Left Antwerp on a 6 hour bus ride....got harrassed by a guy for an hour who insisted I come with him to Tunesia. Kept touching me, trying to hold my hand and kiss my arm....finally told him to leave me alone and go back to his seat. I'm not good at being mean but this is starting to become a lesson that repeats itself!
Got held up at the border so the heavily armed police could check the bags coming from Amsterdam....all was good and we were back on our way.
I arrived in Paris at 8 pm and made my way through the metro directions Miguel, my second couchsurf host had left me. Paris is actually really easy to navigate, much to my surprise, as usually I hate using the metros but I have it completly figured out here...yay me!
Arriving at Miguel's was a bit eye opening. He told me he lived in a very small place and that I would be sleeping on the floor but I figured that was fine as he lives 10 minutes from the Eiffel tower....perfect.
Well firstly it was a million degrees...I'm always hot as is and everywhere in Paris seems to have the heat CRANKED even though this is the warmest place I've been lately! C'mon people!!!
No kidding less then 5 minutes later we hit the town. Met up with one of his girlfriends, Laur who was super nice! She took me to some shops and showed me the lights of Paris. She is a local here and was very informative. I got my first glimpse of the stunning lit up and sparkly Eiffel Tower, The Arc de Triomphe, the main streets and many more places....all on my first night!
Arrived back at Miguels at 2 am ......I slept on the hardwood floor with only my silk sleep sheet and some of my clothing I piled underneath. Way less then ideal however I wasn't going to climb into his tiny single bed with him even though he offered. Jeesh! I keep saying I want to meet a man yet am so totally turned off/discusted and down right angry with the way some men attempt to treat women. GAH! I won't rant anymore about that on here.... He is a very nice guy and very helpful....introduced me to his friend and showed me around the whole first evening I arrived which was great to see and have someone who speaks french to the locals.
This morning I peeled myself off the floor....in a fair amount of pain I could hardly get up. It's been awhile since I slept on a floor like that haha. But not letting anything get me down I looked on the bright side. I had a roof over my head and I was safe in a foreign place. I got ready fairly quickly and headed out the door the same time he did for the day. I managed to meet up with Crystal, a local girl from back home YAY and her dad. We went for breakfast/lunch and then to the church Montmartre Basilique du Sacre-Coeur and wandered around the little shops in the squares behind it. There were many artists set up selling their work...soo stunning but much over my backpacker budget!
Around 4 I said goodbye to them and set out to meet Lauren and Lindsay and their mom, the two sisters I hung out with back in Ireland! I love when travellers cross paths again and again :) We met up outside the Louvre and walked down to the big lit up ferris wheel thing and took a ride to see all above Paris. It was foggy but still a great view! From there we wandered through the pretty Christmas markets and ate a kebab and some chocolate puffy things...yummm.
We parted ways and they headed back to their hotel and I wandered the rest of the way down Champs - Elysees on my own to the Arc de Triomphe which is where I climb back on the Metro and make my way back to Miguels. I opted to go in search of wifi so ended up in a good old Mcdonalds not far from where I'll be staying....so here I write to you. Quite a day and a fair amount to relfect on. So many lessons and challenges that come up while your travelling. So far nothing I can't handle though it's interesting to watch the lessons repeat themselves. All part of helping me grow into the savvy world traveller I set out to be!!
See me roar!! ;)
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