October 9th: Paris, Day 4

Thank you for bearing with me through the holidays and this crazy, crazy time for me, but let's get started!

Off to Paris

Somehow looked decent at 5am

I woke up at the literal ass crack of dawn to make my train to Paris. I put on my cute little outfit and made my way to St. Pancras International Station and I got there early enough to get a sandwich before the 2 hour train ride into the city, stopping at the Gare du Nord station (it was a chicken curry sandwich and I could have eaten several). They announced the train's platform number and there was a huge swarm of people scanning in and heading to their designated car. Sometimes ticket takers will come through the train and check you're in the right place but I never saw one while traveling. I, stupidly, got a window seat for the train ride (I regret all of my life choices on that one), and settled in. We left the station at around sunrise and it was beautiful. I tried to sleep more on the train but it was fruitless so I just watched everything pass by.

Hotel

I got to the station and made my way to my hotel, it wasn't that far of a walk so I just

wheeled my suitcase down the street with me. It wasn't until later that I realized my hotel was 30 seconds from Gare de l'Est station and I could have just station hopped and saved myself a 10 minute walk. I stayed at the Hotel d'Alsace and I was lucky enough that my room was ready early. The man at the front desk got me my key which was attached to what was essentially a cannonball engraved with the room number, and told me I could take the elevator or the stairs to the second floor. I had my suitcase so I chose to take the elevator.

Now, European elevators are a different breed of elevator. I am not a small person. My bag was also not small, and neither was my backpack. That elevator was tiny. I had to Tetris myself and my bag and my backpack into it and somehow still shut the accordion door. However, by some miracle blessed upon me by the Tetris gods, I made it in and up to the second floor.

My room was right next to the elevator, which was also a struggle to get out of, and the room honestly wasn't that bad. I couldn't hear anything at night due to the size of the elevator and there was more than enough space for just myself. I dropped my things off, swapped my backpack for my anti-theft bag, and headed back out. I took the elevator again to see if it was really as small as it felt or if my stuff made it feel smaller, and it was definitely as small as it felt, the stuff had nothing to do with it.

Angelina

My first stop of the day was to the Angelina Bakery that I had seen online. It apparently has the best hot chocolate in Paris and I was there to test it out. I had gotten there relatively early but there was still a line forming outside the restaurant. I waited about 30 minutes for a table and waited for another 15 minutes before anyone came to take my order. I attempted to flag down a waiter and was just never noticed because of how busy it was and the awkward place I was sitting. I was sat behind a set of large columns so it was hard to see me. However, when I was approached to order, the waiter asked me if I was ready in French and I happened to answer in English. For some reason, my brain translated what he said and I answered him in English. He was lightly bamboozled and I think didn't know what language to ask me the next question in. He chose French and I ordered in French as well (I guess my brain decided to kick it into gear one question too late). I got la soupe a l'oingnon (onion soup), le chocolate chaud (hot chocolate), and the une tarte au citron (lemon tart). He wrote it down then asked me if I wanted everything out at the same time or if I wanted the tart out after the soup. I said after and not 2 minutes later my soup and hot chocolate came out.

The soup was okay, it needed a little more salt than it had, but I loved the bread and cheese on top. You can't go wrong with bread and cheese. The hot chocolate was the showstopper and I was very excited to try it. It came with a small container of whipped cream and I think it was perfect to cut how rich the hot chocolate was. It was almost chocolate ganache it was so thick, but it was delicious and I would absolutely get it again. It wasn't too sweet and was made closer to a hot chocolate with the addition of the whipped cream. It was definitely smart to get a citrus dessert after how rich the hot chocolate was and the lemon tart was amazing. The pastry held its shape well and had a good crumble to it, and the lemon mousse and curd were perfectly sour and sweet. After finishing, I got the check and realized that they will bring the card reader to you so you don't lose sight of your card. Something I think the U.S. should adopt. (Please enjoy the following photos where it looks like I'm on a date with my bag.)

Louvre

After brunch, I made my way to the Louvre. I am not ashamed to admit it took me way too long to identify the building and it also took me way too long to find out how to get in. I had seen a few videos and blog posts about where to get tickets inside instead of waiting in the intensely long line outside the building and the line inside was just as long as the one outside. So, I decided to not go in and just wander around the indoor area they had. I saw the bottom half of the Louvre pyramid which was interesting (didn't even know there was a bottom half), and it was just an inverted version of the pyramid underneath the one above ground. I sat down on a bench to figure out where to go next when a woman asked me for directions. She asked me if I knew French and I said, very little. She then asked me how to get outside to the top in English and I had to honestly say I had no idea. She thanked me and then left to find her way. I ended up mapping my way to the pyramid. I went out the way I came and ended up walking most of the way around the building until I found it. I took a few photos and hung out, watching people pass by. There was an older man with a Polaroid camera selling photos in front of the Louvre which I thought was an adorable souvenir.

L'Arc de Triomphe

I then took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe on the 1 Line and it dropped me right in front of the Arc. It was so much bigger than I thought it would be and it was interesting to see the roundabout running around it. It reminded me that I was very grateful to not be driving in Paris.

While I was there, I wandered into a shop nearby and saw that they were selling macarons. I got a few and put them in my bag for later. I wandered around the store some more before making my way to the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower

I took the 6 Line to the Bir-Hakeim station and walked to the Eiffel Tower. I stopped in another shop when I saw some postcard stands outside and asked my sister if she wanted one for her friend that she exchanges postcards with. I sent her pictures of the postcards and had her pick one. I picked one up for myself and then the one that she wanted too. The woman behind the register was impressive, she spoke a minimum of 3 languages and I'm sure she spoke more. I gave her the money and she placed the postcards in a small paper bag with the Eiffel Tower on the front. I put the bag in my backpack and kept walking. It honestly felt like a lot longer of a walk than it was because of the construction that was going on, but I got to get pretty close to the tower because of it. I think I wasn't as impressed with it when I saw it because I wasn't looking at it head on; I was behind a bunch of trees and a large fence so it was just like "huh, okay" and I moved on. I didn't feel like trying to find an entrance so I got on the RER metro and headed to Notre Dame Cathedral.

Notre Dame

I crossed a cute little canal to get to the cathedral and friend of mine was actually near the cathedral when it caught fire a few years ago. She had left and not even an hour later it caught fire. When I went, it was still under construction, but it was surrounded by a fence that had a bunch of information about the building and it's history posted on it. It was still a beautiful thing to see and I would love to go back when it's no longer under construction. I took a seat on one of the benches outside and people watched for a little until I started to get tired. I went back to my hotel and ended up falling asleep almost immediately after showering and getting into bed. It was only around 6pm at that point and I told myself I was just going to take a little nap before going to get dinner. That little nap lasted 6 hours and dinner was popcorn and what extra pastries I had from London. However, I have no regrets because that nap was absolutely needed before the next day's events.