“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”
--G.K. Chesterton
I don’t feel like I experienced Paris. I saw the sights, but I don’t think that I actually felt the French way of life. There were just so many tourists. We were only in Paris for under 24 hours after the train delay, though.
Of everything that we wanted to do, we walked a lot more than expected, but completed almost everything else.
We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and mass at Notre Dame. We walked around in the afternoon and got crepes (a must in Paris if you ask me) and saw the Eiffel Tower during the day. We continued walking around and found the Arc de Triomphe and Champ-Élysées, which I was told was the second most expensive street in the world. We explored until we were able to find Notre Dame, where we confirmed what time mass was. Because we had over an hour, we figured that we could make our way back to the hostel to check in and move our bags from the lobby to our room. By the time we got to the hostel, there was less than half an hour until mass, and it didn’t look likely we would make it on time. We checked in, and I decided that I still really wanted to make it to Notre Dame for mass. We raced back to the church.
It was funny because I had a friend who studied abroad in Paris earlier this summer. I had been reading his blog about a moment when he was trying to make it to mass. He got lost, but showed up just in time to hear the Alleluia, which is the cut-off point to determine if you have fulfilled your obligation for mass. Knowing this, we showed up at Notre Dame as they were finishing the second reading and took our seats right at the beginning of the Alleluia. It was too funny not to laugh.
Therefore, we were able to celebrate a Sunday mass at Notre Dame, which is beautiful and so large. There were a few strange aspects to mass. The first was that there were television screens on some of the pillars so that you could see what was going on. It is very rare for me to go to a mass with television screens and cameras present. The second was that when we were sitting down, you could look over and see tourists walking around the church. Normally, I view a church as a private, sacred place. The abundance of tourists and the constant cameras and talking around the congregation was surprisingly not too distracting. It was definitely an experience to have. Unlike the Vatican, I really did feel like I was surrounded by tourists. There was a boundary between us, but we were much closer to the edges of the church in Notre Dame.
That night, we went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We took the elevator up, and can I tell you how much I was freaking out. I am not always afraid of heights; it depends on how safe I feel. I didn’t feel very safe in the elevator, because the sides were made of glass and you could see so much open space on every side. I was gripping the railing of the elevator like it was nobody’s business. And then we got off on the second floor. Only to wait in the cold in a line for another elevator (really? another one?) that went straight up for a long time. At the top, I felt more secure for some reason. There was an inside area with windows that gave you a nice view of the city and the distance from other major cities. You could also go outside, but you were basically in a cage. Brianna wanted to try to fit her head out (I don’t know how serious she was about that), but I would have completely freaked out if that had happened. I did see one kid up there fit his head through the netting. We walked around for a little and saw a magnificent view. Looking out is so much better than looking down. And I can’t even imagine walking up the stairs all of the way to the top of the tower. It must take forever!
We started to head down a little before midnight. By the time we reached the bottom (we walked down the stairs from the second floor) it was just past midnight. We asked a police officer for directions to the nearest metro, but I only understood so much. We ended up going a little too far and then figured we would run into another metro stop. We must have kept missing the stops, because half an hour later we were approaching the Louvre (which by the way looks really cool at 1 am. And so much less crowded with cars and people than during the day.) Of course, the metro stop there was closed. We finally decided that we would hop in a taxi to the hostel, cognizant of the fact that we had to be back by 2 am. The taxi ride took a total of maybe 10 minutes but did give us the opportunity to see a little more of Paris. By taking the metro, you miss seeing some of the sights from the sidewalk.
The metro in Paris was kind of disgusting. I don’t know if it is the most disgusting in the world, but I wasn’t impressed. Especially after the air conditioned metro in Barcelona, Paris was not my favorite. All of the walkways smelled of urine and other disgusting smells that I would prefer not to remember. Many of the seats would sink when you would sit in them and did not look very nice. As a means to get around the city quickly and cost effectively, the metro was quite helpful. Some of the metro cars were a little nicer than others, but the metro system in general was not my favorite.
The French keyboard was kind of annoying as well. The q, a, z, w, and m keys were in different positions. It was also impossible for me to find quickly any punctuation marks. I could use the keyboard, it just took a lot more effort.
We left this morning rather early and are currently somewhere in the middle of Germany. I am using (very little of) my sixth language this summer. I never learned Hungarian, so it is my sixth language. I know absolutely no Czech, where I am headed, but I can’t even try to pronounce what I see written in my guide book.
So far, we haven’t really had any problems with our first two trains (other than a five minute delay and change of platform). Compared to all of the other trains we have been on, today has been a breeze. Both in terms of how much we have walked and how stressful the travel has been, today has been so relaxing. We are trying to take three trains today to end up in Prague, so it has been so helpful to not have the massive five hour delays like those for Barcelona and Paris. Here’s to hoping that I make it to Prague and through my seventh language without too many issues! Although returning to the cold weather will not be my favorite no matter how smooth the travel may be.
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