Paris in a day...

Well my second and third nights at work were certainly less eventful than the first, except for the mouse that made it's way into reception last night, but what's a night shift without a bit of excitement in the form of a 4 legged friend.

Other than a trip to the Champs-élysées to buy yet another jumper (only for it to be continously sunny for the forseeable future) I didn't do much yesterday. Today however, I had my first attempt at being a tour guide for one of my visiting year abroad friends and it was quite some tour, if I do say so myself. For starters the weather was glorious which made it even harder to not take hundreds more photos of the tower! With it being the weekend there were tourists everywhere, I decided I can judge how much I've settled in by how angry I get at tourists getting in my way, according to this method of judgement, I've definately settled in.

We visited le tour, l'arc de triomphe, champs élysées (no more jumpers bought as yet) walked to the louvre through the most stereotypical Parisian Jardin which was so pretty in the sunshine, only to decide it was too sunny a day to stand and queue for the Louvre, so I took a photo instead. Then onto Pont neuf and Pont des arts, I just can't get enough of the bridges! Finally a sunny walk along the Seine before I had to catch the metro to start work. 

Today I had my first 'metro break down' experience. I wouldn't recommend it as one of the top 10 things to experience in Paris.

Curtain gate: still curtainless.

Yes I know I'm dressed for winter, the weather changed after I left this morning.

FONTAINE! word of the day, there's a lot.

People ruining my photos by going places

An arc, but not THE arc.

By the Louvre

Pont neuf and Pont des arts

Ponts et plus de ponts- Bumper Edition

So I didn't blog yesterday due to the fact I spent the majority of the day in bed watching French TV and then was at work in the evening. So today you're in for a bumper two day edition; you lucky people, don't say I never treat you!

So my first shift at work was interesting! People are very patient with my broken French if they speak French. The problems occur when there is no common language between said customer and you. I am now considering using my newly developed mime skills to earn me some extra money by the Seine. And then a fire alarm added some excitement to the evening, don't worry, despite an English woman shouting at me that we could have all gone up in flames, there was no fire. 

I intended, much as a do every morning, to wake up early today, but alas, I didn't finish work until half past 1 and I like sleep. So I once again woke at half 11. I decided to explore some bridges, Paris has a lot of them and they're all pretty. So I got the metro to Cité which is at the centre of the little island in the middle of the Seine. Then walked along Pont Neuf, the oldest of the new bridges, it's got cute little Victorian bench alcoves all along it! And then from this walked down to Pont des arts, which is the bridge covered in padlocks, I literally mean covered! As I was on my own, I didn't put a padlock declaring my unbreakable love to myself there, I draw the line there. 

I have to resist the urge to take a photo of everything that I see that looks so Parisian because I remember I'm in Paris and I only have 8GB of memory. 

So I'm now blogging before I start another what will surely be eventful shift at work. 

Things I have learnt today: Don't daydream on the metro, you will miss your stop and have to make a really annoying journey back the way you came.

The Curtain Factor: Still no curtains.

You get judged for taking photos of metro stations.

Pont neuf

View from Pont neuf

View of Pont des Arts

View of Pont Neuf and the island from Pont des arts

Padlocks

I love black and white shots.

Stereotypical Parisian man.

Pont des arts

Lots of steps, lots of shops and a double decker train...

Today started at 11:30 unintentionally as I slept through my alarm. And through the night all the photos I had spent painstakingly sticking up, had fallen onto my head. After actually waking myself properly up I left the hostel with a destination of the Arc de Triomphe. 

During my walk to the metro station I learnt a new French phrase which only highlighted my love for this weird and wonderful place and it's language. I passed a shop selling 'pomme de douche' (literally apple of the shower) aka shower head. How bizarre yet wonderful all in one. 

My super handy iphone app (seriously its a life saver) took me via 2 metro lines and onto my first RER experience. Little did I know, the RER has double decker trains, this was VERY exciting but I had to be inwardly excited because there was a lot of Parisians present for whom the double decker train experience was a daily rigmarole. So I made it to the Arc de Triomphe which for those of you who don't know is located in the middle of la étoile which is essentially a massive roundabout/ deathtrap for pedestrians. Thankfully the lovely Parisian people built a subway which leads straight to the middle. 

In my infinite wisdom I forgot my passport which meant I had no proof I was an EU citizen aged between 18-25 so couldn't get free entry, however my attempts to explain this to the lady at the booking office landed me with a student price of 6 euros. Could have been worse. I read the signs that told me there were 284 steps, this didn't prepare me for the 284 spiralled steps up to the viewing platform. But once there, as dizzy and sweaty as I was the views were amazing and well worth the climb/ 6 measly euros. 

Next I decided to explore what I have now concluded is my favourite street on earth; Champs Élysées. It is like heaven. The Mcdonalds sells macaroons and the H and M is 10 times the size of my house. I resisted spending every euro I own and just bought a jumper. I justified this because Paris is pretty chilly and I like jumpers. 

After resisting the urge to take a major long way home just for the opportunity of another double decker RER experience I made it back to the hostel. 

