As usual, here's the updated Spotify playlist. It didn't grow as much as I would've liked while I was in Paris, but there was so much music that I couldn't keep up with - also, I don't speak French, so it was hard to write down the lyrics to look up later seeing as... you know... it's in a language that I'm completely unfamiliar with.
I'm not going to lie... for some reason, I've been staring at this blog post for the better part of an hour trying to figure out where to start / how to go about this entire thing. I have no idea why this is that hardest thing to write about so far (it's freakin' Paris, I should have a lot to talk about, and anyone who knows me knows that I like to tell stories - and I'm a professional rambler), but... it has been. So, if it's not up to par, please forgive me. :) I hope you enjoy it at any rate!
We headed over to St. Pancras - which is the train station attached directly to King's Cross Station. King's Cross is the train station that has trains that go all around England, whereas St. Pancras does a lot of international kind of stuff. Us Dreamers all took the "Chunnel" (meaning, the train that goes underneath the English Channel to France - yes, this exists. I have no idea how they managed it) to Paris. While we were waiting, though, I sat around the lobby at the train station and got to have some epic and awesome conversations with some Dreamers that I'm not too familiar with, such as Lakin, Sam, Ashley (remember them from the boat cruise?! <3), Monica, etc... Number one, Same and Ashley are just too damn fabulous with their awesome fashion sense and flower hair! Number Two, I'm pretty sure that Lakin and I were separated at birth or something - she's my Irish-cousin, Italian-sister, or something like that. :) Or both. Long story short, these people just... radiate awesomeness, and I'm blessed to have spent some time in their sunshine.
We got onto the and left the station at around... 9:43, if I'm not mistaken, and... again, I love train rides. I can literally sit on a train next to the window and stare out at the landscape for hours, listening to music and journaling away or reading a book or something. That's the definition of relaxation for me - taking a break while traveling to places unknown. If I ever win a million dollars or something, I'll probably pay for my siblings' education (college = $$$... or £££?), donate some to some charity somewhere, and then blow ton just traveling everywhere, if I'm feeling particularly selfish. :) Anyway, it was good craic, and when we go to Paris it was immediately "go, go, go!" as we all got out to take a giant DreamCareers picture in front of the Eiffel Tower! I personally snagged a picture with some random French soldiers (they were very suave and friendly, even with their AK47s), and then got a "heel clicking" picture just for my brother (now we both have one in front of the Eiffel Tower, Chris!). It was pretty great. We were all kind of tired after traveling, but we only have two days in this city to live it up to the full... so, right after we got settled into the hotel, we all went on epic adventures.
Julie went to go and visit her "Frenchies," and Nicole, Alison, Morgan and Lizzie all wanted to do some window shopping, but... IDK, that's not really my vibe. Not only am I broke-ass poor in this country (the exchange rate is only minimally better than London), but I'd rather go walking and get lost / do something a little bit "dangerous" (though tourism is hardly dangerous in Paris), or against the grind. I wanted to see all the city-stuff! So, I tagged along with Lakin, Ashley and Sam to check out the Arch du Triomphe and get up and close and personal with the Eiffel Tower. EXCITING FACT OF THE DAY: It was Sam's 22 birthday that day! HOLY COW - what a way to spend your birthday, in the City of Love! <3 <3 <3 The walk from our hotel to the Arch du Triomphe isn't too bad, and once we got there it was literally tourist central. It was the first major French landmark that we got to see up close and personal, so we kind of got pretty excited. This was our first time experiencing the random French phenomena called "This random tourist wants to take a picture with you just because," so... we rook a random picture with some other random tourists that we will never meet again. It was one of the strangest things that has ever happened.
This phenomena was repeated on the other side of the Arch du Triomphe when some random Japanese tourists wanted to take pictures with us - which was awesome, yet awkward still. They did the whole "peace sign" thing, which I thought was a misguided stereotype, but it actually definitely... isn't. At any rate, it was fun and hilarious to run around and taking random pictures with random pictures in a tourist-infested part of town. We also got some cool wish-bracelets from this guy in the tunnel... or, rather, he just ran up and started making them on our wrists and such and made us pay. That happened quite frequently, actually - random, unlicensed vendors and gypsies would just run up to you and demand to sell you things... and they just wouldn't leave you alone. This little string bracelet cost us €2, which was just obscene, but we learned our lesson from that little adventure and made sure to avoid street vendors at all cost after that.
At any rate, we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower, and got to walk through a nicer, less tourist-y and less crowded part of town. Once you get away from the gypsies and crazy vendors and the swarms of tourists, the real "magic" of Paris finally emerges. It was truly marvellous to wander through these residential streets of Central Paris and experience the sheer... beauty of everything. The streets are cobbles, the buildings are all similarly structured and designed - with white stone and dark, metalwork railings. The streets are wide, the trees are tall and beautiful... Of course, though, I had to keep everything into a historical perspective, seeing as Paris and London aren't comparable design wise, seeing as France didn't get railed by Nazi Germany like London did (my poor London <3). Walking through Paris, again, was truly magical (there's no place like the City of Love), but being the geek that I am I couldn't help but reminding myself that it was only 75 years ago that these streets were filled with Nazi Panzer tanks - that Nazi forces walked underneath Arch du Triomphe, straight through the city. It was a humbling, sobering reminder of this city's very scary past, the past that was controlled by the National Socialist Worker's Party. There's this thing called Vichy France, and if you don't know about it shame on you educate yourself.
