The second to last night, I was exceptionally melancholy. I went down to the Seine that evening, after cleaning my room and packing all day. I started at Notre Dame, and spent the rest of the night walking over to the Eiffel Tower on the Right Bank. Melancholy really is the best word to use, and it didn't help that it was one of the most ridiculously photogenic nights ever created.
Take a look. None of these have had their coloring altered in any way, btw.
*whimper*
Things perked up significantly on my last full day, however. Because of all the time spent packing and cleaning on Thursday, I was able to spend my last Friday in Paris enjoying Paris. I could have gone on a mad sprint around to all of my favorite haunts on last time, but I opted for the slow and localized. I could only have one destination: le tour Eiffel.
I went to my boulangerie (the best bread in Paris), and picked up une tradition (better than a standard baguette), then to my local supermarche for the best goat cheese and an icy Limonata (my drink indulgence of choice. For normal people, insert your favorite wine when you imagine this scenario). Yes, there are supermarches and boulangeries near the Eiffel Tower, and they have very good products. But I needed my baguette for my last day. And I had me a picnic lunch under the Eiffel Tower.
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| Lunch with a view! |
Then, I did something that I never planned on doing. I blame my father- he talked me into it.
I climbed the Eiffel Tower.
Now, for many, this would not be a foolish move. In fact, the line is significantly shorter, and the fare cheaper. These are what got me to forget my Blinding Fear of Heights, which is always further exacerbated by Scary- Usually Open- Stairs, up until I was handing my ticket to the guys. The bright side of being so utterly terrified on the way up was that my adrenaline kept me from realizing exactly how fast I had powered up exactly how many stairs, so I didn't realize how hard my heart was pounding until I had been on the first level for several minutes.
I wised up and paid to upgrade to an elevator pass for the ride to the second level, and just plain ruled out the ride to the third level. Ain't never gonna happen.
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| My first view upon creeping to the edge of the first level |
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| My general thoughts on being that high up |
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| Trocadero from high up! |
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| Contrary to popular conception, the Eiffel Tower is not, in fact, grey. |
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| Trocadero from even higher up!! I get dizzy just looking at this picture... |
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| I live roughly a smidgen to the left of the ginormous black thing |
That evening, I went to Trocadero. I stayed for the first sparkling of the evening, at 10pm. At that point, I turned to leave. I got about 10 feet, then turned around to look. Looked for 5-10 minutes. Okay, now it's really time to go. Got maybe 25 feet, dodging a pushy vendor. Turned to look and get another picture. 15 minutes later, still standing there, I gave in and called my mom.
[Not-So-Quick phone explanation: Upon arriving in Paris, we were all required to buy French cell phones. And, obviously, minutes for said phones. We were fed horror story upon horror story of how ridiculously expensive minutes are in France, how you should only ever text so you don't run out of minutes within the first week, etc. etc. So I bought the 50-euro plan. This got me 50 euro worth of minutes, plus an extra 15 minutes! 50 is the first level at which you get the bonus minutes. So I go about my semester, texting away. I even did some out-of-country texting when I was in Scotland and Greece. The last week, I finally figure out how to check on my balance. Turns out I have 5 days to use up, wait for it: 51.45 euros worth of minutes. I think they may have overstated how much coverage costs in Paris. So, I got to call home a couple of times! Terribly exciting =D]
She made the very obvious and clever point that I didn't have to leave. I could stay for as many hours as I deemed necessary! I could sleep on the plane the next day. So I hung around at Trocadero for over two hours. There was even some sort of figure roller skating world championship going on at the base, which made for some good between-sparklings entertainment. Thanks, Mommy!
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| Amazingly, none of these pictures come anywhere near to capturing the extreme dark grey-blue of the clouds, and the incredible contrast it made with the Eiffel Tower |
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| For whatever reason, I really love the image of traffic roaring past the Eiffel Tower. I got a dozen versions of this picture each time I went at night. |
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| 10pm sparkling |
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| 11pm sparkling |
My final morning went very smoothly. I was able to pack up and leave without any difficulty. I was at the airport nice and early (aided by my wonderful friend and foyer-mate Vanessa, who helped my wheel my two gigantic suitcases to the RER station). And though it didn't thrill me to leave, I was able to instead look forward to Iceland and being home, rather than mope (too much).
There was a nice symmetry to my arrival in Paris and my departure that helped me see how far I came in just four and a half months. It was rainy, I came in on the RER and I made sure to leave via RER. I wore my leopard print trench coat. But this time, I could speak to people. I knew which stops to get on and off at. I knew how to deal with the weirdos in the stations.
I am so incredibly grateful for my time in Paris. I learned so much about the world and myself. I do find myself missing it frequently, even as I immerse myself in all of the things I missed about home and the USA. I'll be back with a few final updates (I still haven't shown you all of the gorgeous gardens at Giverny!), and of course, check back anytime you hear that I am jet-setting again!
