I was going through some old
junk stuff of mine back at my parents' place and happened to find my journal of my whirlwind 2 week trip to Europe back in 2004. It was my first (and only) time there and we were in Paris for a grand total of 3 days and 2 nights...
It was fun to read it again. Please tell me what you think... haha!
This is what I wrote:
Paris observations
* Psycho drivers never stop at zebra (pedestrian) crossings which seem invisible!
* Bins are just metal hoops with big clear plastic bags (with wording printed on it)
* Metro is very frequent. Easy to get lost if you don't know where you are going and if you don't have a metro map on you!
* Digital signs tell you how many minutes till the next train arrives.
* Each station is decorated differently. Most are white tiled with hard metal seats (spaced almost 1m apart from each other!)
* Louvre Rivoli station looked like a museum with different sculptures in glass cabinets adorning the walls. We didn't get out here though.
* Lots more black people in Paris and London than in Australia.
* Cars are parked so closely you can't even walk between them without touching them. Incident: seeing someone reverse back into another car!
* Middle-aged man on train saying "up up.. merci" meaning and forcing us to stand up and 'close' the seats because the train was getting too crowded.
* Clouds - long, thin clouds that seem to shoot across the sky like sky writing (don't see those in Australia)
* Paris trains - need to open doors yourself when boarding or getting off.
Not really observations but...
* Getting mugged at an ATM*
* Getting picked up by a middle-aged man!*
Prices of the some things I bought/paid for (in euros):
* Hotel room 52.00 x 2nights = 104.00
* Breakfast at bakery down the road 7.70
* Train day pass for adult 5.30
* Postcards 2.05
* Book from Shakespeare's bookshop 15.00
* Lunch at cafe 7, 13.50
* La Tour d'Eiffel, adult, 3rd floor 10.40
* Supermarket ("Franprix") juice and chocolate 3.18
* McDonalds - burger and potato wedges 5.85
* Patisserie - breakfast 7.75
* 2 day ticket 5.30
* Souvenirs 6.85
* Lunch in another patisserie 6.30
* Postcards 0.60
* Souvenir 1.80
* T-shirt 11.90
* Postcard 1.50
* Patisserie 3.30
I did buy more than that though but I didn't list everything.
Unfortunately, I didn't actually write a proper diary entry about Paris as I guess I was just too exhausted by the time I got back to the hotel. Almost every day we were walking non-stop (apart from meals) from around 10am till 10pm.
* Yes, I actually got mugged. Well the stupid guy tried to, but I didn't let him get away with my ATM card or any money. It was also about 10am and broad daylight. It was still scary nonetheless and made me be a lot more cautious thereon in. A few minutes later, whilst crossing the road, a guy out of nowhere tried to pick me up. Yes, really. He wanted to take me to lunch. All in that short time of only a few minutes that my friend left me... Only in Paris I guess! Ha.