Curtain update: still no curtains. 

Arc de Triomphe

Memorial

The eternal flame which marks the tomb of the Unknown soldier honouring 1.3 million french soldiers who lost their lives in WW1

A LOT of stairs.

View of the Champs Élysées from the top 

Macaroons in Mcdonalds.

Champs Élysées

Standard sign shot.

My 2 euro can of coke. Ain't no way I was sharing that with a friend.

Keep calm and watch the tower sparkle!

I know half of you are probably expecting this blog entry to contain elaborate details of an accident or a trip to hospital, but no, I survived my first day in Paris relatively issue free!

After the most needed sleep of my life (following a bit of a 'forgot the time change' issue with my laptop) I woke this morning and decided I was going to go tower crazy today! 
'Metro experience which I didn't know happened' number 1; people get on the metro and busk, it's like live radio and for a moment you feel like you're in a film. Just me? okay. 

So I got off the metro and it started raining. I wasn't dressed for the rain but as a resident of Yorkshire I'm more or less evolved to deal with it. Among the sites I saw were a vertical garden (yes, vertical) and a really cute photo exhibition which proved extremely popular due to the fact part of it had a roof. I took the opportunity to be a really geeky language student and test my french when the descriptions were written in both languages. I enjoyed this and have no shame about it. I probably took a photo of the tower from every single angle possible, yes including from underneath. I even got an Australian woman to take a photo of me and the tower, she obliged and then asked if I was Irish...

This evening I met up with a friend of a friend (big shout out Lorna and to Kosi for hooking us up) and went to see the tower again as I just can't get enough of it! And it looks amazing in the dark, and IT SPARKLES.  

So yesterday when I arrived I had no curtains. I then realized I didn't know the french word for curtains. In short, no one knows why I have no curtains, but I have improvised with a bed sheet.  

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? But no doubt probably more photos and perhaps another blog!

My 'curtain'- 13 years as part of GirlguidingUK taught me to improvise.

Tower

More tower (that boy got right in the way)

Bit of a hipster tower shot.

You thought you'd got rid of me!

So, I made it! This morning I woke up in my bed in Wakefield, tonight I'm in Paris, all a bit surreal really. 

I set off this morning at some ungodly hour, to find out the train we were on was taking an alternative route to London due to engineering works, via Lincoln. So we took a scenic route via 'the largest hanging garment warehouse in Europe' (told you I'd remember Mum). Then left my platform party at the Eurostar terminal and cried as soon as I got through the barriers. 

Once on the Eurostar, I faced my first challenge; when packing my suitcase I hadn't accounted for having to lift it above my head height onto a luggage rack. It weighs more than me. Fortunately a friendly man took pity on me and gave me a hand. So a number of strange things happened on my Eurostar experience, firstly apparently colouring an I love yorkshire colouring book with jumbo crayons is not the done thing on long train journeys so that drew some attention to me. I experienced what was probably one of the most bizarre yet endearing train announcements; I heard it in French first and thought I'd misinterpreted but no it did really say 'Attention please: The staff of the Eurostar would like to wish a Happy 65th Anniversary to Muriel and Derek' followed by a weird cover of happy birthday. 

On arrival to Paris after heaving the aforementioned suitcase off the Eurostar and onto the platform, I managed to negotiate my way into the metro station. I was doing so well on the language student front but when a metro ticket machine gives you the option of an English interface you grab that with both hands! 
I learnt 2 things about the metro today; firstly there's signal on the metro, secondly the woman who voices the GCSE French listening assessments, is the same woman that voices the metro stations. 

The aforementioned luggage caused me a multitude of problems involving steps and my short arms and it already lost a foot in the battle. But me and the suitcase made it safetly to the hostel. 

The plan for tomorrow; be the most stereotypical tourist in Paris.

The packing and freaking out stage...

Only 4 days to go now and I feel unprepared yet excited! I've wrote a to-do list, right at the top is 'buy a suitcase'. I still don't actually feel like I'm leaving and feel like in a couple of days I'll be back in Hull struggling to get over my welly hangover/ trying to find my shoes I've lost down Salmon Grove. I've said so many goodbyes and received so many cards that I can't even begin to thank everyone individually, but they have all made me smile and I know whenever I'm feeling upset and homesick your messages will cheer me up and encourage me to stop moping around and go and make the most of it! 

Now I should probably go and do the things on my to-do list instead of writing about them all!

And so the countdown begins...

So, it's 13 days until I stand crying my eyes out on the platform of St Pancras and I think I'm currently feeling every emotion in the world. So begins my 2 weeks of emotional goodbyes and 'preparation' aka buying lots of things that I like the look of but don't really need. I don't think it's truly sunk in that I'm moving away for 3 months and it probably won't fully sink in until I find myself in Paris doubting my ability to speak French and eating copious amounts of pastries in the hope this will help. But, this whole shabang has been made a lot easier by all my amazing friends and family who have supported me, and encouraged me every time I've freaked out and cried at the prospect of my year abroad and given me the confidence to be able to do it, so thanks, I wouldn't have even got this far without you all! 

Next stop: Paris.