from holland with love

Today ended my much needed week long vacation. I'm sure by now you're already sick of me saying how fast time is going by, but I really can't believe it's already March. Seems like March 1st hit, and already the days are getting longer (I woke up this morning, and it was actually light out!), and if you can believe it, the flowers are already blooming! Today it was about 9 degrees (Celsius), and sunny. I loved the smell of the fresh air flowing through the house. I really can't wait for springtime in Holland... it's going to be so beautiful!

But, what I really came to blog about is Paris!

Late Thursday night, Chelsea and I board the Eurolines bus from Rotterdam. And I tell you, within minutes of the bus arriving, I knew I'd never be traveling with Eurolines again. First off, it was nearly the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my life. The bus driver basically started yelling at us as soon as he opened the doors. And to make matters worse, he didn't speak a word of English or Dutch, so we had quite a hard time figuring out what he was yelling at us for (turns out it had something to do with our tickets?).

Aside from Chelsea and I, there was also a family waiting at our stop, which the bus driver had a huge beef with. He absolutely refused to allow them on the bus with the package they had. After many minutes of arguing, all the family members except one boarded the bus. The man with the package ripped it open, which ended up being quite a large cake, and tried desperately to give it to random passengers on the street. Finally, a guy on a bike took it, but not before the bus driver tried to pull away without him.

And just to add to that, there was no bathroom on the bus (on a 7 hour trip). Luckily, the driver made a few stops along the way.

We took the overnight bus intending to sleep on the way, so we could arrive early and get more out of the day, but the seats were way too close together to even begin to get comfortable. Surprisingly, the bus ride went surprisingly fast, despite the fact that Chelsea and I didn't get a single wink of sleep.

In the future, I am sticking to train travel. It's faster (compare 7 hours on a bus to Paris, to 3 hours on the train), more comfortable, and not much more expensive if you book in advance. Plus there's always a bathroom.

We arrived in Paris at 6am, and had a couple hours to spare before we were to be at our host's flat, so we took the opportunity to check out the Eiffel Tower. I gotta be honest, it was kind of disappointing! It's much smaller in person, kind of dull and rusty, and since it was first thing in the morning, it wasn't lit up like it is at night.

After that, we made our way to our hosts' flat. We decided to couch surf for the weekend, and were hosted by two French girls, Anne Laure and Marie. After saying our hellos, having coffee, and a bit of a chat, we headed off to meet Emily and her friend Stef at their hotel. Oddly enough, they ended up being on the same metro line, so it worked out perfectly.

While they got ready, Chelsea and I took a walk around the neighborhood to find some breakfast, and settled on a creperie... our first tastes of real Parisian crepes! And let me tell you, I've never tasted a crepe so damn good! They make them with all sorts of toppings and fillings, and fold them into a neat little cone so you can eat on the go. Banana Nutella crepes ended up being my addiction of the weekend.

And then we made our way to the Arc de Triomph. I never knew it was so big! Of course I'd seen photos, but they're always from a distance, and I never took into consideration the size of things near it. I was pretty blown away when we stepped out of the metro station. I was even more amazed when we were actually standing under it, and realized that it's almost entirely carved.

A 35mm lens does almost nothing to capture things of this size.

And then Avenue Champs Elysees, Paris' most famous street, which starts at the Arc de Triomph. The street is most popular for it's high fashion shops, though the only one we stopped in was the Louis Vuitton store.

Emily and Stef went their separate ways, while Chelsea and I headed to Montmarte, which we both ended up falling in love with. It's this really cute, artsy area of town, with lots of cute restaurants, pubs, art galleries and neat clothing and jewelry stores. There were also tons of street artists, selling art or making art.

Montmartre is also home to Sacré-Cœur Basilica, a gorgeous cathedral on Montmartre hill that we took a tour of. And after seeing the amazing view of Paris from the hill, we opted out of the 12 euros it would have cost to climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. (It's a shame it was such a foggy day, because it really was much more beautiful in person than in the photo).

If there was anywhere I'd want to live in Paris, Montmartre would be it. It just seemed so relaxed.

Even though we were both feeling pretty sketchy after not sleeping for about 36 hours at this point, we had one more stop to make: the Louvre.

I had always been told how humongous this museum is, but I really wasn't expecting it to be the size of a small city. It is just MASSIVE, and ridiculously gorgeous. There was no way we would have been able to survive. We went in, saw the Mona Lisa, and left. The Louvre will be left for another trip.

After a good 12 hours of sleep, we were ready for another day. Our hostesses, Anne Laure and Marie, took us to an Indian restaurant for lunch, then this cute little vintage shop, with goods from the 1930s-1980s. Even though I didn't find anything I wanted to buy, it was fun to poke our noses in everything.

Then we went our separate ways, and Chelsea and I went to check out St. Sulpice (the church where The Davinci Code was filmed), St. Eustache, and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Since we loved Montmartre so much, we headed back for some food (we went to this cute little fondue restaurant), and another much needed to see:

Sunday was our last day, and since our bus left in the afternoon, we only had time to check out one last thing: The Catacombs of Paris. This was Chelsea's suggestion, and I'm glad she put me on the idea because it was the neatest thing we saw.

We walked many steps underground, then walked through long stretches of hallways before we finally reached the bones.

And then there were just bones upon bones. There must have been millions of bones lying there.

So, after more banana nutella crepes, it was time to catch the bus, which we nearly missed. We were supposed to be at the station by 3pm to catch the 4pm bus. We made it to the station at about 3:57pm, and ran as fast as we could (til it hurt!) to the bus terminal. And since we didn't have to check in at the stop in Rotterdam, we had no idea we had to actually register before we could board the bus. The bus driver was not impressed (but at least he spoke English!). Funny enough, the same people from our stop in Rotterdam (with the cake), were also running for the same bus. And of course, the attendant registering us took his sweet time lecturing us about being late.

But, we made it!

It was a pretty eventful weekend, and even though we saw a lot in those 3 days, I still feel like there's SO much more to see. It was totally the unexpected things that made the weekend, though. I think those are always the things that I love the most about seeing a new city. I mean, there's always a little planning involved, but I love stumbling across things that I never knew about.

And now I have to decide where to go to next! But once I do, I'll be sure to let you know! Bye for now!