Paris Day 1

Sticking with blogs around 3000 words this one cuts off half way through the day. The full day would be too long a blog, so that one will come out next week. Or something like that, either way with these blogs sorry for some random ends. I will try to keep them fluid.

My traveling companion, my wife, is much different than me when it comes to getting ready in the AM for travel. I could hop in the shower, brush my teeth, slap on pitstick and cologne. Then clothes and a ball cap and I am ready to face the world. She, on the other hand, loves to take pictures. She also wants to look her best. So, almost every day, she is in the bathroom getting ready at least an hour before me. I caved and, most days, at least combed my hair rather than a cap. Of course, once she is awake, though, I am. So that was my time to read, write, or just lay and do nothing. Well, actually, some mornings, I did yoga stretches for my back. The shitty thing was grabbing that bag before it fell really did hurt me, and I would feel it the whole damn trip. The TV station we mostly had it on reminded me of Mexico, just music videos. Everywhere I have traveled, if we have TV, the "American" or English channel always has music videos and cop shows. I am pretty sure the rest of the world thinks that's all the states have. On that note, I think we all need to come together and humble the states some. Yes, they are a superpower; yes, over the past 120 years, they have probably been the most important nation on the planet. However, they are only 4% of the world's population, and the rest of the world, or at least Europe, really doesn't care. Unless they are bringing "democracy" somewhere or searching for WMDs, they are the cousins across the seas that are funny to watch. Trump's hush money trial was on when we were over there. Every station that showed news regarding the states was laughing at that. We are spoon-fed about how important the "West" is, but we forget there is more to the West than our big brother, the States, and us. I will quit this tangent now, though, and get back to actual travel.

                                                  This is allegedly a single person midfloor elevator

We headed downstairs, using the staircase, never using that elevator again until I needed to move bags. These stairs were fabulous, I am weird, but I like staircases. These ones were dark and whindy. I don't know if old wood is elegant or classy, except these ones were tight. I prefer wide-open, majestic ones! Down in the lobby, around the corner in the little nook, they had breakfast laid out. I was waiting for this, and I was not disappointed. I knew it would be meats, cheeses, fruits, and breads. That morning, I tried a little of everything and hard-boiled eggs. Another mystery to me is why Europe hates comfy beds and why hard-boiled is the popular egg…. My wife usually has yogurt and granola; they had a version of this, but it was sour cream and granola. Pass. Maybe that is the way things are there, but to me, sour cream goes with bacon, chives, and maybe some cheese on top of a potato, not with granola for breakfast. Either way, I really enjoyed it. Plus, they had coffee! In our room, we had instant Nescafe, which I despise. So, coffee made me happy! I was starting to see why they are healthier over there than we are here. First, a lot more walking, I might not think walking does all that much, but when it is the primary mode of transport, not driving 3 blocks, it does add up. On top of that, my breakfast seemed small, but it was filling; I was good to go. Sure, the meat is a bit salty, which probably isn't the best, but overall, compared to the "classic" breakfast, I think it is way healthier. Most places you go for breakfast in North America will have the classic. Or some similar name, probably working in the town's name or some local industry. The cowboy classic, the big miner, something like that. It will have 2 eggs, any style, 2 toast, hashbrowns, some meat, likely 3 lengths of bacon or sausage. It will fill you up, and you'll be good to go. You'll also be full of calories and grease. My little Parisian breakfast did the same thing and I am guessing it was a bit healthier than the classic. I digress, but our breakfasts in Paris were always the same and always good!