Very sobering to think about. And, for lack of a way of saying this in a more distinct and/or offensive way, and trying not to offend anybody reading this who might have some serious French-heritage-pride going on... looking at the nearly pristine, preserved streets of Paris in comparison to London gave me a distinct "differentiation" between the two... if you catch my drift. *winkwink*
Anyway... getting back to this magic thing.
We get down to the Eiffel Tower and all got incredibly excited about it because... well, it's the freakin' Eiffel Tower! It's awesome! We walk through this park that will take us to the Eiffel Tower, and suddenly, there are bunch of unlicensed street vendors running around us, shouting random stuff out in languages that I'm not going to even try to pretend I knew. And we're right in the middle of it. And suddenly, the gendarmes (French policemen - "men at arms") are chasing after them, shouting out random things in French. It was an unlicensed vendor's bust, and we were right in the middle of it! It was absolutely insane. Kind of scary, but it's fun to talk about it now that we aren't feeling like our lives are in danger, haha!
Anyway, we continue to walk towards the Eiffel Tower, talking and laughing... and then this old French man grabs my ass. Straight up grabs my ass. And he's this old French geezer with a cane, so I can't exactly hit him back. 'cause he has a cane and stuff. This whole "City of Love" thing was not looking too promising.
At any rate, we finally get there, and it's magical. It was fantastic to lean up against the stone barrier and stare out at the Eiffel Tower from the other side of the winding Seine River. Ashley snapped some incredible pictures while we were there - stumbling along the wide roads and laughing like we didn't have a care in the world, and pretty much just getting a kick out of everything that was going on. We were giddy and "drunk" with the contagious French mystique. Some French gendarmes dude even gave me a little souvenir that he had confiscated from an illegal street vendor! Now, that's what I call a souvenir!
The best part about going to the Eiffel Tower, though, was definitely the carousel nearby! I'd never known about it until Ashley brought it up and said that it was one of the spots that she would love to photograph. And boy, she sure did! Her photos are awesome, and riding on a French carousel for three minutes was literally the highlight of my day. Also, the French strawberry-vanilla ice cream was absolutely mouth watering. Definitely not Italian gelato, but a pretty damn good second place!
We headed back through the city after that and found some restaurant that wasn't closed (we happened to be in France right before Bastille Day, and French people just randomly close their shops / take siestas when they want to - again, Europeans know how to relax), and got ourselves some lovely French food. And, okay, while it was pretty good, it was obscenely expensive. I got the cheapest thing on the menu (French Onion Soup - appetiser status), and got a teeny little cup of cappuccino to keep me awake (we were tired) and I still ended up paying an astounding €20 on that meal! WTF!
After that, we took this fun bike-ride thing back to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night, while it's all lit up and fabulous. There was a concert going on underneath the Tower (for Bastille Day), but it was so packed that we decided against going - a decision that I regret a little bit in retrospect, but it's okay. :) At any rate, it was gorgeous at night, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. We saw some street performers performing some Mexican-Spanish salsa/mariachi music (the craze is hitting Europe), while this Italian guy danced the night away. Seriously, this old dude had the moves. It was all great up until some street vendors got into a fist fight and the gendarmes had to come and bring calm back to the area, but other than that, it was magical.
As for my one and only night in Paris? Well, sorry to disappoint you guys, but I turned in at 2:00am, completely exhausted and mostly sober. We were all properly knackered after our day of adventuring and walking and picture-taking and ice-cream eating. I had a French beer (which was some intense stuff - 10%, for a teeny little bottle - but also delicious), before hitting the hay. I was exhausted!
As for the incredible photos that Ashley took... I've posted a few on here, just to show you how incredible the carousel / the Eiffel Tower was / add some flavour to this normally bland-looking blog, but I don't feel comfortable saving them all onto my computer and then putting them onto a slideshow, because they're not my photos. Of course, I've done that with a few things (all of the photos from the scavenger hunt are definitely from Nicole), but these are of such a professional and beautiful caliber that... it just doesn't seem right for me to do that. So, you're just going to have to deal with not looking at them via my blog. :)
Consider this a serious photography recommendation, then: If you're friends with me on Facebook, by all means creep away at the all of the incredible photos that she took (I'm tagged in quite a few of them - look for the album "I LOVE PARIS!"), but if you're not, then PLEASE head over to Ashley's Facebook page, Open Eye Photography by Ashley Kickliter, or go to her WordPress blog! She's truly an incredible photographer. I've never felt happier with photos taken of me... like, ever. I hate pictures of myself, and the photos that she took of me while in the City of Love truly made me actually feel good about myself. She captures the beauty in everything! <3
Why am I friends with so many wonderfully talented people? It actually hurts a little.
