I am going to start the blog with our last couple of days in Scotland and then end the blog with our first couple of days in Paris. I just wanted to be clear so that there is no confusion. Also, it is past 2AM here so if I have misspellings or sentences that don’t make any sense you can blame yourself, because it is for you that I am staying up and making a blog.
On our last couple of days in Edinburgh we did a pretty good job of not spending too much money. We stayed in most of the day to work and then we would take an occasional walk or grocery stop. The only other really interesting thing that we did in Edinburgh was climbing Arthur’s Seat. It is right on the edge of the city and it is an inactive volcano. It is less than 1,000 feet up, but the climb is pretty steep and exhausting. The view was definitely worth the effort of the climb though once we were up there. It comforted me to look out and see that Scotland looks pretty much the same as Ireland. I was really bumming about not being able to afford to leave the city, but seeing that it looks so similar to Ireland made me feel somewhat better about it. Green rolling hills and rocky coast pretty much sums it up. It was really beautiful from up there.
We left Scotland with a few goodbyes to the people living in our house. We said goodbye to one lady from Belgium and her boyfriend, our landlord, Alice and her brother and sister-in law, and an Italian man who just moved in the day before we moved out. I had a few conversations with the Giovanny (Italian guy), but most of them revolved around the US presidents. He has all of these conspiracy theories about George Bush (Jr) and how he planned the bombing of the twin towers so that America would feel united and agree to go to war, but that GWB just wanted the petrol. He tried to get me to watch a documentary on the Bush family and how crazy they are. Anyway, I was kind of offended about it and I tried not to show it, but I am pretty sure it came out since I tend to wear my emotions loudly. I guess I was glad to leave him. On the other hand, Alice’s sister-in-law whose name I never learned well (she has a traditional name from Taiwan that was so difficult!) was so adorable when we left. She is pretty shy, especially when it comes to speaking English so it was really sweet when she said that she would miss me in broken English. She said that I help her keep the kitchen clean and I am a nice person and that it is sad for her to see me leave. It is good to know that even though we are staying short periods in each place, we do make an impression. I hope that we leave little remnants of Jesus everywhere we go.
At the airport everything went smoothly except Jared got patted down at security. He set off the alarm. What is it with the two of us and security?! We flew out of the airport about two and landed in France at 4:10. They are one hour ahead of Scotland so it was only about a 70 minute flight. We arrived a little ahead of schedule though. We actually went through customs this time and then waited what seemed like forever for our bags. After getting the bags we had the task of finding the apartment. We had specific directions so we followed them. Walked about a mile through the airport with heavy luggage to the basement where we bought expensive train tickets (all the public transportation here is more expensive… actually, make that everything here is more expensive) and then board a hot, crowded metro car for about a half hour. We had to then get off, haul the suit cases up flights of stairs and around crowded underground hallways to board another train for about 10 minutes. This one was even more crowded so we had to literally push through the crowd with my huge suitcase and jump out of the cart before the doors closed. I bet I was a funny sight trying to lift my awkward shaped, heavy suitcase with my tiny woman muscles. We then arrived at our Metro stop (Republique) where I realized I did not write down the apartment number. Classic. I went into multiple shops asking multiple people if they speak English and can help me find the address, all the while lugging around the suitcases. Turns out the number I wrote down was just the zip code and no one could help me. We had to have internet. So we went into a hotel to ask if we could use the internet, the man spoke no English, but did know the word internet and he directed me to an internet café where a nice man let me use a computer for only 50 cents to look up Jean-Francois’s address. The keyboard in France is completely different so after about 20 minutes I finally figured out how to log in to Jared’s email and get the correct address. I was so frustrated thinking Jared changed his password on me… turns out I needed to press Alt instead of Shift or something like that… Finally figured that one out. Jared was sitting with the bags in a park nearby. No point in hauling around the bags to the internet café. After getting the apartment number, we had to search for about 30 more minutes in the heat. We were so exhausted from traveling, and I was using all the strength in me not to cry. We had some drunk men ask us for money and I think I yelled at them because I was so frustrated! We still had not found the correct address so Jared sat at the park again with our bags because I was not about to pull that suitcase any further and I stopped at a Kebab restaurant where three men directed me to the apartment (now that I had the number) which was right beside their shop. We had passed it about 5 times. One man took me over to the door and unlocked it for me. He was extremely friendly with me – too friendly. He put his arm on my shoulder to guide me and then slowly down around my waist so that his hand wrapped pretty much around to my bellybutton. I kept inching away every opportunity that I had. Jared was off at the park. I mean, he was friendly, but he was old and too touchy! Anyway, I put up with him for about 5 minutes until he rang the doorbell and the concierge came out and I gladly said goodbye to him. She spoke no English so she didn’t understand who I was looking for. She did speak Spanish though! So with broken Spanish both ways we managed to communicate. She knew where I needed to go. Turns out Jean-Francois still was not home from work. I waited for him for a few minutes and he showed up quickly, thankfully. I went back to get Jared and then we brought our suitcases to the apartment, which is on the fourth floor. 74 steps we lugged the suitcases up… Anyway, long story short, we endured a whole lot and were both exhausted and grumpy when it came time to meet Jean. I put on my game face and didn’t show him our frustration. He was kind and offered us some water. We didn’t talk a whole lot since we both wanted to collapse on the bed, so we said thank you for the water and did just that.
Jean-Francois is kind of awkward, but really nice. The house is poorly decorated and our room is small, but the bed is large and comfortable and the location of the apartment is pretty good. We are right by the metro and also within walking distance to a lot of the main attractions. We have to walk 74 steps down when we want to leave, and the same amount up when we want to come home. That gets exhausting. Good preparation for when we take the stairs at the Eiffel Tower, I guess. Also good because I LOVE the crepes... and the flaky, buttery pastries. Yum.
On an up note, we really enjoyed our day today. In the midst of our chaos yesterday we found a really nice laminated map of Paris on the ground that has been really helpful so far! We also met a load of French people while searching for the place and none of them were rude to me, opposite of the stereotype. I think the key is to be polite to them and they will be polite right back. Today we walked probably 10 miles to see Notre Dame, The Louvre, and a lot of other, random, less popular sites. We enjoyed the 75 degree weather immensely. I think I have a sunburn. I had a chocolate crepe for breakfast, which was really fulfilling for me. Eating a crepe in France was on my Paris to-do-list. We had dinner at an outdoor café where I ordered coffee and got a shot of espresso. My first ever. I happened to have loved it. We sat by the River Seine this evening after dinner, which was lovely. Paris really is a charming place, despite the dirty streets and exhausting first day. It reminds me a lot of Barcelona with the narrow streets and balconies on all the apartments. Also the sun shines here. I guess I associate that with Barcelona because it is the only place, other than Paris, that has had a lot of sunshine.
We have plans this week to do an evening river cruise with dinner at the Eiffel tower. We are planning on going into the Louvre tomorrow night because there is a discount for people under 26 on Friday evenings. We like it here. I kind of feel connected to Julia Child being here in Paris… probably because I recently watched Julie and Julia.
I realize how entirely long this blog is becoming, or already is, so I am going to end here. Good night! More to come on our Paris adventures.
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