Weather, something you cannot control, can have such an impact on your trip. It is kind of petty and spoiled to say this, but rain sucks and ruins things. Why can't it be nice when I travel! That was my exact thoughts over the next two days. This entire part of the trip was grey and rainy off and on. It really does bring a person down. We shouldn't let it; I mean, we are in a new and exciting place, but being cold and wet sucks. We had the hotel call us a cab, and it took us down for our morning excursion. We were going to the Eiffel Tower. You have to do it. If family fued asked what people see in Paris the number 1 answer would be the tower. We left extra early just to be safe, so we had time to kill when we got to the meeting point a block or so away from the tower. Of course, we just wandered over to the tower and looked at it. It is secure now; years ago, it wasn't. You could walk right under it and take a picture. Now you have to go through security, which we were not doing yet. That would come with the group, so it was just taking in the actual size of it. I have done the Calgary tower, which is 191M, which seems high. I have also done the Stratosphere in Vegas at 320M, which is damn high. So this tower being 312M, is damn high as well. It is humbling to look at it from below. A lady came over, clipboard in hand, wanting me to sign some petition to save something or something like that. I figured fuck it, I'll support whatever. My wife grabs my hand and walks me away before anything gets signed. Rude, of course, is what I think, then she explains it to me. A common scam is getting a tourist to sign something distracted so the partner can grab whatever is in your pockets. Kind of clever, I'll bet a lot of tourists will support whatever cause. Who knows, maybe it was a legitimate petition, and I could have helped save a whale or something. Either way, that is something to watch out for.

We stood on a street corner, and slowly, a small group filled it up. Then, the tour guide stopped by and explained how the day would go. First, as a group, we would all see the tower. Head up it and be tourists. Then we were free to go. We were given passes to a boat tour and a bus tour that we could use at various times during the day. Pretty straightforward. I have said to see all you can when you get to a place like this, but I think my greed to see it all screwed me here. Before coming for day 1, we had the option of touring the city or heading to the Palace of Versailles. I said I wanted to see it all. The Palace was incredible, but I wanted more! This greed bit me in the ass; between that and the weather, it wasn't an amazing day, and I will admit probably the Palace would have been better. I'll get into it a bit, but a tour where you can't get off isn't actually all that great. Sure, you can say you saw every significant thing in the city, but did you really? Did you see it any more than if you just watched it on YouTube? On top of this, everything was getting polished up for the Olympics later that year, so driving by some places was even less interesting as they were tarped off!!! A boat tour is beautiful, but this is where grey and rain are annoying. Even on a beauty day, being on the water is cooler. On a drizzly day, it isn't cold. Don't get me wrong, my teeth were not chattering, but it was that cool that gets into you and doesn't leave until you have a nice hot bath. In a boutique hotel, that means standing in a tiny shower forever and trying to warm up. So, between my greed to "see it all" and the weather, it was a gloomy day. Not the ideal tourist day.

So we, as a group, wandered down the street, away from the tower, but there was a goal in mind. We came to an alleyway with a fantastic view of the tower, so of course the cameras came out and people started snapping away. The tower, selfies, whatever. I will admit it was an excellent alley for it; you head uphill to the tower, so it looks even more impressive. I think during most of this, the tour guide explained something about the tower. We wandered a few steps behind while my wife took pics. Then we got to the security lineup. I had hoped we could skip this part as a tour, but we didn't. I don't like crowded lines. Tourist travel, you have to live with them, but people just cram in. It wasn't even really a concern about pickpockets at this point; I just hate bumping into people. I am Canadian; for some reason, we must apologize when we bump into people, and this line is like one big apology. Plus, it's squishy, you feel people, it's warm, and you catch whiffs of everyone. Mixes of cologne perfume and just humanity. I honestly can't believe I used to like going to bars and would get on the dance floor. It was relatively fast, and then you got into the tower area. You can see some gardens or the big empty space under to look up and take a picture. The guide kept telling us about the tower at this point, and part of me wished I had listened more. There are names on the tower and they are significant people in the building of it. Then, into the elevators. I am not great with heights. I can do them, but I don't go by the edge. Being a chicken has been a great regret of mine. On our honeymoon, I had a chance to repel into a cenote; I didn't because I chickened out and regret it to this day. If I want to be a world traveler, my goal is to not do that again. I want to eat all I can that is new and do all I can around the world. What is the point if you don't? Saying that, I sure as hell wouldn't be doing the rides on top of Stratosphere, I do have a couple limits. These elevators on the tower remind me of old elevators, which doesn't help. They are meant to look wooden and give you a good view if you are in the right place. Part of me wanted the steel traps we usually ride in. I can't decide if this elevator ride would be better with more or less people. More you don't notice the climb cause you can't really see, but then my mind goes to what if there are too many people on here! Even though they do it multiple times a day, what if this is the time it's too full or breaks down! Or fewer people where you can stand quietly and don't have to look out, but with that much open space, probably look out, and sometimes I think we keep it together because we are around people. If no one was around, would I freak out?? Also, they look bizarre; they seem to start at an angle, as the legs of the tower are at an angle. They don't feel like they go on an angle, but when you are standing watching them go up, if you have a bit of a messed up mind, you start to wonder what it will feel like on that angle. In reality, it felt fine, but I did stand in the middle as we went to the first platform.