... okay, it doesn't, it's freakin' awesome, but seriously - I'm one lucky person to have gotten to meet and know so many awesome people on this incredible London adventure. <3
We took the Metro (Metropolitan) up to the Sacré Coeur - which was a good long while, but I got to have some spiffy conversations with some Dreamers staff and other Dreamers. When we got there, it was literally so gorgeous, it was heart stopping. Even the trudge up the stairs was worth it (I needed the exercise anyway, never mind the blistering heat). But, being a hotbed for tourism, there were not only a lot of tourists, but street performers and gypsies and street vendors there, as well. At this point I'm not only getting used to these annoying street vendors, but I'm getting really... well, fed up. Because sometimes, "No" means "NO," and "NO" means "get the fuck away from me," and sometimes they don't realise that, so they literally follow you around demanding for you to buy their stuff, but quite honestly, why am I going to buy your crappy souvenir things when a) a hot French policeman gave me one yesterday and b) you can't respect my privacy and stop hounding me? At one point, a gypsy boy started following me around, which I took for just another street vendor kind of scheme... until I felt my messenger bag being tugged.
I thought nothing of it - we're in a bustling, pushing, loud crowd of people headed up to the top of the hill at the Church, and I've been bumping into people all day... and that's when I heard my buckles come undone, the velcro rip -
And, okay... I'm ashamed of myself for doing this, but it was a gut reaction created from a combination of a) being exhausted because of the heat and b) being fed up from being hounded: I spin around, I kick this little gypsy boy in the stomach, and I shout a very choice, obscene French word at this little boy. And he just stared at me with these huge eyes...
... and shouted something obscene back, and ran away, into the throng of shocked, horrified tourists.
I can laugh about it right now, or I can feel ashamed. When I told some of my friends about it later, one of them (you know who you are) said, "... are you fucking kidding me? You kicked a little boy?" Yup, I kicked a little boy. Who was trying to pickpocket me, and really... half of me is ashamed, but the other half of me is going all silver-backed gorilla over my precious valuables and beating its chest in pride.
Anyway, we get up to the Sacré Coeur, and it's just as beautiful as I could have imagined - even more so, seeing as I wasn't really expecting much from it (I came for the view, which was not as impressive as I thought it would be, seeing as Paris is literally covered in gross city smog). Still, it was worth the trek, definitely so. We got to go inside of this beautiful church (no pictures allowed - sorry, y'all), and then we got to spend a good hour or so inside of this incredible marketplace! There were so many exciting things to see and do there, that I kind of... purposefully got lost. I love getting lost in a strange city, it's always so much fun. Of course, I stayed close enough to everything so that I would have a vague idea of how to get back, but I was enjoying myself too much, walking into random French pastry shops and trying out my very poor French on anyone who would stop long enough to listen (they were all actually very kind about it, because they could tell that I was trying my hardest - that's different than from last time!). I met some crazy British students on a class trip (literally crazy), and ate a nuttela-banana crepe, which was a throwback to my family's trip there two years ago. I then walked through all of the different places that you could get paintings, but didn't buy anything (as I had literally just run out of money with this whole crepe thing - damn, Paris is expensive...).
While most of the unlicensed street vendors and gypsies hung around the actual church itself, there weren't many people like that in the actual marketplace, which was an absolute relief. This experience was a firm reminder of the fact that, if you really want to fall in love with a place, you have to get the tourist-y stuff out of the way and really see where people live and work and thrive. You need to get away from the hustle and bustle and tourism, and experience the city life that the actual residents of said city get to experience!
That being said, the best part about the marketplace were definitely the street performers. There was an old man playing a music box and singing into a microphone, which was absolutely lovely and adorable... and then there was this... theatrical old woman who should have straight up been cast in a French movie for her awesome stage / street presence. She was my favourite thing about that entire experience, hands down. I was eating this French crepe, listening to this woman sing away to the best French song ever written, "La Vie en Rose," and I literally could have sat there for that entire day and done nothing but listen to and watch her. She was seriously the badass of the day. That is the Paris that I love. <3
Unfortunatley, we had to leave the marketplace soon after that, but no fear - next stop was Notre Dame!
When I was in Paris two year ago with my family, we ended up not actually going inside of the Notre-Dame de Paris, because a) it was closing and b) there were so many tourists there that it was suffocating. This time, there were just as many tourists... but there was a much more organised way of going about the entire ordeal. Myself, being a determined adventurer (I should just be Katherine Adventure McManus or something), got in line to wait out the entire ordeal - which actually wasn't that long of a wait. Finally, I got to go inside of Notre Dame. And, okay, I've seen the Vatican, and I've seen Westminster Abbey, but there's something about Notre Dame that is just... sheer power. Sheer, dark, medieval power. It was kind of overwhelming. While the rest of the Dreamers went through the cathedral pretty quickly, I sat down and just stared up at this... enormous ceiling, this towering structure, and I was completely in awe. Again, pictures can hardly do this journey of mine justice, and this is no exception - just... sheer power. Awesomeness. And it also helped in that my fellow Dreamers and I had been singing "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" before going in, though Quasimodo wasn't actually there. Ah, well - can't have everything in life!
