Paris: Day 3

We woke up a little early on Sunday morning so that we could have plenty of time to do the things that we wanted to do before it was time for us to leave. After getting dressed and packing our things we decided to start our day. Fortunately, the hotel manager was kind enough to let us leave our backpacks at the hotel until it was time for us to leave Paris so that we didn’t have to carry them around all day.

Moulin Rouge

We stopped at a bar to have coffee and pastries. Unfortunately though, they didn’t have any pastries so we had our coffee there and then headed to the bakery across the street to get our dose of bread for the day. I bought a croissant and a pastry stuffed with chocolate. Both were delicious. Earlier that morning while on our way to get breakfast I had seen the street where the Moulin rouge was located so I knew that we had to stop there afterwards. We eventually made our way to the street and saw the Moulin Rouge, the very famous cabaret well known for its music and dance shows.  Of course it was morning time and the Moulin Rouge looked nothing like it would look at around midnight, but it was still exciting to see.

Cemetary

One of my friends wanted to see a popular cemetery in Paris. I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of visiting a cemetery, but after she explained it to me I was more inclined to see it. The cemetery was very interesting, all of the tombs were like little houses where not one, but many members of the same family were buried together. The cemetery was enormous and supposedly many famous people were buried there. I didn’t really recognize any names because they were all very French but it was still cool to see the large, elaborate tombs.

Musée du Louvre: Mummy

After visiting the cemetery we went back to the Louvre Museum because it would be such a shame to come to Paris without visiting it. Fortunately, I was able to get free admission into the museum because I am a resident of a country in the European Union and I’m under 25. Awesome! There were a couple of things that I knew I had to see at the Louvre: the Egyptian artifacts, the Islamic art and, of course, the Mona Lisa.

Musée du Louvre:
Nike of Samothrace

My friends and I eventually separated once we entered the museum, which turned out to be a very good thing. The Louvre was huge and there was no way that you can see everything in the museum in one day and come out alive. Therefore we all knew what we wanted to see and we headed towards our destinations. I immediately went to see the Egyptian stuff because that’s what I was most excited to see. I am obsessed with ancient Egypt. I came across a lot of interesting things like ancient scribes, sculptures, tombs an even a mummy.

Musée du Louvre: Mona Lisa

After leaving the Egyptian section, I figured that I better make my way to the most popular attraction of the museum, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (the original copy). After getting lost, I finally found it. Once I got to the correct floor, the Mona Lisa wasn’t difficult to find because there was a crowd of people all walking in the same direction. After pushing my way to the front of the small crowd to get a good view of the Mona Lisa, I admired it for a little while. It was really hard to concentrate on the picture, however, because there were so many people trying to take photos of themselves in front of it with their camera phones. It was pretty hilarious.   



Musée du Louvre:
Code of Hammurabi

After leaving the Mona Lisa I tried my best to follow the museum guidebook to find my way around but it really didn’t help at all. I got lost numerous times so I just stopped following it and walked around to all of the other areas. In the three or four hours that I was at the museum, I saw so much art that I developed a headache. While I was there I saw some other famous things like the Code of Hammurabi, the Venus de Milo and the Nike of Samothrace.

My friends and I decided to meet back up at four o’clock. At this time I had a headache, I was starving and I was a little cranky; but even though the Museum wore me out, it was still awesome and I would love to return some day.

We still had a couple of hours until it was time for us to head back to the airport so we went back to get our stuff from the hotel and then we ate lunch. For lunch we stopped at this Middle Eastern restaurant. Although I had hummus and other things before, this was my first time eating at a Middle Eastern place (I obviously need to get out more in Atlanta). I don’t remember the name of the dish that I ordered but it was pita type bread stuffed with spicy grilled chicken and it came with lettuce, tomatoes and onions. It was so good.

Arc de Triomphe

Before we headed back to the bus stop, we decided to make one last stop. What good is visiting Paris without seeing the Arc de Triomphe, another famous monument in Paris?  We literally got off of the metro, looked at the Arc for 5 minutes and then got back on the metro.

We got to the bus station on time and took another hour-long bus ride to get to the airport that we had arrived from. Once we got to the airport it seemed like we waited forever for our Ryanair flight. While we were waiting for the flight I looked around for my IPod in my backpack and realized that I didn’t have it. At that moment I immediately knew that I must have left it on the bed of our hotel room. I don’t lose things very often so I knew exactly where it was and what I was doing when I put it there. I remember packing my bag that morning and thinking that I would put my IPod in last because I wanted it to be easily accessible before I got on the plane. I immediately got the number of the hotel from my friend and talked to the manager. After about 5 minutes of struggling to communicate with him because of language barrier, he told me that he was going to go look for it and to call him back in 5 minutes. When I called him back he told me that he had found it. I was relieved but I didn’t know what to say next. How would I get it back? I attempted to talk to the guy again and he basically asked me if I had a French boyfriend or knew anyone else that speaks French. I’ve found a friend that speaks French but now I’m trying to figure out just what to do. I’m not really familiar with Spain’s mailing system and I don’t know if I trust him enough to send him money to send my IPod back so…. Another trip to Paris maybe???

After waiting for what seemed like forever (and feeling very sad about my IPod), we finally boarded the plane. The flight back to Madrid took about 2 hours. We arrived after midnight. My friend that lives in Madrid went back to her piso while my other friend and I decided to sleep at the airport. We had a very early flight in the morning so we figured that it wouldn’t be worth the hassle to leave. After being bored out of my mind for hours and then attempting to sleep in the uncomfortable chairs at the terminal we boarded the flight back to Alicante. Once we arrived in Alicante my friend went home but I obviously still had to get back to Jávea so I then went directly to the bus station, waited for over an hour and finally took the bus back to Jávea.

I finally arrived in Jávea later that afternoon and I was so thrilled to be home. I loved Paris, but there’s no feeling like coming back home after an exhausting trip. Not only was I so happy to finally be home from the long trip but I was actually so elated to be back in a country where I understand everything! Although most people in Paris spoke some English, it was still very strange for me to communicate because I’ve never been in a country where there was a communication barrier. The only countries that I have ever been to speak either English or Spanish as their official language, and in Paris I felt like such a foreigner because I didn’t speak French.  This is one of the reasons why I really like to learn languages… maybe French is next.

Coming back to Jávea really made me realize how much I have made this place my home. Although I love travelling, there is still nothing better than being able to sleep in your own bed, take a shower in your own bathroom, and cook your own food. As soon as I got home I took a hot shower, popped some popcorn, poured myself a glass of tinto and skyped my family back home.

Goodbye Paris… until next time.