Monday - Well, I eventually got into the boarding lounge place...and just as I was about to leave the lounge, my good pal George W Bush decided to leave too, which meant we all had to wait at least 45 minutes until he left. I captured his plane leaving on video, as did almost everyone who was there, seeing as there was nothing else to do. Air Force One is an impressive plane.
So there you have it. I got on the plane eventually, and found myself a good seat, and no-one sat beside me. I didn't know whether to be offended or happy, but I was happy cause then I could be relaxed more and put stuff on chairs, such as my iPod, book, etc. I was equally as surprised to find out that the flight was only going to take 1hr and 15 minutes...a lot less than the bus to Derry from Belfast! Makes you realise how fast planes really go (end of obvious statement)
So, not much happened on the plane apart from people around me who were very annoying. I landed, and it took forever to get to the terminal for some reason, the plane seemed to taxi for at least 10 minutes. This made it even more frustrating, as I was SO desperate to see Colette, and I was getting really really excited. Once we stopped, we then had to get a bus which took a little while, although humorously the driver didn't seem to know where to go, and actually stopped at where he had to get off, then drove away from it, then turned round and went back to it. Baggage reclaim took forever; my yearning for Colette was deepening even more. Once I got Colettes bag (I had to look after one of her suitcases...), I quickly walked over to the leaving area and there she was! With her aunt. I've never recieved such a tight hug in my life, and what made it more awkward was that I was carrying 2 bags so my hug was pretty pathetic, I'd say.
The next panic was then to find the underground station to get to the hotel. It also seemed like a really long walk, but holding my girlfriends hand again made me happy enough anyway that I didn't care. Despite only meeting her aunt, we seemed to get on well from the start, which was good. Anyway, we found the station eventually, and I was fascinated by the music the station made when a train was coming or an announcement was made, and I hoped that it would make similar sounds throughout my journey. Unfortunately, it didn't make the same sound but all the subway station sounds were really interesting, compared to the UK two-tone idea. Once we were on the train, it also seemed to take forever to leave. This changed the view I always had of Europe that everything left swiftly, promptly, and on time. The whole journey seemed a bit of a blur as I was so tired and so happy to be with Colette again.
Once we arrived at Republique station, this was the first "real" view of France I got. And it was exactly what I was expecting - very cosmopolitan, a lot of restaurants/cafes, and very open plan with little to no lanes on the road! I didn't have much problem carrying Colettes ridiculously heavy suitcase, but when I ran across the road with it, something happened to the wheels. They sorta just didn't work properly, and had difficulty moving. So, this created a problem. Rather than just pulling it along, I then had to lift it up and carry it, and it was a seriously heavy weight, and it wrecked my arms.
Anyway, after checking in, me and Colette then had our first time being together since May 31st, and it was great. We did a lot of catching up, and it was great to be able to cuddle her and stuff again. My first impressions of the hotel were good, despite it only being a 1 *. The man working the night shift that night wasn't very nice, and he told us to keep the noise down when we really were at a minimul volume in Colettes aunts room. Reminded me of Duncreggan all over again.
Tuesday - So, morning came fast..and I really didn't get enough sleep despite being tired the night before. Although being tired, I was eager to discover the city and I had a list of places I wanted to go. But, I knew that this was not my own personal holiday, and it was Colettes scholarship so I was happy to go wherever she went. We went downstairs for breakfast to meet her aunt, who was going to be leaving that morning with the now infamous suitcase. Colettes mum, brother and sister were meant to be arriving early that morning, but alas they didn't make it till later in the morning. So, after breakfast, Colettes aunt got everything ready to go and left...we decided that we would leave with her to the station as the bag was too heavy for her to carry down the stairs of the Republique station (and believe me there were lots of stairs). However, she even had difficulty wheeling it along, so she decided not to take it, which meant we said goodbye to her on the streets of Paris, and I had to bring the bag back with me again!
Me and Colette chilled again in the room, until she recieved a call from the hotel phone saying her family was downstairs. She excitedly raced down and gave them all a big hug, which I thought was kinda cute. So, here I was, in Paris, faced with meeting her family. I'd be lieing if I said I wasn't nervous. But, my nerves soon cleared up when I realised that they were all really nice people. We all went back up to the main room, where they unpacked and gave Colette presents, and I just sat around. Then I got my room key (I was in an individual room) and scoped it out. I was happy that my room wasn't too small, and had a sink in it. My view wasn't the best though, I looked at the beautiful landscape that is an elevator shaft. I didn't mind that though, I knew I wasn't going to be in my room much anyway.
