AmsterDAMN!

        What I feel about Paris…I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to this city of canals.

        When we left Paris, we boarded a train for a four hour ride East to get to what we thought would be an exciting part of our journey. Until then, every country we had traveled to was incredible in their own rights. We had heard so many great things about Amsterdam; how fun it was, how unique it was, how we wouldn’t want to leave once we got there. From personal experience, I didn’t find these claims to be entirely true.

        Now, don’t get me wrong, the city wasn’t completely dreadful. We arrived to our hostel and it was filled with young kids playing pool, listening to music and having drinks at the downstairs bar. Our room was right in the middle of downtown and there was so much to do. Similar to Paris, there were clothing shops and eateries everywhere you turned. The city of loaded with canals which are indeed pretty and make the scenery unique but the brown water which fills them makes the appeal dwindle a bit. Another distinctive aspect about Amsterdam is that everyone rides bicycles as their main source of transportation. The city does have trains which are incredibly competent, but the number of bikes crowding the city are by far the most I have seen anywhere else.

        We had a pretty enjoyable time our first day there. We wandered around taking in the scenery and stopped at some local joints (no pun intended) to see what could entertain us. It was a good time. I did start to notice what would soon irritate me about the people in this city. When we were in a local pub, the bartenders there were downright rude. I brushed it off my shoulder as I thought they may be having a bad day. It wasn’t until the next daylight that I realized it was a common response for locals to lash out on American tourists. The next day I had three more people snap at me for no apparent reason, including one bus driver who refused to make change for my fifty euro bill because he “didn’t have time for that”. Then he proceeded to tell me to get off his bus.

        It was at about this point when I was over it. Besides the Anne Frank museum, there weren’t many attractions to see and the city itself wasn’t exceptionally glamorous. Oh, and the food, it was utterly despicable. We sat down at a pizza place and I ordered a side salad and a margarita pizza and Ryan a Napolitano pizza. When my salad was presented to me, I looked at it with shock as it consisted of chopped iceburg lettuce with one olive on the top with no dressing! Our pizzas we horrible. Mine looking like a plain cheese pizza and Ryan’s appearing the same except his had two sardines placed on top of the cheese. I refused to pay for my plate of lettuce which I didn’t touch and we ended up dishing out twenty euros for by far the worst meal we had ever attempted to eat.

        Not to be a gripe about Amsterdam, it was an occurrence we are glad we had fulfilled, it just did not live up to our expectations and compared to other cities we have seen thus far, it was certainly on the bottom of the list. I longed for days that would soon come in Italy so that the sun could hit my skin instead of the cold, dreary rain. In the end, it was what it was. We saw, we experienced, we learned, we never regret.

Along the streets of Paris...

         Well if it didn't feel like we were abroad for the past few days, it sure does now! We got off the train from the airport and stepped out onto the streets of Paris!

        I was carefully studying my Western European phrasebook on the flight so that I could be somewhat prepared when we landed and the communication barrier was going to be obviously present. In fact, it definitely was! No matter how hard I tried to psyche myself out that I would be able to talk to locals smoothly, I was still a bit intimidated to try out my very vague French tongue. We had a bit of trouble figuring out the ticket system for the train and also had to keep a close ear for each stop to make sure we could figure out where we were going.

        We eventually stopped at the Notre Dame/Saint Michel exit finally made it to civilization. That was an amazing and surreal moment. Multi-languages were echoing in the air and busy streets surrounded us. There were so many delicious looking eateries and boutiques everywhere we looked!

        We had absolutely no idea where our hotel was in relation to the stop we chose to get off on and the phrase, "parlez-vous anglais?" (do you speak English?) was repeating out of my mouth. After looking at several maps and still not knowing what we were looking at, we stopped and asked two police officers on bicycles if they knew the address we were looking for. One of them said he spoke a little bit of English and helped us get to the right direction. The French we actually very nice people. They were especially helpful and friendly and despite what we were told, they will speak English to you if they know how.

        We entered the hotel and it was right down the street from the center of Paris in a quaint little building. Finally, Ryan and I were going to have our own room instead of sharing one with three other people as we had been doing in hostels thus far. A community shower and one toilet for the whole floor to use, but our own Paris experience to share among ourselves.

        We made it onto the streets of this city and started out our venture. There were magnificent buildings all around, meat and cheese markets everywhere along with windows crowded with pastries and every corner not without an opportunity to get an espresso. It was everything I thought Paris would be and more. I was also not surprised by the cigarette smoke lingering in the air. Everyone in Paris smokes. They smoke on the streets, waiting in lines and sitting in restaurants. This, I’d have to say, was the only bad thing about this wonderful city. That and the awful body odor (yes, it’s true) and the fact that I obtained a horrible cold the moment we arrived.

        We started our sightseeing at the Notre Dame. This cathedral was so powerful and exhilarating. There was a poor man sitting by a monument feeding birds from his hand. He gave some bread to me and showed me how to do the same. I held my hand out and a crowd of little sparrows came swooping in and pecked at my fingers until all the food was gone. There was also a crazy boy, who was as it turns out, from California,  standing on top of a cement block ranting and raving about God knows what. He was obviously on some kind of drug, but entertaining nonetheless. After the Notre Dame, we then ate.

        We stopped by the fountain of Saint Michel and walked over a bridge which separates Paris from North and South where boats were cruising by quite frequently in the water below. We crossed through some romantic tunnels and widened our eyes in bewilderment to all that was around us. Then we ate.

        Again, the train system here was the most efficient and affordable way to get around, as it is in most of Europe, so we decided to ride it to the famous Eiffel Tower. When we arrived at our stop, we looked up and saw the amazing structure. This was a very astonishing moment. We walked, yes walked, to the second floor of the tower where we could see all of Paris below. Since we were already half way up we figured we should go big or go home, so we took the elevator, or “lift” as they call it, to the very tippity top. It was so high up! It was amazing to see all the lights surrounding us and all the buildings and landmarks down below. Ryan and I had a little moment up there where we looked at each other and said, “We did it. We’re here. Just like we said we would be”. We then named this trip our “pre-honeymoon”. Not the norm to have I suppose, but it sounds perfect to us.

        The next day we went to the Louvre which was probably the most gigantic museum I have yet to see in my lifetime. We strolled around to all the old and historical buildings and monuments and took photos of nearly everything we saw. We saw a couple who were dressed in their wedding attire getting their professional photos taken. How awesome and romantic is that? Getting married in Paris and having your pictures taken against some of the most gorgeous buildings in the world? Yes please! After that, then we ate.

        We took the train to the Moulin Rouge and the Arc de Triomphe to look at the famous sights. We of course, then ate. We had an incredible picnic in which we went to the nearby markets and collected various types of food and had ourselves a French feast. We had fresh salami and goat cheese, a chicken crepe, baguettes, pastries, real crème brulee and rice pudding (delicious!), and of course French wine made right there in Paris. I cannot say enough about the food in this city. I’m pretty sure that if I stayed any longer, I would have had to be rolled back to the States.

        Our night ended with an evening stroll one more time around Paris. As we were walking, Ryan bought a single white rose from an old lady selling them on the street. He handed it to me and said the white symbolized our friendship. We headed back to our tiny, yet perfect room in the center of town.

        As we left Paris, my heart already yearned to go back. I love Paris. Much more than I ever expected and I expected a lot. Before we walked to our departing train, I took my wilting white rose and tossed it out our hotel window as I sighed, “Goodbye Paris, until we meet again”, as if I were in an old French film from the early 1900’s.  It landed right on top of the window awning where I hope a little piece of me stays there for a while.