Antoinette’s little estate (I say little, it was still huge), but I think the part that was the most impressive was just how expansive the estate is; I could go there for a month and still not see every part of it! It’s true. And it’s just beautiful. I would definitely go back there, even just to see the gardens again. The main palace was interesting, and there is so much french history inside. A lot of the original furniture is from after the French revolution because the entire place was stripped once the revolution had ended. My favorite parts of palaces like Versailles are the beds, the secret passages, and the high ceilings with chandeliers. Chandeliers make everything feel so fancy. But the beds. I mean, come on. You can enclose yourself in pitch black darkness even in the middle of the day. Amazing. I think I need to marry a 17th or 18th century king (or prince even, I’m not picky). Just for the bed. I could go on and on about the gardens. Everywhere you turned there was a new discovery around the corner that you had no idea existed. I had a few highlights though! The first was my deduction of the feature that is the centerpiece for the movie A Little Chaos. You should watch it.The female protagonist is fictitious, but the garden feature she builds is not; it’s definitely there, I have seen it and I took a photo of it. It isn’t sign posted though, so I had to kind of figure out it’s location, but it worked!The second was the little english-esque town called the Hamlet that Marie Antoinette had built to educate her children about farming, including working with animals and growing a garden. It was so cute and quaint, I could have lived there. Maybe not forever, but at least a little while. Then again, I wouldn’t have been able to have my bed… Dinner that night was crepes. My mom has a friend that she works with in Paris, so they joined us for dinner that night. It was SO GOOD. We went to this place that gave you a salad, a savory crepe, a dessert crepe and a glass of wine and either a coffee or a hard cider - all for about $22 bucks. My savory crepe was salmon and my dessert one was pear with amazing vanilla ice cream. The second one was gone in all of 5 minutes. everyone made fun of me. But honestly, the ice cream was melting and it had to be eaten. That’s my excuse. Day Three Our third day started a little crazy. My and Sammie’s original plan had been to take the train to Zurich, stay there for a day, then train to Vienna, stay there for a day, then finally get a train to Budapest. But, due to the movement and amount of migrants that are entering the EU, many international train stations were closed or closing soon, including the one in Budapest. So instead, we decided to fly straight to Budapest! We booked a last minute flight for the following day. Ah, well, these things happen when you travel. I didn’t mind, this just meant we could get settled into Budapest earlier! Once we’d dealt with the change of plans, we headed to the Louvre! I was so excited to go there again, it’s just massive and there was no way that you could see everything in one day. Plus, it wasn’t as crowded as when I had gone last year, so that was nice! I got some great pictures of some of the statues. I feel so cliche when I do that, but they are pretty nice to have. Studio art in any form just fascinating. The attention and patience needed to go into the intricate detail is something that I can’t understand but can very much appreciate. Next we took the metro across town to Moulin Rouge and Montmartre (which is where there was/is a large artist population). We ended the day at the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, which is gorgeous. Well, not quite the end of the day. We stopped at a public restroom that doesn’t require you to pay, which is nice, but it took literally forever because there was a line and after each person, it washed itself! The door would open, someone would leave, the door would close, and it would wash itself before reopening for the next person. I have no idea how it actually accomplishes that, but what if someone who had no idea how it works went in before it closed to wash itself?! Oh man. Then, I was waiting for everyone else to go and just sitting there when all of a sudden this plastic water bottle hit my leg. I was so confused. I looked up and this big black dog was standing there looking between me and the water bottle. I looked around for the owner, couldn’t see anyone, and the dog seemed to be getting impatient. The people waiting for the bathroom (because it took so long…) encouraged me, so I picked it up and threw it. The dog went and got it, then tried the same trick on someone else. Apparently it didn’t work because he came back to me. He was so cute with his wagging tail! We played fetch for a few minutes before his owner appeared and called him away. Important moral of the story: I now have a friend in Paris! Budapest! The next day we said goodbye to our moms, got on a plane, and now we’re in Budapest! Sammie and I have settled into our apartment (once we figured out how to unlock it. I pride myself on being a fairly competent person but, man, that was not easy.) and we’ve been told/figured out where the grocery store, atm and metro are, so we should be set. We went out to the kayak club today as well, so Sammie is set with a boat and training started today. And I guess mine did too; hello, running shoes! The kayak club is on an island in the middle of the Danube river so I went running around exploring while Sam was out doing her workout. We now have our month long passes for the public transport and I feel pretty good to go, especially considering their metro system is about a thousand times easier to understand than the Parisian one! We went to the grocery store briefly; I need a plan of action because I’m already not a great food shopper and doing it in another language makes it worse. I can get away with reading spanish and french, to some extent, but I’m completely lost with Hungarian. And don’t say that grocery items look the same, because they don’t. I can locate the butter based on looks, but I cannot differentiate between margarine vs butter vs spread vs whatever else is in the butter section. Maybe it’ll get better at the end of our month long stay. I’m pretty excited to be here, Budapest seems like a great city thus far. I’m also looking into playing soccer and water polo while I’m here, so stay tuned! Ciao!
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Meet AnyaHi, Hola, Bonjour, Ciao!
I’m Anya Phillips, a data analyst and travel enthusiast who is always on the lookout for the next adventure! Categories
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