This tour guide was more like a ticket vendor; she showed us an alley. Got us up through security and then up to the main deck of the tower. Then she was gone. We could have done that ourselves, but a friendly face is nice on the first day in a new city. The view from the first deck is breathtaking! I can't imagine what it is like to go all the way to the top. I admit we didn't. It cost a bit more, which wasn't too bad, but that high in an elevator that looks out, I may have lost it. So, the view is phenomenal. 360 degrees. Urban sprawl for as far as the eye can see. That is nothing new; even in my city of a million, it stretches out if you go high enough to look. There are over 11 million people down there. It did shatter the illusion of a pure arts and culture city. It is a typical city, just like so many around the world. What is crazy is to think it is over 2000 years old. When the world was thought to be flat, before Europeans came to the new world for fear of falling off, this city was standing. It has seen royalty and revolution. Been a world power and been taken over by the Nazis. To be able to see such a historic place is pretty damn interesting. It is so big, though, and other monuments in the city are hard to see. It is mind-blowing. The deck is very secure; of course, it is, so I didn't mind looking over the edge. Crowded, though, I bumped into many people, and I have stated how much I love that! We, of course, took our pictures and took selfies. Here is where travel with a shutterbug is good. Using the zoom in my wife's camera, we could get a good view of many places that the naked eye could not see even from this high up. It is sad; she got a good picture of Notre Dame, BUT a giant crane is sitting beside it, rebuilding. I am happy they are rebuilding, but it does take away from the pictures. Looked in the shop at what knick knack we could take. We did not dine here; we didn't have time, though it is on my list if we ever go back to eat at the Jules Verne. So the tower, if you have the balls, go to the top. I didn't. Take in how big Paris is and snap a couple of good pictures. Maybe eat?? That's kind of it. It is incredible to get the view, but there really isn't a ton to do in the end, so we came down and headed for the boat tour.

The tour guide had given us our passes and vaguely waved over to the Sienne, letting us know where the tour was. It is only a couple blocks walk to the river, and tour boats are lined up. I hate the shit around the tourist traps. People lay out blankets, put crappy little trinkets down, and want you to buy something. I hate it as you walk by and people stare at you. I know what it feels like to be in a zoo. You go from some of the most impressive sites to a flea market. I get it; in fact, I have no issue with the idea behind it. At least they are trying to make a living. Why not make a market at this point?? Instead of spreading this all over, why not put it in one place. It's like the guys selling water and trying to get your attention. If I needed water, I would likely buy it from a store, not some random one on the street. I say this in a very whiny voice, but just fuck off; I don't imagine it provides enough to support a person, and it does take away from the beauty of the place. I don't mean just the tower but any place where people try to enjoy a trip. We even had someone grab my wife's arm later on, trying to get her to buy something. It made me rage; why not keep this all together? If tourists want, they can avoid it.