Once everyone settled in, we then decided to hit the road. The first port of call was to get lunch, and we went to a cafe. I was pleased to see that almost every cafe we went to had the option of having beer with your meal, as some of us like to drink in the afternoon but not get violently drunk. I had an interesting bolognaise and cheese baguette, it was delicious. Colettes sister Mallory is a vegan, and she had a lot of difficulty choosing what she wanted! I also had my first beer here, a trusty Kronenburg 1664! Reminded me of Derry, particularly 66 Marlborough St.
After lunch, we got on the subway and went to the Rodin Museum. Rodin was a famous French sculpter, best known for his work 'The Thinker'. However, I preferred his work "The Gates of Hell". A lot of his works to me seemed similar, all depicting human depression and sadness. I was really wanting to see his grave as well; as I liked the thought of him being buried with his works, but unfortuntely we couldn't find it. There were too many sculptures to handle for me, and I soon grew tired of them.
The Thinker (photo taken by me)
During the Rodin Museum, my phone died so I couldn't take any more pictures (I had a disposable camera but forgot to bring it with me). This was annoying, as our next stop was Notre Dam, a place I've wanted to see for MANY years. Despite not being religious, it's a fascinating building which really demonstrates the feat of human effort, if they know its for a "holy" purpose. It made me question what humans could do if there really was something holy that we had to build for that holy power. Anyway, Notre Dam was swamped with aggravating beggars, who, once they heard a word of English, came up to you with a note saying about how poor their family is etc. Initially we weren't going to go in to the place as we thought it was pay in, but alas it wasn't. I'm really glad I went in, the place was very overwhelming and powerful.
After Notre Dam, we decided to go into the Notre Dam Crypt, which Colettes mum originally said was a big burial ground for dead WWI soldiers, and I was ready for something fascinating. Unfortunately, it was not a crypt for soldiers, but rather a crypt of old Paris. All it was was just a lot of rubble, and it was very boring indeed. This was probably the worst thing I did in Paris.
We got on the subway again and headed home, and decided to get some Chinese food, as Colette had been complaining about wanting to go there since I arrived. I was really excited to eat more Beef and Black Bean sauce as I hadn't had it since Derry. Despite being an award winning restaurant, they didn't have it on the menu, so it took me forever to explain to a Chinese French lady what I wanted, as they had Shrimp and Black Bean sauce (which would be more expensive anyway). Little did we know that we had to pay for the rice too, and I asked for egg fried rice, which was quite expensive and also quite disgusting. I asked for Orangina and they gave me Orange Juice. Language barrier, eh? Despite being really expensive and award winning, the portion I got was really quite small.
After the Chinese catastrophe, Colette and I organised to go to the Eiffel Tower. Although, in the Republique park there was a very interesting gathering going on: a homeless gathering. They were all being fed soup and corn flakes. It was quite humorous really, seeing them all together like that. What annoyed me though was the fact that there were hundreds of bowls on the ground, they couldn't have the decency to at least throw them in the bin when they were done, for something they didn't pay for. Ah well, not my problem I guess. We also went to a bakery where I discovered the most wonderful Chocaroons (like a macaroon but with chocolate), and the first arrogant French person who refused to speak English at all, leaving me to just point, pay up, and say 'merci'.
I was so excited to see the Eiffel Tower. This was another thing that I had wanted to see since I was young, and more recently I wanted to see it with a girlfriend...and I was fulfilling both at once. And the sight was unbelievable. You turned a corner when coming off the road and there it was in full view. The walk down to the tower itself was quite long, with many people selling Eiffel Tower related items and, wait for it, roses. As we got closer, it became more overwhelming to me. Colette had seen it a day or 2 before me, so it was no big surprise to her. We kissed underneath the middle of the tower, which was quite amazing, but ruined by some stupid retard who was trying to sell me a rose - he ruined one of the most romantic moments of my life by trying to sell me something which supposedly is romantic...kinda ironic really.
So, me and Colette walked towards the gardens and sat on a bench and cuddled, watching the Eiffel Tower light up. At 10PM, it sparkled a lot of crazy lights, which I caught on camera. It did it again at 11PM, when we were further away from the Eiffel Tower on the way home, and it looked spectacular from a distance, perhaps beating it up close.