Next begins my... random, crazy adventure back to the hotel for, once I left Notre Dame, I realised that I was completely alone, in a foreign country, with no WiFi, and no map to get me back (France is not good with having public maps like London is). I was on the other side of Paris with no money, and no possible way to know how to get back. So... I improvised.
Yup. Improvised.
Okay. Before I went to France, my mother had one very specific request for me, and that was to always have a buddy with me. I'm pretty sure I freaked her out with my stories of "I just wandered around Warsaw, Poland by myself for six hours," from last year and I have this tendency to do a) stupid shit and b) get hurt doing stupid shit / even mundane tasks (hence the searing tea burn on my stomach). So, yeah... a mother's concern is to be expected.
But getting lost in Paris, France? By myself? For four hours? Too tempting. Sorry, Mom, I can't keep promises of this nature for very long! ;)
First off, I'm not going to leave France without checking out the residential areas. So, I wandered away from Notre Dame and walked along the Seine for a while, popping in and out of random stores and churches (there are many random churches in this city, much like London / the rest of Europe, which is awesome and exciting). I stumbled upon this giant building which I think was the Institute of France (whatever that is), and then I ended up finding the famous Love-Lock Bridge, right by the Louvre! This phenomenon started about two years ago and since then literally thousands of couples have come from around the world to put their lock of love onto the bridge. I looked for a particular name (*cough*Kelsey*cough*), but couldn't find it amidst all of the others. I almost put one lock up myself (with <3 McManus Clan on it - something with family sentimental value), but couldn't afford it, once again. Ah, well - it was a beautiful sight to behold nonetheless, and the fact that someone was busking nearby and singing romance songs (including Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter") wasn't a bad way to enjoy the romantic atmosphere, either!
And it is at this point of our journey in which Katie goes "... oh, shit, I have an hour to get back to the hotel, and it's a fucking far way away." Because, while Katie is at the Louvre, the hotel is all the way down the Champs-Élysées, past the Arch du Triomphe - a good four miles away (with less than an hour to go). And, if you read the last post about my feet... and my burn... yeah. Yeah. Not looking forward to this.
The rest of the day was literally a "race" against time and the sunshine (I was still wearing this damn hoodie - I was afraid to expose my gauzed-up stomach) It was nice getting to walk down the Champs-Élysées, though, at any rate, because I got to see the aftereffects of the Bastille Day parade (which I had missed that morning, due to our adventure to the Sacré Coeur). There were just a ton of French flags everywhere - including a ginormous one hanging off of the middle of the Arch du Triomphe. There were a few French soldiers guarding the arch when I quickly stumble-walked past it (damn, it was hot), and I would've stayed to look at it a bit more closely - but I had fifteen minutes left to get back to the Hyatt before the DreamCareers peoples left for good and I had to find my own way back to England - which would not be a pleasant experience, to say the least.
Long story short, I got back to the hotel on time (drenched in sweat, hungry and exhausted) after a long, lonely day of adventuring - lonely not in a bad way, but in a good, relaxing kind of way (even extroverts like myself need their alone time, and that's exactly what the doctor ordered for this weekend, let me tell you!). I met up with all of my friends (who had some wild French adventures of their own, adventures that I will not go into detail with *winkwink*), and we all sat down and enjoyed one another's company before DreamCareers packed up, got into the buses, and headed back towards the France Norde train station to begin our return journey back to St. Pancras at King's Cross Station.
The ride back to England was simply lovely. I loved staring out of the window and staring at the French countryside as it flew by me - and the fact that the sun was setting wasn't a bad cherry to top the cake, either. It was absolutely stunning, and I took a few crappy videos to attempt to capture the sheer, simple... serenity of what I saw. Before we hit the coast and found ourselves flying beneath the English channel, however, I caught one last glimpse of France and was reminded of the fact that... we live in an absolutely beautiful world, and we are all blessed to be here. <3
Coming back to London was actually... wonderful. Again, I love Paris - there's a magic that's there that's unlike anything in the world, but... I'm not quite sure how to put this... London is kind of like... part of my heart? I don't know, living here and working here has really opened my eyes to this wonderful, strange and eclectic city. Sure, it may not be the "prettiest" city out there - let's be honest here, there are plenty of other beautiful, untouched and pristine cities throughout the rest of Europe, especially in Italy, Austria, Germany, Paris, etc... Little places here and there that just seem so... I don't know... old. And London is not like that, not necessarily. There are old parts, definitely, but it's interspersed with the random and the modern - the old, the new, the riotous and the traditional. Pubs on every corner, hidden away in narrow, cobbled roads... right next to a giant glass building shaped like a bullet!
I could spend an entire life traveling Europe, and never be bored. I would never be unsatisfied.
And you know what? Paris, France - while absolutely gorgeous and wonderful and a perfect place to have a wonderful, long holiday - is just too pretty for me to stay there for too long. I'm not that kind of person, I can't handle the quintessentially beautiful for extended periods of time. Even Colorado, with the pristine mountains and beautiful natural scenery... I like the old, wooden cabins and the dirty days of hiking and the rough and tumble outdoorsy lifestyle. Just so, I like the dirty parts of London, the parts that don't match up - the brick and the glass, and the old and new - the fact that people are always in a hurry, that there are pubs at every corner. That you don't have siestas. It's not perfect, and it's not the best place to have a nice, long holiday (for most people, that is), but... I like London. I love London.
