Edinburgh to Paris

I woke up bright and early this morning. 4:30 AM to be exact. I was completely disoriented when I got my computer out and found out it was 4:30 in the morning. The sky was light and the sun was almost out. The weather is crazy in Edinburgh. It wouldn't get dark until 10 PM and then, as I discovered this morning, the sun comes up super early too. I'm not entirely sure what happened this morning. It felt like an episode of The Twilight Zone. 

We packed up our bags, ate breakfast, and were out the door by 8 AM. We caught a bus to the train station and immediately boarded our train. I tried really hard to stay awake for the train ride so that I could see the countryside. Alas, as hard as I tried, I was lulled to sleep by the motion of the train. I find it difficult to stay awake while riding from Madison to Sioux Falls, which is only a 45 minute drive. I definitely did not stay awake for the whole four hour train ride. 

The English countryside 

Train ride to London

We arrived in London at about 2 PM. We all grabbed our luggage and walked across the street to the station where the chunnel leaves from. The chunnel is a train that goes from London to Paris and crosses under the English Channel through a tunnel. 

We couldn't go through security for about an hour so we killed some time by grabbing something to eat. After we had eaten, we still had some time before heading over to security. Not far from where we were camping out, there was a piano conveniently placed. The piano was super out of tune, but I still played for a while. Laura and I also did a pretty awesome rendition of Heart and Soul. 

We got through security without too much trouble. And then, once again, we had to wait for a while before we could board. Once we did board, we settled in for a 2 and a half hour ride to Paris. Needless to say, I fell asleep. I was asleep before we'd even gotten out of London and when I woke up we were already in France. 

My first impression of Paris was less than great. It seemed dirty and creepy. And there was graffiti all over the subway walls. It didn't help that my first interaction with anyone was when a lady came up to me and started asking me something in French. I had no clue what she was saying and my group was already walking ahead of me so my response was something like, "Ummm.... English, sorry." Hopefully I get better at my interactions with people here.


After carrying our suitcases up a lot of stairs we finally came out of the subway station. It didn't take long to walk to our hotel from the station. We were all given our rooming assignments and keys. Laura and I are on the fourth floor and there is only one tiny elevator that holds a maximum of three people. In reality it holds one person and a suitcase. Some of us took turns using it to take our suitcases up because we were tired of carrying them up stairs. 

Laura was also a little freaked out when we first got here

We settled in to our rooms for a little while and then we left our hotel to go out for a little while. The funny thing about Paris, or at least our hotel, you don't take your key with you. You are given one key and when you leave the hotel, you leave it at the front desk and then when you come back you tell them your room number and they give you your key. 

My opinion of Paris changed a bit after we went out for a while. It's a pretty city at nighttime. We took the subway (which is still scary) to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up. It's definitely beautiful to see. We took pictures for a while and then stopped at a small concession stand where food was being sold. I got a hot-dog and a crepe. Actually almost everyone in our group got a hot-dog and a crepe. When I went up to order, the boys taking my order said "Very original!" and then laughed because four people ahead of me had ordered the exact same thing. The hot-dog was in a baguette instead of a traditional hot-dog bun, which is basically the only reason I got a hot-dog. I don't like hot-dogs. However, the crepe was DELICIOUS. I got one that had Nutella and bananas on it. So yummy. 

The Eiffel Tower at night

The Eiffel Tower

To complete my first French experience, while we were standing across from the Eiffel Tower, gazing at it's splendor, someone started playing Moon River on the clarinet. It was like something out of a movie. 

After we finished, we got back on the subway and went back to our hotel. It is now currently 1 AM in Paris and Laura and I are listening to music from all the Disney movies that take place in France. But I should probably go to bed so that I can wake up tomorrow, er, today and be ready for a busy day.

Outside our hotel window

Restaurant across the street

Looking the other way down the street 

Michaela