An American in Paris-Day 19- January 27th, 2018

After an eternity of delayed buses and traveling, I finally arrived in Paris around 9:30 AM. Waiting the 4 hours for our delayed bus made me so exhausted that I actually slept well. Sleeping well and traveling on busses are two things that don’t often mix well for me.

We got off the bus to a chilly and cloudy Parisian day. I immediately grabbed my bag from underneath the bus and changed into a new pairs of socks and shoes. My vans were still wet from the day before. Nothing beats a fresh pair of dry socks. We wouldn’t be able to check into our Air B&B until 3 pm today.

After comparing my giant duffel bag to my friend’s smaller backpacks, I quickly realized that I had significantly over packed. My duffel bag weighed over forty pounds and I would have to carry it though Paris until 3. This would be fun.

We parted ways with some of our other BU friends, then Jonathon, Nick, Katie and I headed off into the city. One of the first things I recognized was the overflowing Seine River. It has been on the news a bunch and several low level streets were completely under water. Additionally all river traffic has been suspended as boats could no longer fit under bridges.

Here’s some pictures of the river. Everything to the left of the boat in the second pic should be above water. Also notice the height of the bridges.

After crossing the river, we looked for the first café we could find as we were all in need of some caffeine. After sitting for a little bit in the cafe, we planned to grab some food than head to the Eiffel Tower. We would have eaten at the café but there wasn’t much food available there.

My French espresso

We crossed the street to go to a supermarket for some food. I bought an baguette for 80 cents and proceeded to eat the entire thing.

We also took some steps down to the river where I took this picture.

Angry man holds a baguette

After eating, we went to the nearest metro station and found the line going towards the Eiffel Tower.

The train was above ground and weirdly had tires on it, despite being on train tracks. You also had to pull a lever to open the train doors which was somewhat strange as well.

Here’s a picture of the train station.

While riding the train, two separate guitar players came into our car trying to make money. As is custom in New York, everyone pretended they weren’t there and avoided eye contact. I guess the rules of the subway are a pretty universal thing. I couldn’t help but enjoy the views of Paris out the window as classical guitar played in the background. It was a pretty beautiful moment.

We got off on our stop, and began to walk around. Since I had gotten to Paris, it really just seemed like a bigger Grenoble to me. This was until I spotted the Eiffel Tower for the first time. This may be one of the most touristy locations in Paris, but seeing it in person for the first time was truly cool. It was a bit foggy at the time and the top was hidden from view.

That first view of the Eiffel Tower

Ever since the multiple terrorist attacks in Paris and France of recent years, security is now very strict. Just to go underneath the Tower, we all had to go through TSA like security. Fortunately, me and my 40 lb bag got through alright. We quickly found out the top of the tower was closed, but you could pay 8 euros to go 2/3 of the way up. Nick, Katie and I bought tickets while Jonathon stayed at the bottom with our bags. This was Jonathon’s fourth time in Paris and he had been here a few times. I was just happy not to lug my bag around for a bit.

We took the car/elevator thing up the Tower after purchasing our tickets. We got out and we’re soon surrounded by beautiful views of Paris.

Here’s a bunch of pictures from the Eiffel Tower featuring my friends.

After a bit, we headed back to the ground. We followed Jonathon and went for a walk towards these giant buildings. Jonathon had said we were going to the best spot for Eiffel Tower pictures. After some walking and a few terrible staircases, we reached the spot. As tempting as it was, I decided to forgo taking a pic pretending to hold the Eiffel Tower in my hand.

I got Nick to take this picture of me, mean mugging as usual.

Here’s my last photo of the Eiffel, I swear.

After the Eiffel, we started to walk to the other big Parisian photo-op, the Arc de Triomphe.

Fortunately for my blog readers, my phone was on 1% battery and I couldn’t take many photos. This arch was huge, especially after comparing it to the arch in Washington Sq. Park in my head. It was also surrounded by a traffic circle, so we had to go underground to access it.

Large and In Charge

After leaving the Arch, it was approaching 3 so we headed to the Airbnb. I was more than ready to drop off my bag.

We took the metro again and soon found the apartment. We put in our given door codes and found the key. The apartment was super nice and had two bedrooms and a pullout couch. What was even nicer was the bathroom, which had a rain fall style shower head. This got me really excited.

I was still pretty gross from the bus ride the night before, so I immediately hopped in the shower. Taking a real stand up shower (not at the gym) was truly an amazing experiences. I needed this after 2.5 weeks of sitting down in the tub for showers. I was now a clean and happy man.

We all hung out for a bit on the couches and charged up our phones. I really needed a nap, but the day was still young. I was planning to meet my BU friend Ryan to go shopping. Nick and Harry came along with me as well.

We met Ryan at the Carhartt Work in Progress store, where they were selling their collaboration with a Russian skateboard brand. I had been eying one of the beanies from the collection for a while and bought it. To my luck, it was on sale due to weird laws in France only allowing sales in a 6 week period during January and February.

We then proceeded to check out a bunch of stores in the area. We went to Bape, Lacoste, Nikelab and the Supreme store. The Supreme store was very cool and they had a super impressive collection of very valuable and rare skateboard decks hanging up in the store. These were all collaboration the brand Supreme had down with famous artists. This includes artists like Damien Hirst, George Condo, Takashi Murakami, Kaws and more. Not only were these decks made in very limited quantities, but most of them were worth several thousand dollars. Safe to say I gawked at all of them.

Some of the decks there.

After the Supreme store, we headed to this store called Broken Arm that carried a bunch of designer brands like Raf Simons, Stone Island, Vetements and more. I wasn’t expecting to get anything, but I found a Gosha Rubchinskiy x Adidas Jacket for 50% off. This was an insane steal and I was in love with the jacket. It was only available in XL, but I liked the oversized look and bought it. I was a very happy man.

My new jacket and hat, featuring my friend Ryan in the 2nd pic.

After getting the jacket, we all headed to the grocery store to buy supplies for dinner. We were having pasta and sausage. I contributed by buying gin and tonic supplies, including my favorite gin brand, Beefeater London.

We ordered an Uber to the apartment as it was much quicker and only slightly more expensive than the train. There are no Ubers in Grenoble, so it was nice to have this option. To our luck, the Uber was very nice Mercedes and the driver let me play my music. We enjoyed a nice 15 minute ride through Paris listening to some of my favorite songs.

When we got back, Jonathon and Nick started on dinner. Katie and I helped set the table and make other preparations. After some time, our dinner was ready and we were all starving. I was very excited for the pasta, sausage, baguettes, cheese and macaroons.

There’s no better way to celebrate being in France by eating Italian food with British gin.

Dinner was delicious and everything was eaten to completion. Soon after cleaning up, some of our other BU friends came by the apartment to pregame before we went to the Bar. We were planning to go this cool frozen bar where everything was made of ice.

After some online research, we quickly found out it was super expensive and found another bar called the Kremlin. We grabbed our coats and headed out for the night.

We walked for a bit and eventually found the bar. To our disappointment, the bar was pretty expensive and the prices reminded me of being in New York bars. I ordered the house beer known as the Kremlin, which was alright and very fizzy.

Here’s my usual selfie with my drink.

We stayed for a bit, but the bar was getting boring so we decided to find another one. This plan immediately went out the window when we found a French McDonald’s. McDonalds is a little more expensive in France, but the food definitely tastes better and less like fast food. In an attempt to eat healthy, I got a brownie and Kit Kat McFlurry. It did not disappoint.

Once we finished up at McDonalds, we headed back to the Airbnb. It had been a long day and I was grateful to be lying in a bed, even if I had to share it with Harry