There's a quote by some guy somewhere that I read recently... it said, "London is a riddle, and Paris is the answer." But I like the riddle more than the answer, if that makes any sense. If you have the answer already, what's the fun in that?
London is my home away from home. Europe is an absolutely beautiful, perfect place... but you don't have to be living out of a Hallmark card to have a good time. Sometimes the best places to live aren't the romantic comedies with the perfect, Hollywood ending - they're the documentaries.
And I never liked romantic comedies much, either. ;)
Bienvenue a Paris - First Day in the City of Love!
The night before we left for Paris was pretty fantastic. I wasn't feeling too well (my stomach was rather painful), so I stayed in with my roommate, Julie. We went to the pub across the street for a drink or two (or three) and ended up having awkward dance parties all night long, which was absolutely fantastic. We came back and hung out with Scott for a bit, before finally packing and falling asleep to get ready for the epic adventure the next morning! |
| Woo! Get ready for adventure time! |
We got onto the and left the station at around... 9:43, if I'm not mistaken, and... again, I love train rides. I can literally sit on a train next to the window and stare out at the landscape for hours, listening to music and journaling away or reading a book or something. That's the definition of relaxation for me - taking a break while traveling to places unknown. If I ever win a million dollars or something, I'll probably pay for my siblings' education (college = $$$... or £££?), donate some to some charity somewhere, and then blow ton just traveling everywhere, if I'm feeling particularly selfish. :) Anyway, it was good craic, and when we go to Paris it was immediately "go, go, go!" as we all got out to take a giant DreamCareers picture in front of the Eiffel Tower! I personally snagged a picture with some random French soldiers (they were very suave and friendly, even with their AK47s), and then got a "heel clicking" picture just for my brother (now we both have one in front of the Eiffel Tower, Chris!). It was pretty great. We were all kind of tired after traveling, but we only have two days in this city to live it up to the full... so, right after we got settled into the hotel, we all went on epic adventures.
Julie went to go and visit her "Frenchies," and Nicole, Alison, Morgan and Lizzie all wanted to do some window shopping, but... IDK, that's not really my vibe. Not only am I broke-ass poor in this country (the exchange rate is only minimally better than London), but I'd rather go walking and get lost / do something a little bit "dangerous" (though tourism is hardly dangerous in Paris), or against the grind. I wanted to see all the city-stuff! So, I tagged along with Lakin, Ashley and Sam to check out the Arch du Triomphe and get up and close and personal with the Eiffel Tower. EXCITING FACT OF THE DAY: It was Sam's 22 birthday that day! HOLY COW - what a way to spend your birthday, in the City of Love! <3 <3 <3 The walk from our hotel to the Arch du Triomphe isn't too bad, and once we got there it was literally tourist central. It was the first major French landmark that we got to see up close and personal, so we kind of got pretty excited. This was our first time experiencing the random French phenomena called "This random tourist wants to take a picture with you just because," so... we rook a random picture with some other random tourists that we will never meet again. It was one of the strangest things that has ever happened.
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| Lakin and I were separated at birth, I'm sure of it. |
This phenomena was repeated on the other side of the Arch du Triomphe when some random Japanese tourists wanted to take pictures with us - which was awesome, yet awkward still. They did the whole "peace sign" thing, which I thought was a misguided stereotype, but it actually definitely... isn't. At any rate, it was fun and hilarious to run around and taking random pictures with random pictures in a tourist-infested part of town. We also got some cool wish-bracelets from this guy in the tunnel... or, rather, he just ran up and started making them on our wrists and such and made us pay. That happened quite frequently, actually - random, unlicensed vendors and gypsies would just run up to you and demand to sell you things... and they just wouldn't leave you alone. This little string bracelet cost us €2, which was just obscene, but we learned our lesson from that little adventure and made sure to avoid street vendors at all cost after that.
At any rate, we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower, and got to walk through a nicer, less tourist-y and less crowded part of town. Once you get away from the gypsies and crazy vendors and the swarms of tourists, the real "magic" of Paris finally emerges. It was truly marvellous to wander through these residential streets of Central Paris and experience the sheer... beauty of everything. The streets are cobbles, the buildings are all similarly structured and designed - with white stone and dark, metalwork railings. The streets are wide, the trees are tall and beautiful... Of course, though, I had to keep everything into a historical perspective, seeing as Paris and London aren't comparable design wise, seeing as France didn't get railed by Nazi Germany like London did (my poor London <3). Walking through Paris, again, was truly magical (there's no place like the City of Love), but being the geek that I am I couldn't help but reminding myself that it was only 75 years ago that these streets were filled with Nazi Panzer tanks - that Nazi forces walked underneath Arch du Triomphe, straight through the city. It was a humbling, sobering reminder of this city's very scary past, the past that was controlled by the National Socialist Worker's Party. There's this thing called Vichy France, and if you don't know about it shame on you educate yourself.
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| I am damn fabulous. I mean... erm... Paris. Paris is fabulous. |
Anyway... getting back to this magic thing.
