Down to the Seas: Au Revior, 2012

New Year’s Eve! And what a memorable New Year’s Eve it was! Jess, Sean, Travis, Taylor and I had croissants and coffee together in the common room after a full night’s sleep (glorious!) and discussed what we were planning on doing. Taylor and I hopped on the metro (appropriately dressed for Paris, we hoped), bound for the Arc de Triomphe and the start of the Champs Elysees. So many shops! Our intent was to walk the length of the street until we arrived at the Louvre, but the moment we caught sight of the Eiffel Tower, we changed course and made our way to the Seine, which we followed for a good distance, singing Mama Mia and taking pictures. The crowds thickened as we approached the Eiffel Tower and there were vendors everywhere selling miniatures of the Tower. I don’t know if it was the light or what, but the Eiffel Tower was brown…we weren’t expecting that. We didn’t spend too long there. I got a crepe with Nutella before we found a metro station, which we took to Notre Dame. The queue (this is what everyone says) was quite long, so we bypassed going inside and just explored the outside, remarkable in and of itself. By this point we’d done a ton of walking so we found a little café near Notre Dame and ordered baguette sandwiches. Luckily bread is cheap and excellent because that’s about all we eat. I find myself able to get around fairly well with the little French I know, mostly from context clues, but still.

With our energy restored, we continued on in an attempt to find the Louvre. We crossed the Seine, turned first one way and then another, then back the first way again, after deciding it was the right direction after all. The great part about not having solid plans is you can wander wherever you want, and getting lost is part of the experience. We passed H&M after H&M along Rue de Rivoli, which we obnoxiously pronounced as Rue de Ravioli until we came to a cathedral that we briefly went in. Then onward to the Louvre! It was much, much larger than we expected and people everywhere were pinching their fingers together to make it look like they were holding up the glass pyramid in the square. We opted to take jumping pictures instead. By this point we were tuckered out and rain was threatening, so we jumped on the metro and went back to our hostel. Jess, Sean, and Travis came in shortly after and we all napped for a few hours before deciding how to spend our evening.

We began by walking up to the shops and cafes near the Sacre Coeur and had a lovely dinner at one of them. We learned Jess lives on a sheep farm in Tasmania, Travis can tie any topic of conversation back to Canada, and Sean has many questions about America. Stopping at a market on the way back, we picked up some bottles of wine and champagne and went back to the hostel to talk and drink them. Close to midnight we headed up to the Sacre Coeur with our bottles of champagne to join the throngs of people already up there looking out over the city. A building blocks most views of the Eiffel Tower, but we found a side street where we could just see it, where we stood on the steps in the rain with scores of other people doing the exact same and watched the light show at midnight. Everybody was drinking champagne and shouting “Bonne Annee”! It was magical.

However, our night was not over. We talked for another few hours in the common room, then Taylor, Travis and I headed out to find a club. We didn’t get too far before we found a wine bar near the Moulin Rouge to go to instead where we passed another hour drinking chardonnay. People on the street walk around selling roses, and Travis bought one for us both, and it seemed like we were constantly responding “Bonne Annee” to everyone else who was saying it. Finally, we went back to the hostel and fell asleep, only to wake up a couple hours later to catch our train.