Happy May Day – the day where everything is closed.
Today is so cold in Paris. I long for my winter coat. It was so painful walking around in just a hoodie.
I got up and walked around Paris for a while.
Some pictures from my morning walk:
Today I wake up really early. I go to McDonalds for breakfast and wifi. One of the breakfast options is a croissant and coffee. This is what I want. This is what I try to order. No one behind the counter seemed to understand me. Pointing gets me nowhere. I get annoyed and leave. Around the corner is a Quick, which is like McDonalds only not like McDonalds. I get a coffee and croissant no problem here. They advertise WiFi. Guess what, it doesn’t work. The WiFi. Guess what else? I spilled my entire coffee all over myself. I want to cry, I really do. I go back to my room and decide that if this is what today is going to be like, then I am not going to try a combo of Versailles and Catacombs. I will go just to the Catacombs to be safe. Good thing I did since the line was way over two hours.
I walk inside and slip twice. The first time was no big deal. The second time, I now fear that the rest of my time in here will be me trying to not fall. The third time I slipped, I went to grab the wall to stop myself. Only now, we are at the skulls. So I am grabbing human skulls and bones to balance myself, it was awful.
Later on, we get to where water is dripping and the floor is now wet. I start walking like a 397 year old woman because I am deathly afraid of falling.
I woke up in Brussels, Belgium about thirteen minutes before my alarm went off. I was still tired but it’s getting better. Shower, repack, head to Brussels Midi train station to take a Thalys train to Paris. I board the train and someone is in my seat. Not only is she in my seat, she is completely settled in. It looked like she had some manual, a lot of paper, a calculator, highlighter, pen and phone all out. She appeared to be working very hard. I’m not sure how she had the time to get all of that out since the doors had opened two minutes earlier, but there it was.
I stand over her, she doesn’t look up. I say “You are in my seat.” Nothing. Again, louder “YOU ARE IN MY SEAT!” She looks up and says something in a language I don’t understand. I put my ticket in her face and point to the seat number. She repeats whatever she had originally said that I didn’t understand the first time. Someone trying to pass by tells me “She is willing to exchange seats with you.” Oh here we go again. No. I have the window seat. I chose the window seat. You could have done so just as easily. But no, you decided to take my seat. This is so obnoxious. Not even the part about wanting to switch seats. The part about getting all settled before even asking. This is disgusting human behavior. So I make it clear, NO. She then has to gather up all her stuff and get out of my seat. Ugh.
I passed out as soon as the conductor checked my ticket. I woke up in Paris. Today’s walk to the hotel is three minutes. Get this. I do not get lost not even one time. Not even for one block. I found it no problem. I am psyched!
So I consider myself to be a bit more street wise than the average human being. So when planning a trip to Paris, I had the whole security thing to consider. Yes, the internet is full of people who have been pick pocketed in Paris. But surely that would never happen to me. But then I keep thinking about my sister. She was obsessed with the Eiffel Tower. I mean OBSESSED. It is all she ever talked about. Every trip I took to Las Vegas would have her begging me to bring back something Eiffel Tower related. She talked about this stupid tower ALL THE TIME.
Finally, she is going to Paris. She is going to the Eiffel Tower. She is so excited. Flash forward about an hour after she gets to Paris, and I get a voicemail I can barely understand because she is crying and choking. She tells me to call her back, does not leave a number or a hotel name. I had to break into her email to find the confirmation. Turns out, she did get to the Eiffel Tower. As soon as she got off the plane. And she got pick pocketed and was now broke in Paris.
I know my sister pretty well. She doesn’t like to pay attention to anything. She carries ginormous purses that are never closed. I don’t necessarily want to blame the victim here, but these things did cross my mind. She swears that she was super careful.
So now my turn to go to Paris comes. I don’t want to do things like carry a money belt or whatever. I want to just go. I am street savvy, I can do this. But in the back of my mind, I can’t stop thinking about how stupid I will feel if I am robbed. I picture the conversations. My sister saying “I told you so”. So I buy a money belt. But I still don’t want to use it. So I compromise. I head for the Eiffel Tower with only 5 euro on me, in a change purse. I leave my wallet back at my hotel.