Paris: The most romantic and Siezable city in the world

The train station in London mimiced that of an airport. You have to do the whole x-ray of luggage, questions upon questions, and possibly if you are very unlucky a bit of "turn and cough".

The train ride was very uneventful and only lasted 3 hours. Although I was very tired I had a very hard time trying to sleep while there was so much beautiful countryside to be seen.

We arrived about 4pm into Paris and exchanged our money into Euros. The bloke at the money exchange even sold me on a map which would prove to be our saviour.

For some reason Jeff and I had a terrible time trying to figure out which train would get us from the main station to end of the city where James was staying. Figuring out the train line alone took us about an hour. Once we got ourselves into the city we found oursevles in a train station in the basement of a mall. The mall from hell that is. It seems this mall was a bit under ground itself and to escape you would need to travel to the top level of the mall. Of course this seemed very strange to a bunch of foreigners and it never crossed our minds as an option. We finally got ourselves sorted and figured out this maze and got to experience Paris... very twisting and winding road like Paris where everyting looks the same. Perfect for getting lost. It took Jeff and I another 2 hours to find the Hostel as there happend to be two streets with the same name. How clever. At one point I was about ready to pull a 'Joey' and 'jump into the map' to help direct myself. It never came to it though.

That night after getting ourselves settled in we were joined by an american guy by the name of Chris. He took us out the east end to enjoy some french cafe wine and the people watching thqt ensues. Later I was able to make contact with James and he brought out a new ozzy friend with him, Trent. We had a couple of drinks and enjoyed getting lost in the streets of Paris.

The next day Jeff and I did the whole sight seeing thing again. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and even got 3 hours in at the Louvre. I was lucky enough to see the Mona lisa and even the Venus Dimilo. We also got a chance to run across one of the busiest round-a-bouts in Europe. The one at which the Arc D'Triumph (or however it's spelt) is centered at. We had an issue where we saw all these people right underneath the arc and were wondering "how did they get over there?" With a quick look around we decided to cheese it (bless those 'Futurama' fans who get that reference) across the street. Once we survive the ordeal we discover that there are infact stairs that lead to an underground pathway. Whoops. I don't regret any second of our mad dash in front of tons of smart cars and vespas.

That night it was Trents Birthday and we figured we should take him out and celebrate. In tow we were joined by two american guys, Justin and Adam, as well as our new roommate Fred from Quebec. We hit up an Irish pub and I had Fred try to pick up girls for me (when you cant speak the language, get someone who can). We all turned up empty handed, but James found himself a partner for the night. Around 3 we all headed onto our way home sans James. We were then taken down more winding streets by some locals to drink at their watering hole. This was interesting as none of us knew what the other was saying and yet we still had a blast.

At about 4am we discovered a new problem, we had gotten lost. Now wandering the streets of Paris it began to rain. As we looked at a roadside map two girls could be seen across the street who I yelled to. They replied that they don't speak french and I explained that I needed someone to help us in english. The two girls, Lina and Sora, came over and explained they are from sweden and are also lost. Instantly I sprang into charming mike action. I spent some time talking with Lina while she held her purse above us to keep us from getting wet. We had a terrible time find a cab and the weather was not letting up. Eventually I got myself some kissing action off of the beauitful blonde girl and started to think that this could become my Paris romance as i was, after all, supposedly in the most romantic city in the world. All took a turn for the worst when about 20 minutes later she ran off with my buddy Jeff. Trent was forever face locked with Sora and I was feeling a bit unloved.

It turns out that I had become the third wheel of the group. All of them wanted to go off for food, but I was mad at myself for letting Lina slip through the cracks and right into Jeff. Yes I was jealous (a very horrible trait of mine). I told them to go and I would find my way home. I sat on a street corner in the rain thinking how terrible of a situation I was in. Jeff came back for me and gave up the blonde bombshell. I ended up getting mad at him for doing such a thing. My being lost and sans blonde hotty was no need for both of us to be miserable in the city of Paris. I think i was more mad because I don't think I would've done the same and it highlighted what a terrible person I felt I was becoming.

We eventually found a cab and got back to the hostel at 6am realizing that we had to check out at 9am for a train to Belgium (at this time we actually didn't know we were going to Belgium, just to the train station).

The most romantic city in the world was leaving me with a terrible bitter after-taste.