Getting into Gare De Nord, walking around Paris

As you can tell by the date of this posting, this entry is three days overdue. My internet access, when in Paris, however, was spotty, and, as such, I haven't been able to update pictures and/or blog for a while.

Paris Day 1 - June 12, 2008

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/dipak.chaudhari1/ParisDay12008612

We took the Eurostar, via the Chunnel, from King's Cross in London to Gare de Nord in Paris. Upon getting to Paris, we realized that we had no idea how to get to our friend's apartment which was located on Rue Pierre Leroux. A 2 Euro map, along with perseverance and patience guided us on a walk out of the station area, which was incredibly touristy, through a part of town which was incredibly non-touristy, into Place Vendome and, eventually, Place de Concorde.

From Place de Concorde, after being dazzled by gold-gilded lamp posts, an obelisk, Arch de Triomphe, and views of Pont de Alexandra III, the Louvre, Musee d'Oorsay, Jardin des Tuileries, and National Assembly, we walked down the other side of the river to the Musee d'Oorsay, an art musuem. We had our backpacks on this entire time, and realized, after spending about 40 minutes in line, that it was highly unlikely that they would let us in to see delicate paintings by Matisse, Monet, Van Gogh, etc. with lumbering packs hanging off of our back. After getting out of line, we took the metro, which we found out to our great surprise had doors that needed to be manually opened, we went to the Notre Dame, only to be faced with the same dilemma regarding our luggage.

Somewhat dejected, we went to a cafe right across the Seine from Notre Dame, where we paid far too much for a cup of coffee (more than 4 euros/6 dollars), a cup which ended up being about 1/4th full. The sandwiches, however, consisted of a great baguette, Swiss cheese, and ham; although it sounds simple, it tasted amazing to two tourists, rejected from two national landmarks and then questioned by their waitress, on account of their oversized packs, whether they had walked from the United States and were planning on "sleeping in the forest."

We dropped our stuff off at our friend's apartment located in 7th district, and then went out to explore further. We did a quick run through of the masterpieces in the Musee D'oorsay, saw the light show in the Notre Dame, and then ate Subway (our budget was aching at this point from the expenses earlier in the day) on the banks of the Seine, merely 20 meters from the cathedral itself. We then headed off to a pub, advised by our Lonely Planet guide, and proceeded to meet up with two would-be juniors from UNC Chapel Hill. One of them gave us the run down on how to have a great time in Prague, a city whose (almost sure to be incorrect) perception of being cheap had been enticing us since the day we left for Europe.

The day was filled with so many different events, from almost missing the Chunnel on account of a slow Victoria line, navigating through suburban Paris, walking around the Louvre, Notre Dame, and Musee D'oorsay with backpacks, and then drinking spicy sangria in a shady, offbeat pub, that we thought nearly four days had actually passed.

Bonsoir.