9th to 12th of July, 2021.
I get a lift with Norman’s sister, C., to Foss. I will spend a few days with J. and P. again, they need some help. I get a lift to Edinburgh Airport with the son of Joan’s friend. I have to make a PCR test at least 72h before my flight. The cheapest one is at the airport. So my plan is getting there the day before my flight, make the test, camp somewhere nearby the airport (I have food) and next day get the result and my flight. Unfortunately I forgot my mattress in C.’s car, so I couldn’t camp. I slept at the airport. It was great actually! In the upstairs floor, in front of a coffee shop, they have this very comfortable benches (with cushins!), I slept in there, and nobody came to bother me during the night. There is a tip for you!
Entering in France is ridiculously easy. The border police does not ask me one single question. I get in the queue which says “vaccinated people” and they only take a look at my passport, stamped, and I am in!
The cheapest way to get from the airport to the centre is by train. Less than 3€. My hostel is about 15 minutes walking from the biggest train station in Paris, Gare du Nord. It is night already. The guy in the reception is nice and friendly, he helps me with everything. But for the first time in my travels / backpackers life, my dorm room is shit! But really shitty! Incredible small, the toilet and bathroom ate so small that you can barely turn around inside, and to make it worse, there are three other men on it, and some of them smell really bad. After a restless night, I am afraid my first day in Paris will not be as good as I thought.
Again for the first time in my travel, I have every step of my next 3 days planned. All the places I want to visit, all the food I will eat, all the schedule for where I am sitting to eat across the Seine. I even have bought my Louvre ticket already and my last day will be all spent in there.
I have a croissant and a coffee for breakfast (cliche?); I pass by the Notre-Dame (which by the way I could barely see it because AS USUAL it is full of scaffolds everywhere (I wondering how lucky few people in the world actually manage to see this famous buildings and take nice and clean photographs, because everywhere I go they are always under restoration) and the Pantheon; I visit the Luxembourg Gardens, which are beautiful but not that much; then I buy some bread, some lovely cheeses, figs and cherries, a Chardonnay and have my lunch by the Seine. It is wonderful! Even though the wine sucks! I walk aside the Seine for a while; I pass by the Les Invalides; and I finally arrive the Eiffel Tower. My impressions? It is nice of course, but I believe it is more about its name and what represents in Paris than actually a monumental thing. I could not anything that much special for it. And, of course, there are also some scaffolds around it. Crossing the Pont d’léna to get a better photograph of the tower, I get a little frustrated with the number of hustlers all over the sidewalk. There are already so many tourists and then the hustlers cut the space where they can walk in about half, so it becomes absolutely ridiculous trying to walk. It is absurd! Anyway, I have some chocolate Eclair in the evening, a mushroom quiche for dinner followed by some medeleines.
Next morning, after another croissant and a coffee, I go to visit Sacré-Couer and follow Amelie Poulain steps up to the church. The square it looks so much smaller than in the film. After that, I visit the famous cafe, also from the film, Cafe de 2 Moulins; Arc the Triumph; Palais Garnier; Place and Pont de la Concorde; and Jardin de Tuileries. After lunch I have some macarons with tea. For dinner I have some crepes.
Last day is Louvre day. It is raining. It is not good to have to walk in the rain but at least I will be inside for many hours. I am not the first in line, which surprises me. They open only at 9 o’clock. I don’t take any food with me because I have read they don’t allow you to enter the building with food. I planned to buy some food inside but the prices are ridiculous! And I am too lazy to get out of the museum, buy something to eat, and coming back to finish my visit. Because you can do that with your ticket. But I am so tired already. I use to love spending hours inside museums before, but I definitely changed that about my self. I always thought than once I was inside The Louvre, I would not want to leave anymore. Now here I am, only for about 3 and half hours, and I already want to leave. I think that my unpleasant feelings about being inside a place with other people are almost to their limit. Anyway, be aware that yes, the museum is a maze. The map will slightly guide you but you will get lost and you will have to ask for information. Is not like you can simply go from point A to B, them up and down, no. And the reasons is because they change the exhibitions and which ones are open or closed all the time. So if one exhibition is closed you cannot pass by to reach the next one, no. You have to go around all the way. It can be super annoying. So I leave after about 5 hours, super tired and starving. I have another quiche and a Crème brûlée.
I come back to the hostel so I can arrange my plans of how to go to Loire Valley.
Paris: It can be a nice city but you have to be in a super mood, like Santa Claus on Prozac… in Disneyland… getting laid. It is definitely nicer to walk from one place to another but everything is quite far. Things are very expensive so plan ahead what / where are you going to eat and things you would like to do. Getting some groceries (like cheeses and wine) and having picnics is definitely a must. And about the people… well, I was not very lucky with French people. They were quite often rude and never appreciated the fact that I was trying to speak some French.
Because I cannot use Bla Bla Car (which I totally recommend to you if you really don’t feel like hitchhiking at all; it is the cheapest and fastest way to travel) and I don’t want to hitchhike outside of Paris to Blois, I decide to go by Flixbus. I have to get a metro and then walk to the bus station. Luckily the bus driver is very nice and I buy my ticket from him.
