Paris…

My ideal afternoon to sit in a cafe and people-watch when I arrived in Paris turned into me having culture shock. Who knew that people who lived in France would speak French? (obviously, that is a tongue-in-cheek comment). So many people told me that they spoke enough English and that you could get by, but I don't know if I reallyunderstood what that would look like. I felt completely out of my depth and like I was suppressing my panic. I felt like an imposter and unwelcome.

My hostel looked so picturesque when I booked it. During my travels, it's really important to have a place to do laundry and to have self-catering facilities. I have a little less than two weeks worth of fresh underwear and walking around and travelling can make you feel a little icky so it's nice to do laundry at least once a week or whenever the underwear runs out. Being in Paris I didn't feel comfortable going to many restaurants and if I could save a bit of money I would! All that being said, the hostel did have a laundry room and self-catering facilities…. However, the laundry machines were broken and were not getting fixed in time and the kitchen barely had any cutlery (literally one fork). So the feeling of panic didn't go away once I was at my hostel because there were these added layers of stress that I thought I had dealt with already. What I have to say to the Le Regent Montmartre hostel is that aesthetic isn't everything! Be aware!

I tried to get back into the mindset of being a tourist. I spent the day walking around the neighbourhood around my place and walking to a park further away. This just made me feel worse. I needed to veg and recuperate from all the emotions I was having. I needed to recharge my personality, my patience, my resilience, and my tourist energy AND I needed to do laundry! So I had to find a laundromat in the process. There were so many things that happened that first full day in Paris that I’d prefer not to relive, so long story short I hated Paris the first one and a half days I was there. I wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Then I made friends. I met a girl in my room and a girl from the hostel kitchen. We toured the city together afterwards and things started getting better!

During the day on the third day, I spent it with one of the girls touring the city. We took the train to the Notre-Dame and walked the rest of the day until our train back to the hostel. In addition to the Notre-Dame, we saw the:

• Fontaine Saint Mitchell

• Pantheon

• Jardin du Luxembourg

• Musée de l’Armée

• Champ de Mars

• Eiffel Tower

• Pont de Bir Hakeim

• Île aux Cygnes

• Statue of Liberty Paris

• Palais de Chaillot

• Arc de Triomphe, and

• walked down Champs Élysées.

*we didn't walk into any of the museums because we were on a mission to see things instead of lingering in buildings.

Great day! We saw so much! I was in complete awe that I was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower! I've seen photos of it and talked about it and it's so iconic that when I finally got to see it, it felt SO surreal to me. My emotions and my legs were fried by the end of the day but I managed to squeeze in another load of laundry before meeting up with the girls for dinner in the hostel.

I had seen the Sacré Cœur on the day I arrived in Paris, but it was nice to revisit it. Bonus! We went to visit it during sunset! The clouds were so pink and a nice gentleman was playing his guitar and singing. We saw a Paris rat and then thought we should continue on our way before the rat came back!

We bussed to Palais de Chaillot. Earlier in the day we had scouted out some good viewing spots for the Eiffel Tower at night. We started here where a lot of other people decided to go to view the Eiffel Tower too! There was mixed information on Google about when it would sparkle but we found out it was every hour on the hour for 5 minutes. We got Nutella and banana crêpes to pass the time and then geared up for the first light show!

You could see the twinkle starting slow in some spots and then the whole tower lit up! Everyone was so excited it was like watching fireworks! I swear the lights were moving faster and faster as the time ticked by. It was so magical though, despite the feeling of getting dizzy if I focused on the moving lights for too long. And then just like that they stopped, 10:05 pm on the dot! We decided to get to a different advantage point in between the light shows. A place we had scouted earlier was Pont de Bir Hakeim. In the daytime, it felt surreal and seeing the Eiffel Tower all sparkly at night made me feel like I was having an out-of-body experience. I took as many videos and photos as I wanted, but it was nice to just watch. To soak in the fact I was there and I saw this and I no longer felt stuck in the in-between. I am out here doing the things I planned for and wished for and I have to keep reminding myself that, especially as I move through the rest of my stops on my trip. Mentally and physically I feel like I am preparing to come home, but I still want to see and do things that I won't be able to do once I am home.

The next day the three of us again went on a croissant crawl (trademarked!). I marked some bakeries I wanted to check out and we just walked everywhere. It was a beautiful day so we ate croissants and sat in parks, and I nearly fell asleep in the sun after eating a delicious strawberry tart. The list of bakeries we went to:

• Pain Pain

• Leonie Bakery

• Mamiche

• Carton Paris

• LIBERTÉ

• Du Pain et Des Idées

• Maison Mulot

Mamiche had the yummiest plain croissant, Carton Paris was where I had the tasty strawberry tart, and Maison Mulot had yummy macaroons. I don't think LIBERTÉ or Du Pain et Des Idées are must-see stops after visiting them, but Pain Pain should be a stop you are adding to your croissant crawl! We literally started eating croissants at 1 pm and stopped at 4:30 pm.

We parted ways afterwards and I walked along the far right-hand side of the Eiffel Tower along the bridges to Pont de l’Alma. Also known as Princess Diana’s Memorial Bridge. On my way to the bridge, I saw the outside of the Louvre museum, I walked across the Pont de Neuf, saw the Place de la Concorde, and saw three other bridges all with really cool buildings on the other sides that I didn't have time to explore. Because the Olympics are happening in Paris this summer, they have started preparations already. Choosing key spots in the city and setting up bleachers and whatnot for events. I feel like this trip for me isn't about seeing all the typical touristy stuff. I mean it helps to plan out my days but I'm not prebooking many things in advance which is nice but also has its downfalls. For instance, it would've been cool to see the Louvre but I wasn't expecting the tickets to be sold out and I left it too late to choose another day to go. As much as I wish I could put Paris in my rearview mirror and check it off as a city I've been to, but don't need to go back to… I don't think that's the case. I'll know what to expect though whenever I do choose to go back! Silver linings I suppose.

At this point in my day, after seeing Diana’s memorial, I was two train rides away from my hostel and on 17% battery life. I had to put my knowledge to the test and use my phone only a little bit to get around and take photos of cool stuff (of course). I made it back to my hostel with 11% to spare and crashed on my bed before forcing myself to eat veggies after the croissant crawl.

To wrap it up, I kinda hate Paris but I’m glad I went. I learned a lot about myself and needed to adjust to travelling alone in a non-English-speaking country. Will I return? Probably… BUT only with someone else! I will NOT be doing that alone again, ever!

Thank you for reading along! If you are someone who likes Paris then don’t be offended by my opinion of it! I’m sure it’s a great place if you have a good first impression! On to better places, I must go, see you for the next post!

Check out the Instagram account for the croissant crawl photos!