Putting this thought into words is somewhat difficult. For me, I always thought that living abroad in a different country was the same as traveling to a different country. But with living, it doesn't matter what city or country you are in, you are creating a new home for yourself to settle down in. The traveling no long exists because your mindset has changed to adapting to your new home.
Traveling is the complete opposite. With traveling, you are hardly settling down in any sort of place; your time is always limited. Your mindset is to enjoy as much as you possibly can in the short amount of time you have. There is an indescribable thrill in travel.
Since arriving in Priego, I've forgotten about the feelings associated with traveling. It is these feelings that made me fall madly in love with travel in the first place and the reason I decided to move to Spain. Anyone who has traveled, specifically people who have gone abroad, know the feeling I am talking about.
France reminded me about this feeling.
France was my Disney world-- the happiest place on Earth. Seriously though.
Fun Fact: I don't actually like Paris. I was deeply disappointed with the city when I first visited it in 2012. There was so much hype about its beauty and romance and all I saw that Summer was garbage on the ground, homeless people, pickpocketers, too many people, overcrowded landmarks, and an ugly metal thing people call the Eiffel Tower. Don't get me wrong, I had fun. But I vowed never to pay money to visit this city again.
WELP that didn't last long because this past November I booked my flight to Paris. I was very content to hang out in the airport until the next train to Strasbourg (my desired destination), but I was convinced otherwise by my Spanish friend Sara. She had never seen Paris, and like any other person in the world, she dreamed of visiting it. Meh. I was sucked into going. We (I begrudgingly) agreed to spend one day there and take the last train available to Strasbourg.
SIDENOTE: I was traveling with my two Spanish friends-- Sara and Luisa. My American friend Maggie was meeting us in Strasbourg Friday morning.
SIDENOTE #2: The Spanish people are ALWAYS running late. I don't say this as a bad thing. I refer to it as "spanish time". It's just a part of their lifestyle-- always calm and relaxed. Very different from the fast paced American lifestyle. I can dig it. Except when we actually need to be somewhere at a specific time.
For example, our flight.
We were literally running late through the airport. The latest you could check in was 4:15. We arrived at the airport parking lot at 4:15. -__- This airport wasn't small either. About 1/2 a mile later we arrived at the check in counter. Clearly sweaty and out of breath, I think they let us check in late because we caused quite the stir in the airport. (People don't run in Spain when it comes to getting places. Keep in mind, again, everything here is very slow paced and relaxed. Hence the scene we caused.) We checked in, rushed through security, and boarded our plane.
This ladies and gentlemen is the thrill about travel that I love. Call me crazy, but it is moments like these that I remember the most. For example, in Ireland, I almost missed my ferry to England. I woke up 15 minutes before the boat left, packed all of my things, hailed a cab, and literally jumped on the boat as they were putting away the stairs. In the actual moment it sucked. But looking back I can only laugh.
My flight to Paris was pretty uneventful. With the exception of the 10 year old kid sitting next to me asking for an air sickness bag because he thought he was going to throw up. I sent about 100 prayers up to God asking him to stop this kid from getting sick. If he had thrown up, I was inevitably going to throw up (I was sitting in the window seat and there was no escape). I had nightmares about the whole plane either hating me or everyone throwing up too. Puking is my only weakness with kids.
To distract myself from this sickly kid, I stared out my window. Thank goodness Spain is almost always cloudless. Seriously we have blue skies almost everyday. I never look at the weather report anymore because it is always the same. Due to the fact that we were flying during the day, I was able to look down and see the landscape of Spain in all of its glory. It was beautiful!
Two hours later, we arrived in Paris. We headed to our hostel (St. Christopher's Inn-- one of my favorites) and unpacked some of our things. Thankfully the hostel has a bar/restaurant inside of it. So we went there for some dinner. I finally ate REAL FOOD!!
SIDENOTE #3: Spain is not known for its food. The scenery, landmarks, architecture, beaches, and people, yes. The food, no. I don't mind the food; there just isn't much of a variety. And if you're a vegetarian living in Spain, (HA), good luck.
