Sorry I haven't written on here for a few days. Now that I kind of have a feel for the city, I have gone out exploring.
I've come to the conclusion that if you took the people of NYC, the Architecture of DC and the space of LA you would get a city close to Paris. The people here are very fast paced and a bit standoff-ish at first, but they can also be really nice. They don't smile though. I know I already said that, but it's still quite strange for me.
Yesterday, I tried to meet my friend Emily at the Opera. She said to meet on the steps. Unbeknownst to us, Paris has like nine opera houses. I went to the main one and she went to the one over by the Bastille. So I didn't actually meet her. At least not right away. Instead, I walked around on my own.
I actually was going to be really early to meet her, so I got off at the Louvre and looked around there. I found a place that Nana had taken me ten years earlier to catch a tour bus of the city. I remeber it because there was a statue of Joan of Arc in the middle of the square. It was like stepping back in time for a few seconds.
Emily eventually called me, so I was able to meet her. That was after I had inadvertently found the red light district. I assume it was because there was an adult shop every other store. On that same walking tour, I found the coolest area where there were the traditional butcher shops next to bakeries next to produce stores. I felt really Parisian.
When I met up with Emily, she had three friends with her. Two were from UCSC and one from Davis. We ended up walking around the Marais, which is the Jewish area. They got some falafel and I had fries. Sweet jesus, were they good. Just like In-N-Out! (For what ever reason, I've been craving American food... mainly Freebirds Nachos).
Today, I went to Versailles. It was awesome. It was another place Nana took me when I was ten and so I remembered some parts of it. We got to the trainstation in Paris around 11, waited until 11:30 to see if anyone else would show and then took the RER to Versailles (the RER is a train that goes from the city center to the suburbs).
We were all starving, so I casually suggested we try the McDonalds near the station. I needed to quell that American food craving. So we did. And it was good.
From there it was about a five min walk to the Chateau. The weather here is a bit rainy, so not many people were there. It was 6.10Euro for the train and another 18E to get into the Chateau. At least it should have been.
If you bring your visa which proves you're staying in France for 6 months or longer you get in for free. I was not aware of this, and I didn't think to bring my passport with me. However, we figured that our student cards would work. They didn't. The lady at the entrance turned us away, and the lady at the info counter told us we would have to go buy a ticket.
I was about to give in, when my Australian friend Brendan said we should try again with the guy who was at the entrance. To our surprise he was really cool and let us get in. So we saved 18Euros (hello Crepes with Banana and Nutella!!). When we were inside, we saw everything. By far my favorite place was the Hall of Mirrors. So much history!!
And now I know how to get in for free, I'm sure I'll be back many more times!
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