To Paris and back again!

I am torn. I would love to be more consistent about this blog thing, but I hate being tied to my computer!! So please deal with my sporadic posts.

Anyhoo...where did we leave off? Ah yes, I was telling you about my classes. Well, I'm just going to skip to the interesting part and tell you about Paris.
I decided I would go to Paris by myself for two and a half days. The haterz told me I couldn't do it, that I would wind up raped or dead. Well haterz gon' hate, so you just gotta do yo' thang anyways (alright, I'll stop writing like that, it's a little embarrassing). I left the house at 6:45 in the morning, took the tube, and then walked to the bus station. I did not realize until I was on my way that I would be taking a bus and not a train to Paris, it didn't occur to me that a bus could make it over the channel. Obviously, there are methods. I was in line to check in and then I realized I didn't have my passport. So, I grabbed a taxi and went all the way back to Manson Place and then back to the station. Thank God, I made it just in time.
The bus ride was rather uneventful. I met a girl named Bara from the Czech Republic, and she was pretty cool. We were going to try to meet up in Paris, but it didn't work out. To cross the channel, the bus drove onto a train, and the train went through the Channel Tunnel. It was a very strange experience.
We arrived in Paris around 4:30. I took the metro to my hostel and got there without a hitch. But when I got off the train, I was met with an unpleasant surprise. I was in a really sketchy area of town. Ticket scalpers were harassing metro passengers. Men were selling bootleg copies of "Rango" on street corners. There was a girl begging on all fours, her legs were backwards and so she crawled on her hands and feet, pushing a jangling cup of coins ahead of her. In the midst of all this was my hostel, called "Friends". I dropped my stuff off in my room and got out of there as fast as I could. If this was Paris, I did not like it. I hated myself for not loving it at first sight. I had dreamed about going to Paris for years, and this was no dream land.
I ended up wandering around Montmatre, which was pretty close by. I saw Sacre Coeur at sunset, and I explored the twisting cobbled streets. Maybe I would like Paris after all.

I got back to the room at 10:30 or so. I brushed my teeth, put my pjs on, and was about to crawl into bed, when the girls I was going to be sharing the room with came back. They had messed up their booking and wanted to know if I would switch with their friend so that they could all be together. They were the kind of nasty party girls I thought only existed in high school, perhaps reminiscent of Mean Girls.

I didn't think switching would be a problem, and I didn't really want to stay with them, so I said yes. I sorely regretted my decision when I saw the people I would be sharing with. There were these two shady guys, smoking cigarettes and clouding the small room with smoke. One of them began rolling a joint and proceeded to smoke it. I could not breathe and was hiding beneath my covers freaking out like any fussy singer would. Another guy came back completely smashed and a couple followed soon after. They all wanted to smoke, and I wanted to get out of there. I gathered my things and went to ask at the desk if there were any other rooms. There weren't, so I sadly retreated back to the room. It was one of the most unpleasant nights of my life.
I woke up really early after three hours of sleep. I was in Saint Michel looking for a cafe to eat breakfast, when three men approached me. They insisted I looked just like their friend from Germany. They asked me if I was a singer, I said yes, feeling confused. "What a coincidence!" they said, "We're producers!"This was getting sketchier by the minute. They wanted to have coffee with me, to "talk business". I wanted free breakfast, so I said yes. We were in a public place, so I figured I was safe enough. It was a good opportunity to work on my french. They produced house music. They wanted me to come back to Paris so that I could sing for them and they could turn it into a song or something weird. It was sketchy, but my espresso and pain au chocolat were good. I weaseled my way out and proceeded to Notre Dame.
Notre Dame was gorgeous. It was so huge, it's incredible to think that people built that.

Next, I walked to the Luxembourg gardens! Being the Les Mis nerd I am, I was geeking out! The gardens were absolutely beautiful, just like I imagined them. I wandered through the entire garden looking for "the spot". I narrowed it down to one of two places. Here they are:

After Luxembourg, I went to the catacombs. While I was waiting in line, some kid puked and it splashed all over. Gross. But I felt bad for him. The catacombs were super freaky. The ceiling dripped, and dim lights illuminated the narrow passageways. Skulls, femurs, and tibias lined the walls in decorative patterns. There were a lot of dead people down there man, creepy.

I saw Victor Hugo's house. More cause for Les Mis geek-outage!

I saw the Louvre and the Tuileries, then I walked along the Seine. I was minding my own business, but some creep started following me and insisting that I "go drink something" with him. Throughly freaked out, I ran away and explored the Champs d'Elysees. I had dinner in this little restaurant that took me ages to find. Here's what I ate:

After dinner, I saw l'Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower.

I made it back to the room (my actual room!) around midnight. I had been on my feet since around 8 in the morning, so I was beat! (sorry this is getting listy, I want to get it over with!)
The next day, I went back to the Tuileries, and then I had the BEST cup of hot chocolate I have ever had. It was at this tea shop called Angelina. It was like drinking a Hershey bar, in other words, AMAZING! (and I am not even a chocolate person!)

When I got back to London, it felt like coming home! Paris was great but it was tiring! The trip had a rough start, but I was completely won over in the end. I learned a lot about myself, since I was stuck with only myself for those days. I was able to make plans, find a place to stay, navigate, and speak French in a foreign country. I am capable! I'm feeling a little more adult, and not in the stuffy anti Peter Pan way. Maybe growing up is a good thing!