Paris!

So this weekend was Paris and it was supposed to be relaxing and fun, but it wound up being one of the most expensive and stressful weekends of my life, but luckily it was still fun. So we left Thursday night (31^st of January) and we took a night train to Paris. It was a 12 hour train ride so we boarded around 9 and didn’t get to Paris until 9ish, but I think the train ran late. Anyways, the train ride was fun. I went with 5 other people: Rachel (newby), Adam, Chase, Becky (newby), and Jillian (newby to Florence, but we were friends in Malibu). So we all got one cabin together so we didn’t have to worry about our stuff being stolen, but by the end of the trip that was the least of our worries. We decided, after a few hours of fun conversation, to go to bed around 11 or 12. Chase and I were stuck with the bottom, and it sucked. There were head rests on the seats that stuck out and we had to fold those seats down to make our bed, but since they stuck out we barely had any room to fit in our beds. I wish I had a picture to show you or that I could explain it better. Basically I was cramped in a bed that was as hard as rock, which made my sides go numb so I had to keep flipping over. It wasn’t the best night sleep, but I knew it would be worth it to be able to chill in Paris. We arrived and headed to the metro to get to our hostel and to buy a three day metro pass. This was when the bad stuff started to happen. We were trying to figure out how to by our tickets when a guy came over to help us. He told us that our credit cards would not work and that he would use his, then we would just pay him. We were tired, disoriented, and basically too trusting, but that doesn’t excuse us from being stupid. We each gave this guy 12 euro and we thought we had multiple rides, but apparently he ripped us off and we only paid for one, a very expensive one way ticket. Then we got to our hostel and found out that we were staying in the ghetto. We found a kebab place for lunch and then went to explore the city. We visited the Eiffel Tower, which we climbed all the way up. :) It was cool because last time I took the elevator and it was cool being inside the structure itself. They had fake snow that we played in on the first level and an ice-sculpture of the Eiffel Tower. Then we saw Notre Dame and headed over to the Louvre. It was raining so that was a drag, but we still had fun. The Louvre was free for us because we were under 25, it was Friday, and it was past 6:00pm. So that was sweet and it was so interesting. I had gone to it before, but this time I knew what I was looking at. The renaissance art part was so amazing and so was the French art. We have been studying all of this art for school and it was so cool seeing and understanding the significance of the paintings. We tried to see Bonaparte’s apartment, but they kicked us out because we got there too late. Then we ate some McDonald’s, where Adam, Chase, and I fell asleep at the table for about 45 minutes. I drooled all over the table! I was so embarrassed. :) Then we got some delicious crepes. After that we decided to hit the hay because we had to get up early to go to Disneyland! :) I was so excited! So the trip really only had two bad parts leading up to Disneyland and I was being optimistic, but then we took a hit. We had been paying for tickets for all of the metros and this was already a drag, but when we got off the train at the stop for Disneyland, we found out that we couldn’t get outside. We had to buy a ticket to get out or we had to go back the way that we came. This meant that we had to pay 25 euro! It was outrageous! So we paid the money, but we were all not happy and then we got to Disneyland. When I went there was nobody there at all, but when we got there it was super crowded. Lame. We waited in line to buy tickets for an hour, which was also lame because we could have purchased the tickets online and not had to deal with that, but hey what could we do? Then we got to the desk and found out that it was 25 euro more expensive then what it had said online. It was 55 euro instead of 30 euro. Lame. So we fumed for a little bit, but we didn’t let it ruin our day. We had a wonderful time and we went on tons of stuff. Jillian got to trade her pins and we talked to some cool staff about how much they enjoyed Disneyland back in California and how we love it too. Then we used out 25 euro ticket, luckily it was more than just an exit ticket, to get back to our hostel. We grabbed a kebab for dinner and then were walking back when it happened. I had purchased a picture frame for Bailey because she gave me money to get her one, so I was holding it in a bag on my left side. There was a black couple that was walking behind us and so Adam moved aside so that they could pass since they were walking faster then us. Well the guy decided that he wanted to steal my bag, so he did. I tried to wrestle it from him for a moment then I just let it go, but instead of running away with it he stayed and looked at us. We were all so done with today because we had been cheated out of so much money and we were all in shock that we were getting mugged that we just stared blankly at him. I think that might have thrown him off a little or he was just high or drunk or something. I’m not sure why, but he opened the bag, while his girlfriend watched nonchalantly, and he saw that it was a picture frame. Then he bowed, smiled, and gave the bag and frame back to me. Then he just walked away and left us all stunned watching him go. It was so crazy! I got mugged then he gave it back because he didn’t want it. It was funny when we were remembering it because if he had asked for cash we would have had none to give him because we had spent it all in the last two days. :) Then we went back to the hotel and went to bed. We took the early train home on Sunday and were so ready to be back in the safety of the villa. It was a crazy trip and I know that I made it sound awful, but I look back and I laugh about it and there were a lot of fun times, so it was overall a great memory, even if it did come with a few speed-bumps. :)