We get down to the Eiffel Tower and all got incredibly excited about it because... well, it's the freakin' Eiffel Tower! It's awesome! We walk through this park that will take us to the Eiffel Tower, and suddenly, there are bunch of unlicensed street vendors running around us, shouting random stuff out in languages that I'm not going to even try to pretend I knew. And we're right in the middle of it. And suddenly, the gendarmes (French policemen - "men at arms") are chasing after them, shouting out random things in French. It was an unlicensed vendor's bust, and we were right in the middle of it! It was absolutely insane. Kind of scary, but it's fun to talk about it now that we aren't feeling like our lives are in danger, haha!
Anyway, we continue to walk towards the Eiffel Tower, talking and laughing... and then this old French man grabs my ass. Straight up grabs my ass. And he's this old French geezer with a cane, so I can't exactly hit him back. 'cause he has a cane and stuff. This whole "City of Love" thing was not looking too promising.
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| This place is magical. I feel like I'm on top of the world! |
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| My life. |
We headed back through the city after that and found some restaurant that wasn't closed (we happened to be in France right before Bastille Day, and French people just randomly close their shops / take siestas when they want to - again, Europeans know how to relax), and got ourselves some lovely French food. And, okay, while it was pretty good, it was obscenely expensive. I got the cheapest thing on the menu (French Onion Soup - appetiser status), and got a teeny little cup of cappuccino to keep me awake (we were tired) and I still ended up paying an astounding €20 on that meal! WTF!
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| I feel like I'm playing God in this picture. Or Napoleon. Or Gustave Eiffel. |
As for my one and only night in Paris? Well, sorry to disappoint you guys, but I turned in at 2:00am, completely exhausted and mostly sober. We were all properly knackered after our day of adventuring and walking and picture-taking and ice-cream eating. I had a French beer (which was some intense stuff - 10%, for a teeny little bottle - but also delicious), before hitting the hay. I was exhausted!
As for the incredible photos that Ashley took... I've posted a few on here, just to show you how incredible the carousel / the Eiffel Tower was / add some flavour to this normally bland-looking blog, but I don't feel comfortable saving them all onto my computer and then putting them onto a slideshow, because they're not my photos. Of course, I've done that with a few things (all of the photos from the scavenger hunt are definitely from Nicole), but these are of such a professional and beautiful caliber that... it just doesn't seem right for me to do that. So, you're just going to have to deal with not looking at them via my blog. :)
Consider this a serious photography recommendation, then: If you're friends with me on Facebook, by all means creep away at the all of the incredible photos that she took (I'm tagged in quite a few of them - look for the album "I LOVE PARIS!"), but if you're not, then PLEASE head over to Ashley's Facebook page, Open Eye Photography by Ashley Kickliter, or go to her WordPress blog! She's truly an incredible photographer. I've never felt happier with photos taken of me... like, ever. I hate pictures of myself, and the photos that she took of me while in the City of Love truly made me actually feel good about myself. She captures the beauty in everything! <3
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| As Ashley would say, these people radiate good vibes. :) |
... okay, it doesn't, it's freakin' awesome, but seriously - I'm one lucky person to have gotten to meet and know so many awesome people on this incredible London adventure. <3
Check out these random iPhone photos (much less beautiful and awesome than Ashley's) that I took while wandering around France during that first, insane day! :)
The Sacré Coeur, Notre Dame and Getting Lost
I woke up the next day pretty tired and such, and my stomach was pretty sore from doing all of that adventuring the day before. I got down to the lobby around 11:20 to try and grab a late breakfast... which I had just missed. So, no food for Katie. That morning I wanted to go with a group to go and see the catacombs, but because it was Bastille Day, they were closed. The Louvre was free, though - but because it's free, it's flooded with people, and the wait was at least two hours... and I only had one day left in this beautiful city (and I'd also been there - props to the 'rents for an awesome childhood). So, I decided to try something new... I went along with a group of fellow Dreamers to go and check out the Sacré Coeur, which is this awesome church on this hill in Paris that gives you an incredible view of the city. Not only that, but there's this incredible little French marketplace right next door with a lot of great crepe shops and souvenir locations. It was a really grand way to start the day!
We took the Metro (Metropolitan) up to the Sacré Coeur - which was a good long while, but I got to have some spiffy conversations with some Dreamers staff and other Dreamers. When we got there, it was literally so gorgeous, it was heart stopping. Even the trudge up the stairs was worth it (I needed the exercise anyway, never mind the blistering heat). But, being a hotbed for tourism, there were not only a lot of tourists, but street performers and gypsies and street vendors there, as well. At this point I'm not only getting used to these annoying street vendors, but I'm getting really... well, fed up. Because sometimes, "No" means "NO," and "NO" means "get the fuck away from me," and sometimes they don't realise that, so they literally follow you around demanding for you to buy their stuff, but quite honestly, why am I going to buy your crappy souvenir things when a) a hot French policeman gave me one yesterday and b) you can't respect my privacy and stop hounding me? At one point, a gypsy boy started following me around, which I took for just another street vendor kind of scheme... until I felt my messenger bag being tugged.I thought nothing of it - we're in a bustling, pushing, loud crowd of people headed up to the top of the hill at the Church, and I've been bumping into people all day... and that's when I heard my buckles come undone, the velcro rip -
And, okay... I'm ashamed of myself for doing this, but it was a gut reaction created from a combination of a) being exhausted because of the heat and b) being fed up from being hounded: I spin around, I kick this little gypsy boy in the stomach, and I shout a very choice, obscene French word at this little boy. And he just stared at me with these huge eyes...
