Our first weekend adventure...part 1

Well, today was another early day, but for an especially exciting reason!!! We are headed to PARIS this weekend!

Rose early to make sure I was all ready to go. Angelina had to head out earlier but I had some extra time so I ran around on the hills in our neighborhood. Preferred to do loops than venture into the nearby trails, because they seemed too creepy in the dark (the sun rises very late here). Afterwards I was SO glad I made this decision because Alex told me that his host family told him that he can go in the trails in the dark “if he wants to die.” I’m sure that at dawn there are a lot less serial killers out there than in the Luxembourgish forests than there might be in late evening, but I am glad I didn’t risk it!

A weekend in Paris takes a surprising amount of baggage (when travelling to a hostel one must bring shower shoes and a towel which both take up a lot of room).

Here’s what our itinerary for the weekend is looking like…

Depart: Friday 31 January at 1:11PM.

Arrive: @ 3:20PM.

Staying at: Montmartre Hostel (close to Sacré Coeur)

Friday evening: Drop things off at the hostel, see Montmartre!

Saturday morning: Explore the Louvre

Saturday afternoon/evening: Go to the Catacombs!

Sunday morning: 9AM – time to go see Versailles!

Sunday afternoon: 2PM – tickets to ascend the Tour d’Eiffel.

Sunday evening: Arrive back home in Luxembourg City.

Let’s just say this morning of travel got off to a bit of a bumpy start for us…  we didn’t have to leave terribly early (class was at 10:45AM and we hoped to catch a 9:50 train there, but were taking an 8:53AM bus to the station to validate our Eurail passes for the train ride to Paris) but somehow chaos ensued.

We knew this afternoon would be a rush, because our class ended at 12:00PM and we needed to catch a 12:18 train to be back in Luxembourg for our 1:11 train to Paris. We asked our student advisor (who not only attended Miami, but did this program herself a few years ago!), and she said it would be more than fine to plan on this. Since the weekend is so short, it’s important to us to maximize our time (and the cost we’re paying for back-and-forth tickets with our Eurail). Anyways, timing would be essential.

Everything was going smoothly until we arrived at the train station when Alex asked, “Did you fill out your Eurail Pass?”

My answer was something like, “EURAIL PASS?!?!?!?! $&^%*&#”

Needless to say, I’d forgotten it. I was so wrapped up in making sure I had enough weather-appropriate clothing, my passport, and cash from the ATM that I forgot the whole purpose of going to the train station early. I remember last night having gone over and over in my head about remembering my passport, and I completely forgot my ever-important (and expensive) Eurail pass – the whole way we are getting to Paris!

So, we hopped back on the train (the 15, which is ours, pulled up about 3 minutes after this little crisis was realized). It took about 5 minutes to get back home and I hoped to catch the 9:23 bus BACK to the station. It was already 9:16. If we didn’t validate our tickets and make the 9:50 bus, we’d be late to class and lose points to our grades. When we pulled to my stop, I about FLEW off the bus and ran to my house, leaving Alex with all of our bags. I skittered all the way to our 3^rd floor apartment and grabbed the pass, and ran all the way back down. I don’t think I took a single breath this whole time. I looked at my watch: 9:25. Yet I wondered if there still might be a chance…

I crossed the road back to the bus stop, and like a shining beacon of salvation, the number 15 rounded the corner. It was 2 minutes late – all the better for us (otherwise we’d have to wait another 15 minutes and certainly not get on the ever-important 9:50 train!).

Finally we arrived to the train station with about 13 minutes to spare. This should’ve been enough to validate the pass, and get on our train to the Chateau for class. We gathered our things to get off the bus and as soon as we approached the door, it SLAMMED ON US. No one reacted – neither driver nor by-standing passengers. I had put my hand in the door thinking it would have a sensor and open like on an elevator – but no. Squished fingers.

The next stop was a 3-minute bus ride away. Seething, we finally debarked the bus and RAN back to the train station. Good thing we’re both athletic. That was tricky with heavy backpacks!

At 9:41 we entered the train station at last. We validated our tickets quickly but still didn’t know if we could make it…it was 9:46 by the time we could go and we realized the entrance to the main platform was (of course) under construction. Again, we ran through the station and towards our platform.

Low and behold, our train was still there and we made it on time to class. The morning was a bit too exciting for my liking though.

Our experience getting on the International Train involved far less excitement. All we had to do was get off our train arriving from the school and walk through to the proper platform. We did so with several minutes to spare – no problem. We found ourselves sitting across from an older Frenchman. He was very friendly and spoke English very well (we spoke to him in French and he responded in English).

Like many French people, this gentleman works during the week in Luxembourg and comes home for the weekend in Paris. He was very kind and interested in our studies and our university. As we passed through French cities (it took only 10 minutes before we were in France!) he pointed out the old architecture. He suggested some things to do in Metz, which we passed through as well. It’s so amazing to have a whole new country at our fingertips.

I pulled out my computer (to write this entry in fact!), our new friend saw my “US ROWING” bumper sticker. As it turns out, he is a rower too, and he is planning to row on the Seine with his wife in the morning! Imagine that! I’m glad we had the pleasure of meeting him – I love that about trains!

This is my first time on the TGV. So far, I really enjoy it. These trains are incredibly fast – reaching 300km/hour, or about 180 miles. We ventured to the dining car to check it out and I was really surprised how nice it is! Sort of like an actual restaurant! It’s a bit “chèr” but I like knowing it’s there. Didn’t get anything this time but maybe next time for a treat.

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Goodness, this post has so many parts! It's been quite a long day! Now I'm writing from the hostel in Montmartre! When we got off the metro (which we took from the TGV) we were a bit lost for awhile but after asking about 98734892 moms with children for direction we finally found our way to our hostel. I'll have to add some more photos of that tomorrow but it's not bad. It's not terribly clean seeming but for just two nights and such great experiences it's more than worth it.

View from the hostel

We dropped off our stuff and left the hostel after about 20 minutes. We wanted to adventure! By that time it was already about 5:30. The first thing we did was something we'd spotted when we were lost... Crèpes from a street vendor! He was also running a carousel for the local school children. It was adorable!

I made Alex document this cool car we saw as we were walking up to the Cathedral.

We finally got up to Sacré Coeur and saw the beautiful cathedral and the breathtaking view from the city. Quite literally - I could not breathe!

Founiculaire (we walked)

The view

View inside the cathedral 

Trying to find a better view of the Eiffel Tower we wandered into a touristy little part of Montemartre and ended up making a few purchases (a scarf for Alex and a hat for me) and then stopped at a little bistro where we sat outside (under a heated lamp!!!) and people watched.

Kitty wanted to eat with us at the restaurant.

Walking back to the hostel was a little scary. Two scary (male) street vendors literally cornered us and wrapped a string around Alex finger (though we were yelling "no" and walking briskly away). There were lots of people on the street but these two started making a simple string bracelet on Alex's wrist and talking to us. They gave me one too, and of course kept asking for more and more $. Eventually we both made it clear that we had NOTHING (though it was just hidden elsewhere) and only lost a few euros. It was really frightening being cornered though. We both expected stuff like this but it's hard to react when it happens to you.

This is how food delivery works here! All on bikes with boxes. Same in Luxembourg!

We ended our evening by getting some pasta for Alex and trying to use the wifi in the hostel! Tomorrow should be quite a packed day, and an adventure as well!