If I can give you any advice about Paris, it is this. Do not wait until the day before you need a car, to try and rent one, especially an automatic. If you wait until the last moment, you will find that there isn't a single automatic car in the entire city of Paris. But this advice is for the end of our trip through the city of light, the beginning is so much more fun.
Boyfriend and I set out from London to Paris via train, arriving in Gare du Nord. Then it was time to put my French to its test. Beginning in the fifth grade, I started learning the French language. I continued through college and collected a base knowledge and limited fluency of French. One thing was true, I was much better at reading French than speaking it. At least this meant we could find our way from the train station to our hotel on the outskirts of Paris.
My grasp of the French language seemed to fool some people, but mostly I would speak in French and be spoken to in English. Apparently, I need a little more practice. We did manage to find our hotel, navigate the train system back to the city center and find our way down the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe. We made it to the top of the monument just before the Tour Eiffel burst out in a thousand sparkling lights.
Now, how about a little nostalgia? Shortly after we returned from Europe, I received an e-mail from my mom with the following scan attached.
In French class, way back in middle school, I wrote this itinerary. My mom wanted to know what I could cross off my list. Four down, three to go. With only three days in Paris (and half of one spent looking for a rental car), we couldn't quite get to everything on the list. I'll practice my French and plan for our next trip to Paris, so that I can finish my list. Although maybe I'll switch out "Visit EuroDisney" with "Take a trip to Versailles."
