• Natalie Steinbichler

Paris

New Years In Paris Read more
  • Trip start
    December 31, 2024

    New Year

    December 31, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    This is a first for me; I worked the whole day, rushed home to grab our pre-packed luggage and whoosh, our taxi in the form of my mom brought us to Affoltern am Albis trainstation. Luke and I commenced our city trip casually and once we were in the airplane, air france disappointed us by being late.
    But - alas! We weren't in a rush. Especially since we ended up sleeping through New Years, because we're two 80-year olds stuck in young-ish bodies. (And yes, I say young-ish, because we are closing in on 30 and WE SLEPT THROUGH NEW YEARS.)

    Anyway, I'm sure the fireworks were great.
    Sweet sleep was, too, hehe. Actual photos will be posted for January 1, 2025!
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  • January 1st

    January 1 in France ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Yes, like I said, New Years was spent in a nice, warm and cozy bed. We slept in, because we can, and headed out for a nice cup of coffee in a little cafe close to our hotel. We were glad to find something open, since a lot of shops and stores and restaurants were closed for the day.

    So, we walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower after shooting some balloons at a xmas market (or a post-xmas-market in miniature) and won a squid-keychain-stuffed-animal, bought 2 paintings on the street, walked to the Arc de Triomphe and had a lovely dinner.

    Since I'm writing this post on January 3rd, it's been two days since and we both can't remember what we ate for dinner or why it was lovely.

    I'll just re-mention our mental age, since we're getting dementia as well it seems. Please, have empathy.

    Anyhow - Paris has been romantic, nice and not as dirty as I've been warned.
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  • Catacombs & the Louvre

    January 2 in France ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Today was our scheduled day: shortly before 11AM we stuffed our faces with breakfast, rushed over the street to the catacombs just to wait in line (even though there was a time-stamp on our tickets?).

    We descended, what, 131 steps = 20meters and passed the sewer-systems....

    ... to the catacombs of Paris.

    Apparently, they were originally created because Paris was sinking due to a lot of new buildings and a growing population. The chambers underneath (created by time, dirt and other elements) were collapsing. So, why not just get rid of the dead down there?

    They started moving bones before they buried human remains directly a few decades later. Now, the sign reads:

    "Stop. Here lies the empire of death."

    Very ominous, creepy and macabre. I felt a chill run through me when I caught the first glimpse of real, human remains.. stacked upon bones upon bones, neatly rowed next to each other.

    After exiting a very dark and interesting place, we speed-walked through the rain to an entirely stuffed Louvre. I'm not much the art lover, since I simply don't understand it, but I did want to see the famous Mona Lisa.
    Everything we saw before we got there was way more interesting. Old Greek stone plates telling the tales about Aphrodite and Olive Branches was way more fascinating to me, an avid history lover.

    The hype surrounding a woman painted by (yes, okay, he as a person does interest me) Leonardo Da Vinci, was... well... over-hyped in my opinion? I mean... the painting wasn't even as big as I imagined.
    The crowd on the other hand...

    A fine dinner later and we ended our late last evening in Paris watching an episode of a crime show.
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  • Notre Dame

    January 3 in France ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    Hah! And you thought we forgot to see Notre Dame. You thought wrong. Or didn't even notice.

    Whatever the case, we checked out at 11AM, hurdled our luggage behind the front desk and skiddled out into the brisk air of France. We ate a super expensive breakfast at 12PM. Luke ate an omelette, a chocolate croissant AND a crepe.
    He ate like for two.
    I on the other hand made the waitress say "ohhhoho" when I ordered a Nutella crepe with strawberry jam. What's so weird about that?

    We walked past some gift shops to the Notre Dame that we looked at for about 52 seconds and headed back to our hotel to commence our journey back home.

    And, what a surprise! Air france is bringing us home LATE too!

    Now we're killing time until 6pm when our flight departs, after it should've left at 4:40pm.

    Air France is officially not in my good graces.
    Not that Air France cares much.

    And that's the end of our Paris Trip! See ya in two weeks when the two of our butts are flying out to BELFAST, IRELAND.

    😁
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    Trip end
    January 3, 2025