Sarah and I met up in DC and flew to Paris for our 12.5 hour layover. Our
adventure in Paris was interesting to say the least. It took roughly an hour,
if not more, for us to locate a baggage locker and exit the airport. Needless
to say, the airport was HUGE, and any direction we were given was just enough
information to make it to the next section of the airport to, once again, ask
for more directions. It was pretty rough. Upon leaving the airport, we caught a bus to the Arc de
Triomphe. While the original plan was to ride another bus from the Arc to the
Eiffel Tower, we decided to walk instead and were both very happy about this
decision. Sarah had pre-purchased a lift ticket to the top of the Eiffel tower
so I explored for about an hour down below. During my purposeless wandering, I met a young
couple from Charleston, had a very awkward exchange with a local, and saw a
young man, who had asked me to take his picture with the Eiffel Tower not 20 minutes prior, get interrogated by 6 police officers. The awkward exchange took
place at a small produce market when I attempted to buy an apple; here's our conversation:
Me: Hello! Do you accept US Dollars here?
Him: *Puzzled look* Something in French
Me: America?...Dollar?...American Dollar?...
Him: Long sentence in French
Me: EErrrmmm...*Pulled out a dollar to show him*
Him: Ahhhh Dollar!....No no no.
Me: Kay, thanks, bye.
We returned to our bus stop at the arc just as the bus was pulling up,
which was tremendously lucky as we had no idea how often the bus stopped there
and it was a 45+ minute ride back to the airport. Before I got on the bus I
realized I wouldn’t see Paris again for several years, if at all, so I took in
my last views of the Arc de Triomphe, the cobblestone roads, the people who
looked as though they were dressed for their own personally unique fashion
runway show later that day, the historic residential buildings that lined the
streets, along with luxury clothing stores that filled the gaps between. Then,
I stepped on the bus to hear the lyrical genius of Jason Derulo’s “Wiggle”
playing, laughed hysterically to myself (thanks Emily), and immediately felt like I was back
in the States. What a bummer. We made it back to the airport around 5pm, boarded our flight from Paris to Johannesburg at 10:45pm, and
arrived around 11am the next day.
The Arc from our bus
Crepe stand...because why not
One of the people starring in their own fashion show.
The lovely couple from Charleston took my picture
You parked a little close there, buddy
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