Paris was heavenly. I had a vegetable wrap with french fries and ranch dressing on the side. And BEER! Good beer. Not beer that tastes like I'm drinking water. (Sorry Spain, you fail in the beer department as well.) I was literally on cloud nine. My Spanish amigas thought I was crazy. Also, because the bar was packed, they messed up our order. So we got free beer, free nachos, and 25% off of the rest of our meal.
SIDENOTE #4: Food is part of the thrill you get when traveling. I can remember meals from every place I have traveled to. I also simply love food.
The next day we woke up bright and early so Sara could see as much of Paris as possible in 10 hours. I mapped out an itinerary at breakfast so we had a game plan (kind of). We first had to stop at Gare de l'est (the train station) to drop off our luggage since it was the most logical to store it there for the day while we toured the city. After that, we headed to Notre Dame.
SIDENOTE #5: The Spanish love taking photos! I'm pretty sure we stopped every five seconds to take photos.
Because Notre Dame is free, we walked around inside too.
Notre Dame is your typical church. I much prefer the architecture on the outside. The interior is rather dull. After visiting Notre Dame, we got lost. But getting lost allowed me to practice my french and see some of the different street vendors.
Eventually we arrived at Saint Chapelle which is a beautiful church designed by King Louis. It was used only by his family and in the past it housed the crown of thorns adorned by Christ. I mostly love it though because of the stained glass.
(Looks like it's fabric!)
After Saint Chapelle, we headed towards the Louvre. Obviously, we had to stop at "Love Lock Bridge" first.
For those who don't know the history, "love lock bridge" is famous because it is believed that if you hang a lock on this particular bridge and throw the key away into the River Seine, you and the person you're in love with will be together for the rest of your life. Therefore the bridge has thousands of locks. If you travel to other places, you will notice locks on bridges mimicking this bridge. It is a game I like to play when traveling. So far the last place I noticed a few locks on a bridge was in Sevilla.
Due to our limited amount of time, we only stopped at the outside of the Louvre. The Louvre is a massive museum! It also is not easy to navigate due to its set up. You should dedicate at least two hours simply to see the Mona Lisa. (I learned this the hard way the last time I visited Paris. I was lost in the museum for four hours.)
After some photos, it was time for a lunch break. We headed to my absolute favorite place, "Angelina." This restaurant was recommended to me by a friend the last time I traveled to Paris. Since trying it the first time, I have returned each day I've been in the city. It has the best African hot chocolate. It also has amazing desserts to go along with it!
After we feasted on chocolate and made some friends from Greece, we headed to headed towards the Champ Elysees. It is the famous shopping street in Paris. And because it was December, it also housed a Christmas market!
Look Mom, I found a horse!
At the end of the Champs Elysees is the Arc de Triomphe. Last time I was in Paris, a bunch of people recommended that I climb to the top. I chose instead to ignore these people and climb the 700 stairs to the top of the Eiffel Tower. This time around, I listened and the three of us climbed the 100 stairs to the top. (Much easier.)
I should have listened last time. The view from the top of this was a million time better because you also had a view of the Eiffel Tower. And there was less of a crowd since it is less famous.
Our last and final destination before heading to our train was the Eiffel Tower. We arrived at the perfect time-- sunset.
Sorry, I got a little carried away with photos. After walking around the gardens of the tower, we had to head back to the train station. We ate a delicious dinner at a restaurant nearby. I had soup and a salmon/potato dish and my Spanish friends had mussels. The best part about the dinner was the shock on my friends faces with the amount of food. The Spanish eat a big lunch and only a snack for dinner. For dinner in Paris, they each got a pot of about 50 mussels plus french fries. For me this is normal, for them not so much. Also, our waiter taught us how to properly eat them. You're supposed to use the shell of an empty mussel to pinch out the other mussels.
Finally at 7:45 we boarded our train to Strasbourg. Trains in Europe are assigned seats like airplanes. I was seated next to a young French boy who just graduated from boot camp in the French military. Together, we watched "Night at the Museum" in French.
Around 10:30 we arrived in Strasbourg, France. The Christmas lights were on, the hostel was welcoming and homey, and the heat was blasting.
This time around, I loved Paris. I think it was because there were not many tourists. And because there were fewer tourists, there were fewer pick pocketers. Also, its trees were changing colors like in the Fall and it had decorations up for Christmas.
Blog to be continued tomorrow....
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