21/4/09 Paris and Dublin Airport

I had a good breakfast again and checked out of the hostel. I decided to go up to Sacre Cour again. It is always packed with people there, and in the morning was no different.

I decided since it was another really nice day out that I would walk in to town. I didn’t look at the map at all, just sort of went whichever way the roads took me. It ended up being a cool path, past the Abbesses Metro entrance, which is one of only two original ones remaining. I also went past the Moulin Rouge again, and came across the Montmartre cemetery where most notably Edgar Degas is buried. Since this has been a pretty dead people filled trip, I decided to go for it.

This cemetery was smaller than Pere Lascere, but just as impressive with the monuments. The strangest part was that a road ran right over the cemetery.

I looked around for Degas, but the French are terrible at cemetery directions. After about 20 minutes of looking, I decided that I didn’t even really like his work that much. I liked him even less now.

I’m not really excited to die, despite my awesome funereal/tomb I have planned out.

I left and wandered around that part of town some more, stopping into a bakery for a croissant. I think I fooled the worker into thinking I was French. I love trying to speak it here, I wish I knew more. I could almost see me living there.

I keep my wandering up and came into another really nice looking park, packed with businessmen on their lunch break. Turns out I was very close to the Arc de Triumph, so after getting lost trying to navigate a shortcut through the park, I went up it.

It seems like my whole trip I’ve climbed spiral staircases. This one wasn’t so bad. The view from the top was interesting, mostly because of the roads that branched out from directly blow. The plan of the city was very apparent and it was interesting to see how it all came together. It wasn’t a completely clear day (a little foggy) but it was sunny and warm. It still was a great view, better than from the Eiffel Tower for sure.

I walked along Champs Elysees for the last time, turning off at King George V to go down to Pont d’Alma. This is the replica flame that the US gave to France to commemorate our good relations, sort of a ‘thanks for the Statue of Liberty, here’s a cheap souvenir.’

But now the meaning of it has completely changed. It was here in the underpass below that Princess Diana crashed, so people wrote all along the wall by it for her. Kind of strange to think it happened right there after seeing it on TV for all those years. Too bad my Princess Diana Beanie Baby isn’t worth anything anymore, I was so excited to win that.

From there I walked by the Hotel de Invadals, which is now a big museum for war stuff and in the back is a giant dome where Napoleon is buried. I wanted to see Napoleon’s tomb, but I didn’t want to pay the 6 Euros to go see it, so I tried to get in for free since those silly EU under-25 people do. I went up to the desk and gave my Michigan ID to the lady and showed her the date. She looked at it very strangely. Somehow I don’t think it says USA anywhere on it. So she asked me what country it was from. Naturally, I said England. She gave me the free ticket. It’s great to live in a lesser-known state sometimes.

The whole building was dedicated for Napoleon’s tomb. Absolutely ridiculous over-the-top. His actual tomb is five tombs, with the last one the giant red thing you see now. It’s massive. There are carvings of his life, quotes from things he said, a crazy monument for the guy. It was interesting to see, but definitely not worth the money.

I didn’t really care to look at military stuff, especially on a nice day, so I left and walked down St. Germain. I came to Café le Flore, next to Les Deux Magots, and probably the more famous of the two. I found a table outside and ordered a café and cake. Now when I ordered cake, I was expecting this great French silk cake. It was a fruitcake. Somehow I can’t picture Picasso sitting around eating fruitcake and getting inspired to paint.

But it was good anyways, as was the coffee. I stayed and wrote out two upcoming column ideas (both which I think I’ll end up writing) and looked over the maps a little about what I was going to do. When I got up to leave, I dropped my wallet, but the waiter came running after me with it. Those French people, they get a bad rap.

I walked down to St. Michel’s area and got a Nutella, banana, and almonds crepe. It was very good, although I think I actually like it more without the almonds, but it was the same price as I usually pay for without them, so it was worth the shot.

I went over to the gift shops by Notre Dame (which is becoming a leaving Paris tradition) and bought a mini Sacre Cour. Then I walked back and got a baguette for .75 Euros, a steal. I took it over to in front of Notre Dame, sat on a bench, and ate it. It was really nice.

Since I had some time to kill, I went into Notre Dame again. A service was just about to start, so after lighting a candle, I watched the start. The organ was going off, a lady was signing, the priest guy brought out that smoking thing, it was cool.

I left to go back up to the hostel on the RER stop right at Notre Dame. Unfortunately, I got on the C instead of the B line. In the wrong direction. I switched sides and the next stop, but I wasn’t really paying attention and it was going in the same direction. You’d think I would have learned after the first time, but I did it again somehow. Except this was a 20 minute long express train out to the suburbs somewhere. Not so good.

I was freaking out for pretty much the next hour or so. My flight, I figured, was the last one out of the airport, and the bus was supposed to leave three hours and fifteen minutes before the flight, at 7:35. I got to the hostel at 7:10 (and I had 15 minutes of internet time that I didn’t get to use) and I ran back to the station. I did well with catching trains, basically sprinting from stop to stop, but I got there about 7:45. Somehow there were still buses going out there. I had accepted the fact that I’d be missing my flight and I was trying to figure out what my best options would be. It was crazy. I was sweating from the running, all bent out of shapes, and I was fine. Big sigh of relief.

I was pretty happy the whole bus ride, just to have made it. The ride was not short either, about an hour and a half, I didn’t remember anything from the first one, so it was longer than I expected. Luckily, there was one of the best sunsets I’d ever seen in my life. Like a Lion King sunset. My pictures don’t justify it at all. It’s strange to think that sunsets like that have always happened.

The airport was ridiculous. Incredibly small an inefficient. They had one line for checking passports, baggage size, and security. They checked passports and tickets four times. My favorite was after passing though customs to security (about five feet away) the lady giving you treys to put your stuff in checked it. I mean really? Did she think we bought a fake one in that time? I don’t know, whatever.

There was one room for all the departures, with five gates. I walked around until mine was announced. I got a window seat in the middle of the plane. I wasn’t all that tired and I stayed awake most of the flight. I read the Ryanair magazine (pretty good) and bought one of their lottery tickets (didn’t win anything). I might have dozed off at the very end.

The Dublin airport was very nice, especially what I’d been used to lately. I had a nice chat with the lady at customs and went into the airport. Many of the stores were open, and there were tons of people sleeping, which was nice. Except they had all the good spots. None of the restaurants cared if you slept on their fancy cushioned seating, ideal for sleeping on (probably nicer than my bed in London).

But since I couldn’t find one, I went to Starbucks to get a 5 Euro Strawberries and Crème. They didn’t do Starbucks cards, so I wasn’t about to pay it. Instead I went to McDonalds (my airport food of choice in Europe) and got a Cadbury Egg McFlurry. They’re so good, and I can sort of justify them since you can’t get it in America.