New Years Eve in Paris was much different than I expected. During the day, Jesse and i left early and went to the musee d'orsay, napaleon's tomb, and the eiffel tower. After a day of walking, i opted for a nap. Jesse skipped his. Turned out to be a bad choice. Later that night, we found the least expensive restaurant on our street (everything was marked up 35%-50%) and i ordered escargot and enjoyed it as long as i wasn't looking at it. Jesse was soo tired he could barely hold his head up. He left me at the restaurant to take care of the bill while he tried to take a power nap since everyone else in the hostel was ready to go to the eiffel tower. I came back to wake up Jesse and he can't be budged. So i went out with 12 other people to the eiffel tower.
The metro was packed, just like expected. everyone in town is going exactly where we are. I was pushed up against a pole with some people packed in so tight they had nothing to hold to. That meant that every time the metro started and stopped, i had the weight of 2 or 3 full grown adults pushing me into the pole. The best part of the train trip there was the soccer calls going on through out the car. Everyone was chanting and yelling.
Once all 13 of us met up at the station we immediately got separtated. So i spent the evening with a french canadian girl from Montreal, two mexican surgeons who work in spain, and a guy from argentina.
Once it was midnight, the eiffel tower lit up and sparkeled. And then everybody started to leave. We stayed for maybe a half an hour because i refused to believe that there weren't any fireworks. And then we learned from people there that the eiffel tower lights up every night at every hour. So new year's eve did nothing differnt than any other night. It was a huge let down.
The night really began once we tried to head home. The french canadian had to pee so bad she asked some SWAT looking police where the bathrooms were. We eventually found an empty street and she peed between to cars while i covered with my jacket and the boys stood on the corners looking out for people. After that we headed toward the next subway stop. On there way there, the eiffel tower lit up again since it was now 1 o'clock. Great.....We finally found the subway but it was so full of people we decied to walk home instead of being crushed to death in the metro station.
Once we left, it was a long walk home, since all the taxis were full. While walking we came across the only open restaurant we saw all night. We all decided a cup of hot chocolate or coffee sounded good. turns out, the didn't have anything hot there, only cold drinks. So i ordered an orange juice. When we got the bill, i found out that my OJ was 5.40 euros. That's like 6 bucks.
We finally got home around 3:30 and met up with everyone who we got separated from the night. Everyone walked home since the subways were either to crazy or closed. Some girls from Vancouver Island had an even worse night that included seeing a dead body and being accosted by an algerian kissing party.
That sweetest part was that jesse had woken up and come downstairs looking for me and apparently got very worried i wan't home yet and walking the streets of paris. So thanks jesse for worrying. =)
The next morning, Jesse and i headed to train station for Amsterdam. More on Amsterdam later when i get a better chance.
love,
grace