... and shouted something obscene back, and ran away, into the throng of shocked, horrified tourists.
I can laugh about it right now, or I can feel ashamed. When I told some of my friends about it later, one of them (you know who you are) said, "... are you fucking kidding me? You kicked a little boy?" Yup, I kicked a little boy. Who was trying to pickpocket me, and really... half of me is ashamed, but the other half of me is going all silver-backed gorilla over my precious valuables and beating its chest in pride.
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| It kind of looks like a mini Taj Mahal...? |
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| Business in Paris! |
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| This lady was kind of my hero of the day. |
Unfortunatley, we had to leave the marketplace soon after that, but no fear - next stop was Notre Dame!
Check out these cool pictures from the marketplace near the Sacré Coeur, and the beautiful church itself! What a cool part of town - and definitely brought the real magic of Paris to life!
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| "Who is the monster and who is the man...?" |
Check out these random (albeit poor) pictures of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris!
Yup. Improvised.
Okay. Before I went to France, my mother had one very specific request for me, and that was to always have a buddy with me. I'm pretty sure I freaked her out with my stories of "I just wandered around Warsaw, Poland by myself for six hours," from last year and I have this tendency to do a) stupid shit and b) get hurt doing stupid shit / even mundane tasks (hence the searing tea burn on my stomach). So, yeah... a mother's concern is to be expected.
But getting lost in Paris, France? By myself? For four hours? Too tempting. Sorry, Mom, I can't keep promises of this nature for very long! ;)
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| Coolest, spontaneous attraction ever. |
And it is at this point of our journey in which Katie goes "... oh, shit, I have an hour to get back to the hotel, and it's a fucking far way away." Because, while Katie is at the Louvre, the hotel is all the way down the Champs-Élysées, past the Arch du Triomphe - a good four miles away (with less than an hour to go). And, if you read the last post about my feet... and my burn... yeah. Yeah. Not looking forward to this.
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| Vive la France! #bastilleday |
Long story short, I got back to the hotel on time (drenched in sweat, hungry and exhausted) after a long, lonely day of adventuring - lonely not in a bad way, but in a good, relaxing kind of way (even extroverts like myself need their alone time, and that's exactly what the doctor ordered for this weekend, let me tell you!). I met up with all of my friends (who had some wild French adventures of their own, adventures that I will not go into detail with *winkwink*), and we all sat down and enjoyed one another's company before DreamCareers packed up, got into the buses, and headed back towards the France Norde train station to begin our return journey back to St. Pancras at King's Cross Station.
Check out these random pictures from my insane last day in Paris, France, from getting lost to getting un-lost, to getting lost once again - all alone in a hoodie, with no WiFi, map, or French-speaking abilities.
Return to London, England
The ride back to England was simply lovely. I loved staring out of the window and staring at the French countryside as it flew by me - and the fact that the sun was setting wasn't a bad cherry to top the cake, either. It was absolutely stunning, and I took a few crappy videos to attempt to capture the sheer, simple... serenity of what I saw. Before we hit the coast and found ourselves flying beneath the English channel, however, I caught one last glimpse of France and was reminded of the fact that... we live in an absolutely beautiful world, and we are all blessed to be here. <3
Coming back to London was actually... wonderful. Again, I love Paris - there's a magic that's there that's unlike anything in the world, but... I'm not quite sure how to put this... London is kind of like... part of my heart? I don't know, living here and working here has really opened my eyes to this wonderful, strange and eclectic city. Sure, it may not be the "prettiest" city out there - let's be honest here, there are plenty of other beautiful, untouched and pristine cities throughout the rest of Europe, especially in Italy, Austria, Germany, Paris, etc... Little places here and there that just seem so... I don't know... old. And London is not like that, not necessarily. There are old parts, definitely, but it's interspersed with the random and the modern - the old, the new, the riotous and the traditional. Pubs on every corner, hidden away in narrow, cobbled roads... right next to a giant glass building shaped like a bullet!
I could spend an entire life traveling Europe, and never be bored. I would never be unsatisfied.
And you know what? Paris, France - while absolutely gorgeous and wonderful and a perfect place to have a wonderful, long holiday - is just too pretty for me to stay there for too long. I'm not that kind of person, I can't handle the quintessentially beautiful for extended periods of time. Even Colorado, with the pristine mountains and beautiful natural scenery... I like the old, wooden cabins and the dirty days of hiking and the rough and tumble outdoorsy lifestyle. Just so, I like the dirty parts of London, the parts that don't match up - the brick and the glass, and the old and new - the fact that people are always in a hurry, that there are pubs at every corner. That you don't have siestas. It's not perfect, and it's not the best place to have a nice, long holiday (for most people, that is), but... I like London. I love London.
