Don't Be A Sissy, Go to Paris.

I landed in Paris this morning. Was that this morning? Oh my goodness. It feels like a hundred years ago.  After grabbing my bag and going through customs I checked into the airport Hilton. The first thing I did was take a quick 30 minute power nap and then I forced myself to get up. If I had a 24 hour layover in Paris, I was going to see Paris.

Except I was super nervous about wandering around by myself. Even though I’ve done quite a bit of travel, I’ve never toured a city all alone before. I was a little surprised by how scary it seemed. I’ve been to Paris. I know Paris. I stayed there for three weeks with my French class in 2012. But it still seemed daunting. What if I spent the entire day being lost? What if someone pick-pocketed me or something? What if I found myself in a Taken Situation?!?! I’m a little embarrassed to admit I thought about sleeping in my hotel room all day instead. But with the City of Light so close by, I decided to buck up and go. If I was gonna get taken, at least I might get to see the Eiffel Tower one last time.  

So I took a bus to the center of Paris. I was to get off at Denfert-Rouchereau. It sounded familiar for some reason. I was worried about paying the bus driver because I didn’t have a bus pass. But everyone at the bus stop just piled on and so did I. (I saved myself 16 euros. Shhhhh. Don’t tell.) As the bus pulled into the city, all my worries floated away. The bus driver drove right through my old neighborhood where I spent three amazing weeks with my friends. That’s why the name of the bus stop sounded so familiar. I was gonna be fine. 

I did get lost for a moment or two. I wandered around one particular metro station for about half an hour. Just as I started to plan my new underground life as The Perpetually Lost Girl Of The St-Michel Metro, some guy asked if I needed help. Who knows how he knew. I’m sure I looked totally calm and not panicked or worried at all.

As I stepped off the Metro, I remembered something. I love Paris! Somewhere during the last few years I completely forgot how much I loved this city. The ancient bridges over the Seine, the bateaux mouches, the gorgeous museums and the chic french people promenading about. I totally forgot about all of it. Silly me :)

I spent my day at three of my favorite spots. First, I went to the Musee D’Orsay where I met a wonderful girl in line named Robin. She looked just like Mimi from Rent in the best way. She was a super cool song writer/ musician and we wandered the museum together for awhile. She told me the reason she came was to see an exhibit called “Splendeur et miseries: Images de la prostitution.”  I like prostitution art as much as the next girl, which is to say that it's not really my thing. But I can appreciate a good prostitute painting or two. The exhibit was like ten rooms big. Unfortunately, I did not have time to see all of them.

So Robin and I parted ways and I walked solo to see some works by one of my favorite painters of all time, Vincent Van Gogh. After Vinny and I got reacquainted, I left the museum and headed to my next spot, The Jardin Des Tuileries. I don’t know what a tuilerie is, but there’s a garden of them. And it’s great. Just more French people wandering around under rows and rows of trees, which were just starting to turn orangey. 

I sat in one of the little green chairs and wrote in my journal, which my amazing cousin, Abby got for me (shout out to the Tierney crew!) while I listened to some French tunes. As I was sitting there, scribbling and taking a few photos, a man approached me and tapped me on the shoulder. This was it. I prepared myself for the Taken Moment. Turns out, he was just being nice and asked me why I was taking pictures. Apparently I don’t look like a tourist, so that’s good I guess? He talked to me for like 2 seconds and then left. Liam Neeson and his set of very specific skills weren’t needed. It was all good.

I left pretty soon after that and continued on to my final stop, THE EIFFEL TOWER! Yeah, it’s touristy and crowded, but I love the Eiffel Tower. It’s parisian to its core.  And everyone at the Champs de Mars is just excited to see it and take pictures and be in Paris, just like me. I walked from the Jardin Des Tuileries to the Tour Eiffel, which took me awhile. As I walked, I passed the Alexandre III and the Place de la Concorde and it was amazing. My mom happened to call and I told my parents all was well. “Oh yeah. Just walking around Paris looking at the Eiffel Tower right this moment as I’m talking to you. No biggie” and it was very surreal. 

I’m pretty proud of myself. That was more than a little scary. I found my way around and nothing bad happened. I'd say that’s an accomplishment. Puttin’ it on my resume: “Went to Paris all alone. Came back.” Oh, update- I finally made it to Corsica!