Gay Paree

Paris was pretty much on the top of our list of cities to visit while we were here so when Genevieve's friend Candice and her boyfriend Nathan told us they were getting a flat for a couple weeks and invited us to join them we jumped on it. We spent 4 nights cramping their studio apartment and exploring the French capital.

We took the Eurostar through the chunnel which cost 80 pounds each return I think, but even better than the cost was the ease of the journey. It took less than 4 hours from our door in Wimbledon to the streets of central Paris. A trip from Vancouver to Qualicum takes longer than that. Amsterdam from Luton airport was nearly double. The central location of the stations and the ease of security and customs was such a treat compared to air travel and Paris is quite easily doable in a weekend here which is awesome.

I'd been told that Paris was a disappointment to some people, and I guess the way the city is romanticized and so iconic I can see it being built up to an inevitable let down. Personally I didn't expect it to wow me or change my life, I just thought it looked like an interesting place with some stuff to see that was easy to get to. It met those expectations quite easily.

We started our first day by dropping off our bags and promptly hitting the metro for a wander. We aimed for the area surrounding Notre Dame for a start. I really liked seeing a different style of building from London, while they appear to be similar aged buildings and really not so far from London it was quite a distinct difference that made me realize just how diverse Europe is for such a relatively small area. You can drive 12 hours in BC and refill your Big Gulp at the same 7-11, here you go through a couple countries and feel worlds apart.

I had no intention of going to Notre Dame before we got here, but it looked interesting and the line was reasonable so we climbed the 400 something spiraled stone steps to the top for a view of Paris. This turned out to be my favorite part of the trip actually. The steps all have deep grooves worn in the stone from 800 years of traffic, and the view from the top is incredible. Sharing a view of Paris with Gargoyles that have been there hundreds of years was surreal, picturing the differences they've seen over the centuries just staring off with their goofy faces. I loved those gargoyles.

Paris has a number of famous skate spots I'd wanted to check out, so I brought my board, but having just skated once since rolling my ankle 4 months ago I didn't really expect to skate. I played the role of skate tourist one afternoon and went by myself to look at a few famous spots with no intention of skating. The next day for some reason Genevieve was keen to join me to a couple spots in case there was a chance of 'filming' a trick on one of our digital cameras. It was pretty ridiculous, but there's not many chances in life to skate and get a trick in a city on the other side of the world, regardless of the camera or the mediocre maneuver, so we did it and it was pretty fun. Might be usable, might not, but it was nice to get on the board a bit in Paris on a vacation pretty far removed from a skate trip with the boys.

Genevieve's coworker Hannah happened to be in Paris the same time as us with the boyfriend and sister so we got to meet them at the park across the Seine from the Eiffel tower for some wine and baguettes. Before coming to Paris my only must see was the Eiffel tower, so sitting there drinking wine and watching it sparkle was a moment I won't forget. It always feels a little weird at those iconic sights because you don't really choose to want to see them, someone else does. I guess it's just symbolic of where you are and regardless of what it is, that's how you know you're somewhere new and different. Either way it was pretty moving.

The Louvre was kind of the same, a must see as chosen by everyone else. I did want to go, but having spent so much time in museums in London our limit was pretty short. The sun was shining too bright to spend much time in there so we parted ways with Candice and checked out the Mona Lisa and a handful of things on the way out. I think my favorite part of the Louvre was the mayhem around the famous pieces, all crowding around and taking pictures of the highlights from their travel books without really knowing what else is in there. Just to be clear I'm no better, I just find all of it a little off.

Food and drink in Paris was quite expensive in comparison to London. It was tough to justify 8 Euros on a glass (not a pint) of beer that wasn't even filled to the top. This would explain why there weren't really any pubs in the way we're used to, and most people seemed to just be drinking wine in the parks or on the Seine at night. Another wonderful example of public drinking gone right. We did go for one nice dinner in a fancy little french restaurant, Gen earned it tagging along to skate spots.

We'd heard the stereotype that Paris was dirty and the French were assholes, and while there's always some truth to stereotypes I didn't find it too bad. Most people, while not friendly, weren't particularly rude either. Where ever we tried to use a little grade 9 French they would always speak English. The city itself was pretty dirty though, and the funny thing is I think Paris has been told how beautiful it is for so long that it's gotten a sense of arrogance and that it's too good to clean the puke and dog shit off it's sidewalks. There were also a lot more sketchy characters than we've seen in London, meaning I had my wallet in my front pocket quite a bit. There's a lot of gypsy scams I remembered from Barcelona as well as aggressive African men selling trinkets at all the tourist sites.

I really enjoyed 5 days in Paris, it was great to see all the iconic sights as well as a lot of Paris I hadn't planned on exploring, but I wouldn't want to spend much more time there. Great place to visit but not somewhere I'd want to spend a lot of time, I just didn't really mesh with things there. Coming back to our home base in London is so nice and makes me so happy to travel the way we are. Being able to bank and use our phones for free in Europe is a sweet bonus too.

-Justin