There's a quote by some guy somewhere that I read recently... it said, "London is a riddle, and Paris is the answer." But I like the riddle more than the answer, if that makes any sense. If you have the answer already, what's the fun in that?
London is my home away from home. Europe is an absolutely beautiful, perfect place... but you don't have to be living out of a Hallmark card to have a good time. Sometimes the best places to live aren't the romantic comedies with the perfect, Hollywood ending - they're the documentaries.
And I never liked romantic comedies much, either. ;)
Update on the Tea-Burn
So, this burn business is a real pain in the ass. I've been going back to the A&E every other day ever since the incident last Tuesday (a week ago today as I'm writing this), and it's been... well, a very stressful process. I'm incredibly worried that I'm going to be left with a horrific burn scar (which is a definite possibility - I'm so nervous about it that even googling burn scar remedies makes me shake with worry. The can be... well, pretty horrendous). The good thing is that I've avoided infection, and that these regular trips to the A&E won't be necessary for very much longer (which is a blessing, because I sat in the hospital for a good 4 hours today in this damn queue to see a doctor - #downsidetoNHS), we're going to move away from that topic and turn towards avoiding scarring / helping the wound heal smoothly. This is actually some pretty tricky business, seeing as it's on my stomach, which is... you know, something that I use quite often. I'm bending over / standing up / sitting down constantly, so it's always getting agitated, which can lead to some complications.
So... yeah. Infection is probably not happening anymore, thank goodness - but scarring might ensue, and it might be pretty severe, so I'm not too happy about it. I can't believe that I might be permanently (and badly) scarred on my stomach from a burn given to me in England... while trying to make tea. Half of me wants to laugh at how absolutely absurd this is, but the other half of me literally just wants to start sobbing everywhere. So I'm just settling with trying to ignore it for the time being, being being a severely scarred actress is not exactly "hip."
It will all be okay... plenty of actors have scars, right? Look at Tina Fey!
So, Irresistible has been doing a ton of post-production work for a lot of the projects that I got to work on these past few months, and one of them is about to go live soon! Go to the Cadbury's website soon and see if you can find the Crunchums module, which is pretty much an interactive kind of deal where you make music... and chocolate explodes everywhere. Or something like that. It's tailored to focus on a specific age group / gendered audience (male, early 20's), so I'm not exactly sure where it's going to go... but, still, it'll be cool to check out
Also, make sure to keep an eye out on the Warburton's website and YouTube pages to look for the Warburton's Krazy Kitchen - and keep a look out for Kelvin, who's my fellow intern who got a random cameo in the advert! :) Very exciting business!
As for the short, "Mike" - that won't be hitting the net any time soon, seeing as it was just filmed a few weeks ago and it still has to go through the post-production process. Also, it still has to go through the UK Film Festival, which won't be until late August. Patience, young Padawans, but no fear - you will get to see this beautifully short (but also very tragic) film very soon. <3
Well... and that's it for now! I'll try and keep up with everything that's going on, again - and, again, sorry for the rambling. Just trying to write everything down so that I can remember it later on! And tomorrow is the The World's End midnight premiere and Cornetto Trilogy marathon madness with Shannon and Alli! CAN'T WAIT!
So, until the next adventure...
Cheers!
Mac
So... yeah. Infection is probably not happening anymore, thank goodness - but scarring might ensue, and it might be pretty severe, so I'm not too happy about it. I can't believe that I might be permanently (and badly) scarred on my stomach from a burn given to me in England... while trying to make tea. Half of me wants to laugh at how absolutely absurd this is, but the other half of me literally just wants to start sobbing everywhere. So I'm just settling with trying to ignore it for the time being, being being a severely scarred actress is not exactly "hip."
It will all be okay... plenty of actors have scars, right? Look at Tina Fey!
Some Irresistible Work!
So, Irresistible has been doing a ton of post-production work for a lot of the projects that I got to work on these past few months, and one of them is about to go live soon! Go to the Cadbury's website soon and see if you can find the Crunchums module, which is pretty much an interactive kind of deal where you make music... and chocolate explodes everywhere. Or something like that. It's tailored to focus on a specific age group / gendered audience (male, early 20's), so I'm not exactly sure where it's going to go... but, still, it'll be cool to check out
Also, make sure to keep an eye out on the Warburton's website and YouTube pages to look for the Warburton's Krazy Kitchen - and keep a look out for Kelvin, who's my fellow intern who got a random cameo in the advert! :) Very exciting business!
As for the short, "Mike" - that won't be hitting the net any time soon, seeing as it was just filmed a few weeks ago and it still has to go through the post-production process. Also, it still has to go through the UK Film Festival, which won't be until late August. Patience, young Padawans, but no fear - you will get to see this beautifully short (but also very tragic) film very soon. <3
Well... and that's it for now! I'll try and keep up with everything that's going on, again - and, again, sorry for the rambling. Just trying to write everything down so that I can remember it later on! And tomorrow is the The World's End midnight premiere and Cornetto Trilogy marathon madness with Shannon and Alli! CAN'T WAIT!
So, until the next adventure...
Cheers!
Mac
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