People say that Paris is the City of love. Obviously these people have never been to Paris. Paris is the city of stinks of poo in spring which people spit and urinate in the streets. I could not believe how dirty Paris is. In saying that I did enjoy the tourist sights.
On day seven I text the friends I caught up with the night before and they were still in bed. Since I wanted to make the most of my day I went down to the hotel for breakfast. And WOW... The breakfast selection was amazing. They had croissants, danishes, breads, cereals, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, yogurts, fruit, juices, coffees and alot more.
Breakfast at the hotel
I pinched the apple to put in my bag for my day of adventures. I pre arranged Paris Pass which included a hop on hop off bus ticket while I was planning the trip in Australia. They told me I had to get to the hard rock cafe to be able to redeemed. Which was well and good. But the hard rock cafe was really far away from my hotel. I ended up catching a taxi to the Hard Rock cafe.
Hard Rock Cafe- Paris
After walking around trying to find to find where the hop on hop after bus stop was, I got fed up. Since it was New Years day no one was on the streets and it was after 9am. I ended up asking a local man working at a newsagents where it was.
TIP: HARDLY ANY ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH IN PARIS. Make sure you learn before you get there how to say "Hello, do you speak english?" In french before you get there. These words were my bread and butter in Paris. When you make an attempt to speak french to the locals they are more willing to help you. Even though like me my french... or the line I knew of french was horrible and probably didnt sound anything like what it was meant to.
I found the hop on hop off bus stop next to the ballet theatre. The bus was fantastic. It took you around to all the top tourist attractions and left every 15mins from 8am. It was really worth getting. And if you are an information junkie like my self they give you headphones that give you a guided tour when the bus is driving along.
The first stop the bus stopped at was the Arch de Triomphe. The Bus sat there for awhile so I jumped out and took some photos and jumped back in. I was lucky enough to get a photo with no cars at all.
Arch de Triomphe
The bus roughly took half an hour to drive past all the major tourist attractions. The Effiel Tour, champs elysees, Arch de triomphe, opera, notre dame, the lourve and many more. I took the loop once and jumped off at the Notre Dame. It was beautiful. I ended up having lunch at the cutest restaurant over looking the Notre Dame.
Tip: Around the major tourist areas there are gypsy's, scammers and alot of beggers. So people honestly are asking for money becuase they do not have any but others will try and scam you out of your money by doing random things. Beware of people offering you flowers.... so strange I know. But if you take the flower off them then you will have to pay them for it and they are very persistent. People asking you to sign petitions. (I got scammed by 2 people doing this one.) They come up asking you to sign a petition but you dont realise that they want money until they point to a money column. This lady out side of the Notre Dame actually smacked my arm trying to get money off me. I wasnt carrying alot of money around with me so I dug into my coin person to give her a few Euros. Than she smacked my arm and shock her had and pointed to one of my notes in my wallet. I put some coins in her hand and legged it. There are scammers who will ask you if you dropped a gold ring (which will actually be their own) and if you take if off them they will ask you for cash. People also use their animals to get money off you. They say that there dog is sick and they need food. Some situations are very sad. If you go on the trains stand and have things in your pocket stand with your back to the wall. People aim for tourist when they are pick pocketing. Also make sure you carry your bag to the front of you.
After lunch I jumped back on the bus and headed to the Champs Elysess. They have shops and restaurants on either side of the road and amazing markets.
One thing you do not realise until you need to is how little toilets are in Paris until you need one. Being out all day my bladder got very full. In Paris some parts have public toilets that you must pay to use them and other attractions have none at all. Being in the Champ Elysess where there was shops and restaurants I thought there must be one. I looked and I looked and I couldn't find any. I was starting to get desperate. You can always count on free toilets in most countries in the world. I walked in and apparently alot of other people know this too. The line for the loo was soooooo long. There was even a guy directing people to go into the toilets. He was directing ladies to go into the male toilets to make the line go quicker. This was a bit strange but when you gotta go you gotta go. I got to the front of the line and walked into the toilet. I was so disgusted. I wont go into details. But you don't want to touch the seat. So I just held my breath and went.
Tip: Mcdonalds has free toilets and Wifi. The toilets were unspeakably not clean. Pack tissues in your bag help when you use a public toilet and there is no toilet paper. Like your mother always told you go to the toilet before you go out.
Markets- Champ Elysees
So when I walked out there I vowed never to be unprepared again. I carried on down the street and went to the markets. The markets were one of the highlights of my trip. They sold freshly made macaroons, strawberries dipped in chocolate, wheels of cheese, clothes, hats, food, candles, jewelry ect. I recommend going. Paris was very different to what I thought it would be. Walking through the markets there was beggers and soliders walking through with guns. It was a bit of a culture shock almost. Because people do not tell you that before you go to Paris. They talk about how wonder it is.
Necklace- Brought at the Champ Elysees
It started to get dark so I took my macaroons and my trinkets back to the hotel via a taxi.
TIP: Most taxi drivers do not speak English. To make it easier on you and them if you cannot speak french take a hotel business card which is written in french and give it to the taxi driver. This will be able to direct them to your hotel easier than you trying to explain where you are staying.
When I got back to the hotel I walked across the street and brought some supplies. A few bottles of water, a wheel of brie and crackers... You know the essentials. Later on in the evening thinking I might be able to meet some other travelers I went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The dinner cost about 20Euros.
Tip: If you ask for water you will have to pay for it. And make sure you specify if you would like still or sparkling. They also do not open most restaurants in Europe until roughly 7pm. Also some places may have a surcharge on New Years Day. If you do not want to eat in your hotel, ask the receptionist if there are any good restaurants or bars around the area. It also wouldnt hurt to ask if the area you are staying in is safe. If you are not sure if you want to venture out there is also nothing better than room service.
Steak dinner at the Hotel- 20 Euros
There ended up only being a elderly couple and my self in the restaurant which was a little bit disappointing but thats ok I had my macaroons waiting for up stairs... YUM
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