I think the extended title for this blog should be: "Paris - a beautiful city overlowing with unfriendly people and amazing food"
Day 275 - Monday, October 22
My flight on Ryanair lived up to the expectations, with them doing everything possible to get every possible cent from every passenger. It started at the check-in, where about 1/3 of the people had to get out of line and reshuffle their luggage because it was over the weight allowance; even overages less than a pound were not given a pass. Then, in line at the boarding gate, they were strictly enforcing the only-1-carry-on-item rule, forcing all women with a purse and a bag to fit the former inside the latter, and then making sure that all such carry-on's would fit inside the little metallic measuring frame/box.
One poor girl was struggling mightily to reorganize her bag to get it to fit with her rather large purse/handbag inside, but it was becoming painfully obvious that there was no way her bag was going to pass muster, which would cost her ~$65 to check a bag at the gate (probably more than she paid for the flight). So I did my did good deed for the day and made an effort to fix the notion that Americans hate the French by pulling my fleece out of my bag, leaving plenty of space to offer her for her overflow. She readily accepted the offer. After boarding, the entire 2-hour flight was filled with non-stop efforts to sell stuff to the captive audience. Perhaps most shameless was a swimsuit calendar ostensibly featuring Ryanair employees. Here's betting the models were only employees long enough to pose for the calendar and collect a check.
It turns out my effort to get karma on my side at the airport didn't do anything to shield me from the disdain the French apparently have for (American?) tourists... When I checked into my hostel, I was assigned a top bunk, but when I got to the room, it was entirely empty - clearly I was the first to check into the room. So I went and asked if it would be possible to move to a bottom bunk... And then I got yelled at and berated in what easily qualified as the rudest exchange and rudest hostel/hotel worker I had experienced my entire time traveling. The guy was literally yelling, just because I had asked to move to a bottom bunk. I guess Paris is filled with rude assholes after all because if this guy was the best option to work in customer service at a hostel, I can't imagine what the general population must be like.
Later, I headed out for some food. With the help of the internet (I certainly wasn't going to ask the guy at reception for a recommendation!), I ended up at Chez Omar, one of many restaurants in Paris that feature couscous in various forms as their primary dish - definitely a first for me. And it ... was ... fantastic:
On the way home ran into real life
Ratatouille roaming around the display case of a bakery.
Day 276 - Tuesday, October 23
With only 2 full days to see the city, I spent Tuesday checking out the sites...
A 500-year old town square:
Notre Dame:
Luxembourg Palace & Gardens
I hung out in the general vicinity of the Eiffel tower long enough for the sun to set and the tower to be lit up, and I apparently felt the need to take a picture every time there was a slight change in its appearance. It's just so damn iconic...
Then I had some fun with the passing cars at the Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees
The Louvre (I never actually made it inside):
Finally I sat down for another meal, which featured the greatest piece of cheesecake I've ever eaten. I guess it's more like a mini-cheesecake than it is a piece of a larger cake. I really had no intention of taking a picture of it until I took a bite and experienced the excellence:
France may have a lot of rude and pretentious people, and anyone who can't speak French may be scoffed at and treated with disdain, but I'll be damned if Paris doesn't have some of the best food I've had anywhere. I would probably go back to Paris just for the food. In addition to all the great restaurants, there's also amazing bread, pastries and crepes never more than a block away.
Day 277 - Wednesday, October 24
Wednesday, the weather wasn't nearly as nice, but I explored a bit more and took more photos anyway, because that's what tourists do.
A black and white photo, because, you know, it's kind of arty and Paris is arty. Me, I'm not really arty, which is why I spent two days in Paris and didn't go inside a single museum.
Day 278 - Thursday, October 25
Thursday, I hopped on a bus to London. Of course there is no road that connects France and England, so the bus was loaded into a railcar to make use of the chunnel, which was an interesting experience:
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