Paris, A Hawaiian Paradise

I am a pretty lucky person to have been in Paris twice in the less than 6 months; actually it’s barely 3 months. I signed up for this trip truly believing it would be a different experience than the one I had in March with my mom, aunt and younger sister. Granted my sister Britt would not be walking around Paris with a fake French accent for the weekend, which was probably the number one thing I would miss. All in all Paris is not far from London; it was a two hour train ride and a one hour time difference. I slept the whole time, having it be 8:15 in the morning when we got on the train.

Ten of us were staying at the Aloha Hostel, four boys; Dylan, Ryan, Sean and Chris and six girls; Goose, Mave, Cougar Cub, SBP, Rachel (mom) and I. We checked in but had to leave our bags in the luggage room because we were not allowed in our rooms from 11 – 5 everyday. This didn’t matter because why would I want to be sitting in a hostel when I am paying butt loads of money to be in Paris? So we were off to find lunch, which was a challenge in itself to order and the headed to then Musee D’Orsay. I was happy that we were headed there because it was a museum we had skipped in March. Our group headed by RJ and Mave arrived first, obviously. Other groups started to trickle in slowly. One group had trouble trying to locate one girl who had gotten a hostel by herself and then got loss (not going to name names), so understandably they were late. I mean how mad can you be at nice people for trying to help a lost girl out? The last group arrived an hour after we were suppose to meet, which you could tell irritated a lot of the group. They had their reasons, which as always people chose to believe or not to believe. On a different note the museum was amazing, I really love Monet and somehow I always forget how much I love Picasso. Overall it was a nice beginning to the afternoon of outings. We then headed to Notre Dame, which is always breath taking. I walked around with Lawler and we discussed how when you over study something and then go and see what you have been studying all these years, it is not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Over analyzing and hyping landmarks up, seem to take the winds out of its sails. Anyways we enjoyed it and then sat at a café for some much needed coffee. Our waiter kept offering us champagne and when we turned the offer down, he stopped enjoying our company. Our next stop was the Louvre, where our culture by design teacher took us around to look at paintings and sculptures. It was interesting to go a second time and see paintings from an academic perspective. Afterwards we completed Goose’s ultimate dream of eating Mickey D’s, drinking wine and smoking a cigarette while sitting at the Eiffel tower. Mission complete. One of the funniest moments was when a man selling champagne, wine and beer out of his backpack approached our group. Goose bartered with him that the bottle of champagne was only worth only twelve euro compared to the fifteen he wanted. After that purchase, in the next five minutes Rachel got the bottle of champagne down to seven euro for Lawler to purchase. Same guy, same champagne but a different price, it was quite funny. After, Rachel Brubaker as social director had arranged for all of us to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Sorry Rachel, A for effort but I hated this idea and activity due to be terrified of heights We were only at the bottom when I started to get really anxious and feel a slow panic attack coming on. Keep in mind; I am terrified of heights, already crying and yet I am still fully on the ground at this point. Bennett, my hubby, I am sure with no intention of pissing me off, started to make fun of me for being so scared. Anyways as I cry on the elevator with plenty of strangers, wouldn’t be the first time, Bennett attempted to propose….with no ring, for comic relief? I was also asked strange questions like would I like to stand on the perimeter of the elevator or in the middle? Mmm there was plenty more but I just focused on breathing. Sam was nice and offered to stay on the second tier with me and not go all the way to the top. Which, I really appreciated. We had a nice time and were up there for probably an hourish? Went back down, made sure everyone met up with their prospective hostel groups and Team Aloha headed back to the headquarters. Mave, the boys and myself went out for another drink at a pub near by and had really great conversations. After the boys had two bottles of wine, we called it a night.

The following morning we woke up late and rushed to the CBD outing that started at the Pompidou, which is often compared to the Tate Modern here in London. We didn’t go in because they said it would be costly to us, which is fine by me. We then took the longest tube ride possible to the Eiffel Tower and discussed how it really has no importance. I was tired and pretty much just leaned on Bennett the whole time. Our next and final stop was Musee Branly. It had artifacts from the Aztecs, Africans, Chinese and many more cultures. Bennett and I walked around together; I personally enjoyed the masks that various people from the community would wear. After this outing the Aloha team decided to be French and go to a grocery store to buy baguettes and wine to eat in some park that Dylan knew of. The journey was long and the one weakness of Team Aloha is that when we are not properly fed, we tend to get very cranky so it was a struggle. Being French was quite the success with all of us sitting in a park and once again enjoying each other’s company. Eventually, we headed back, to buy more wine and headed out for a nice dinner. It was absolutely delicious and we had multiple servings, it was almost as if eating in your own kitchen.

Originally, our group had discussed doing numerous activities such as going to a discoteca or a pub after dinner but we decided on picking up more wine and champagne to enjoy in front of the Eiffel Tower. We not only saw the Eiffel Tower light up multiple times, we were there until it turned off. We saw the Eiffel Tower turn off! After a great night, possibly one of my favorites, we headed back to Hawaii. The next morning Team Aloha split up into three groups. Goose, Mave and RJ went to Versailles. Dylan and Ryan had a very much-needed man date. Leaving SBP, Rachel, Chris and I up to do whatever we wanted. Hence, Rachel’s big day out. We ate crepes, took a picture in front of the Notre Dame, went on a riverboat ride, the opera house and went to Sacre Coure. Sacre Cour was BEAUTIFUL! Rachel took plenty of illegal photos and I personally enjoyed falling asleep on the front lawn. We then shopped for souvenirs. I have bought a shirt in every country that I have gone to this summer, so of course I bought one in Paris. I also replaced shot glasses I broke from the first time I was in Paris for my friends that got the short end of the stick. Sorry mom.

Later that night our group barely made it to the train and once we were on it, every single one of us passed out. We arrived home late on Sunday night; exhausted I went straight to bed. Team Aloha!