I am, finally, here... in Paris... I am speechless as to finding the words to explain the beauty of this place. I have never thought that anything was "breathtaking" until the taxi pulled out onto the street today and I caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower... it was amazing... Then, as I watched Parisian life on the streets, I caught a glimpse of the Louvre... still speechless. There are no words to describe what I saw today. The only way to understand it, is to see it for yourself. "Paris"... it does live up to its name.
Well, after witnessing all that beauty, I had to come back to life and direct my taxi driver to my hotel. Now, hotels in Paris are ridiculously expensive. They start from 400 Euros to thousands of Euros a night. So, when I realized I would be spending 3 nights here, I had my sister (my travel agent) find me a room in a good location. She did find me a room for a couple hundred a night, which was already stretching it, but I did want to stay in the city.
I told my taxi driver the name of my hotel and sat back admiring everything outside my window. After about 15 minutes of being in dreamland, she pulled over on a corner of a crowded street, in front of a very luxurious hotel that looked like it was out of a movie. As soon as I stepped out of the cab, the hotel attendant walked up to my bags and took them inside. I was kind of surprised at the service at that moment, because I hadn't expected much from the hotel I'd seen online, but I thought it might be my lucky day, so I payed the taxi driver and walked inside the hotel. The hotel didn't look like it was out of a movie... I felt like I was in a movie. It was beautifully, romantically lit, with statues and chandeliers all over the place, gold railings, and granite floors... I stood there for a second trying to collect my thoughts about this moment, thinking that this might be the wrong hotel, but I was immediately directed to the front desk to check in. The attendant said, "To your right Mademoiselle, sivouplay..." pointing me to the front desk. I smiled and said, "Merci..." and walked over to the counter thinking I might be in a dream, but I seemed to be doing okay, so I pulled out my passport and began the check in process. The attendant had already taken my luggage and was waiting to escort me to my room... Right then, I woke up when the lady at the front desk that was trying to check me in said, "Mademoiselle, are you sure you have a reservation at this hotel...?" I paused, stopped smiling, and said, "Umm, yes, it's the Hotel Louvre, right?" She nodded her head and said, "yes..., but you're not in the system..." Then, I remembered the street name and said, "Is this Bons Enfants? Hotel Louvre Bons Enfants... I think that's what it is...this isn't it, is it?" She handed my passport back to me and said, "Uh, no madam, this is Hotel de Louvre..." Well, how the hell was I supposed to know the difference when the taxi driver didn't... She called for the attendant to bring my bags back and I was to make my exit as swiftly as I had made my entrance at the Hotel de Louvre, except that my luggage got caught in the big rotating doors and that slowed the process down a bit. Well, the hotel, my Hotel Louvre, was two blocks away, so I started walking...
As I walked through the Paris streets with crowds of people around me, there was hardly enough sidewalk to walk on because the cafe tables were set out so far. Besides the downfall of not staying in a luxurious hotel, that moment was so great. There was laughter, French conversation, car horns, scooter noises... it was really great. I walked a couple of blocks down and turned a left into a dark alley where my hotel was supposed to be. There was nothing more in that alleyway except for that one hotel sign and some construction across the street. By this time, my bags, weighing tons...I was tired, sweaty, and my arms were about to fall off, so I parked my luggage in the alleyway and tried to get myself together.
As I walked in to the empty lobby of a small boutique hotel, I checked in with the man sitting at the front desk reading a book. He was a bit surprised at my state because he stared at me for a bit as I kept trying to wipe the sweat off my forehead. As he handed me the room key, I sighed in relief and made my way up to the 4th floor thinking, "I made it!"
But, my sigh turned into a deep breathing exercise when I realized that the elevator was so small, my luggage wouldn't fit in it. (and, honestly, my luggage is not big... it's, realistically, the size of a carry on...) So, I pushed all my stuff inside, got in, and hoped that the elevator would go up, and not down. It did go up... as the doors opened, I realized the whole hallway, (no exaggeration) was two feet wide. It wasn't bad enough I couldn't fit in the elevator, now, I had to carry my bags sideways to my room, so, I did...
And...
Now, I'm here, finally... in Paris... at last...
Tip of the Day: Don't let any kind of situation bring you down. Everything that doesn't go as planned is what's remembered at the end of the trip.
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