It was a very romantic evening. Me and Colette got back to the hotel and cuddled a bit more, then she went to bed in her room, and I also went to sleep.
Wednesday - Another early start, I felt like I didn't really want to do anything. But, seeing as it was a practically 2 day trip and not a 2 week one, I knew I had to do stuff, despite being completely insanely tired. After breakfast, our first port of call was a place called Jardin de Plantes. It was a heaven for Colette, as her scholarship was on taking photos of plants, and whilst I embrace nature, I wasn't really fascinated by it. There was a labyrinth though, which was fun.
After the Jardin de Plantes, we walked around a lot and found this nice cafe/patisserie. Here I got a hot dog with cheese, and a chocoaroon. After eating, we then went to this cathedral which hosted the grave and coffin of St. Genevieve, which Pope John Paul II went to and prayed at, according to the picture beside it. Again, it was another fascinating cathedral, despite being anti-religious. I noticed that when people left, they took some holy water (which was actually dirty) and crossed themselves with it. I never seen this practice done before, and it, to me, was kinda stupid and pointless. Colettes family (apart from her brother) did it, whilst I walked out of the place, free and not having to do it for no reason whatsoever.
We came back to the hotel for a while, and Colette was also adamant that we went to a creperie. Now, normally I was used to lemon juice and sugar crepes, and I assumed that the crepes there would be the same. I was wrong. Rather than being ultra thin and flattened pancakes, they were really crunchy and weird, with a filling at the bottom. I asked for Antouille, which is some form of French smoked ham, and it was terrible. The crepe looked like someones skin from intense burns, or from a nuclear holocaust. I then decided to rename my crepe 'the nuclear holocaust', because it was so terrible. I did get a dessert crepe that was lemon juice and sugar, and more like the ones at home...it was amazing.
After dinner, we then went to the Champs Elysee, to see the Arc de Triomphe, and of course, the most beautiful shopping avenue in the world. And it really was beautiful. The walk up to Arc de Triomphe was uphill, but it didn't actually feel uphill at all. There were many different bars and restaurants, and strangely car manufacturers and airplane companies. I also had a pint of Affligem, which Adrien so frequently told me about. It wasn't too bad, but didn't live up to Adriens hype. The Arc de Triomphe was very amazing too, but I didn't see it ridiculously up close, but I was across the road from it so that wasn't too bad. It was late at night as well, so we had to go home.
We got back to the hotel, and me and Colette had a final cuddle before going to bed for my last day in Paris.
Thursday - Woke up again to breakfast, and to the fact I had to pack. I threw everything in my bag, and after some waiting, packed it into the car that Colettes mum had just rented. This would turn out to be an insane journey. Whilst we were given directions to the airport, they weren't entirely followed due to the fact that there were no coherent or big signs about, so basically we tried reading the map, and some success happened, but most of it was stressful and everyone felt nauseous because of the stress. Eventually we found the right motorway to the airport, and when we got there, Colettes mum couldn't get the car to go in reverse, so basically everyone tried but to no avail, until we asked one of the airport car park workers to help us...he did. So, with that, we ate lunch at the airport.
Colette and I knew our time together was short, and she was beginning to get upset. When it was time for them to go, I was beginning to feel really emotional and sad, and Colette was very sad too, crying a lot again. Saying goodbye again was really really hard, and it hurt a lot more this time as we only had about 2 and a half days together, and basically just picked up from where we left off - but now we were going to be away from each other again. Intense hugs and kisses happened, and we said goodbye again. When I walked away from the car, I felt so sad again...and when I got back to the airport, I noticed a lot of sad people, and it inspired me to write about airports on my phone when I was bored, I'll be posting it up later probably.
Anyway, I had 5/6 hours to kill, so I just walked around, ate, drank, listened to music and read. There were also a few homeless people randomly walking around the airport, with one old guy in particular who proceeded to continually spit on the floor and smoke in the airport, before passing out with his shoes off, smelling the place out.
I was really glad that the French airport security were nowhere near as strict, and a lot nicer. Once I got to the departure lounge I just listened to music and chilled. The flight home was fine, nothing special. I arrived to Belfast in rain, which depressed me after seeing such beautiful weather in Paris.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip, and me and Colette are intending to go back there someday! I was so glad to see my girlfriend again, and I can't wait to see her on July 9th in Milan.
Iain
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