Comments on: European travel journal – Day 6: Paris, the tourism bureau, Notre Dame, historic walk, and a boat ride

By: Eddie Mikell

Eddie Mikell — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:36 +0000

I whizzed off to Paris a couple of years ago, to leave from the airport and travel to a small chalet I rented outside of Orleans.

I knew I was in deep crap the moment I tried to leave the rental car place at the airport. I was told that only a lunatic were drive in Paris, but since I regularly drove in New York, what the heck…

All was well, or so I thought, until I got about an hour outside of Paris. Ahhh, I made it.

2 seconds later a large transport truck slammed into the front of my car sending me off the road and over an embankment.

All my traveling companions suffered broken backs, ribs, and worse. As I stood on the shoulder of the road watching them all bleed to death, a French fireman drove up. NO ONE, spoke English. Not even one word. Fortunely he called the cops, and got us to a local hospital. For two weeks, I roamed the hospital, unable to speak to anyone, except to draw pictures. I could not figure the damn phone system out, and couldn’t tell anyone what happened.

That was probably the longest, and worst two weeks of my life.

I keep saying the same things. Damn, what was I thinking, or damn Rick Steves said everyone spoke English, or damn why didn’t I have a cell phone that work, etc.

Eddie.

ps, everyone lived, although two will always have to have back braces. pps, the insurance company handling the claims in Europe is …. AIG!!!!

By: Jocelyn

Jocelyn — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:10:24 +0000

I went to Rome last year (at this exact time, actually) and decided to start learning Italian … on the plane ride over. D’oh! Oh, and I didn’t get any money changed beforehand, so I spent the entire first day there with 1 euro 90 because we had to pay the hostel in cash, and panicked that I wouldn’t be able to get any money from an ATM ever, holy jesus what am I doing here I want to go home! The first day was the worst, then it was wonderful x infinity. Enjoy your trip, I’m loving reading about it!!

By: Sunnie

Sunnie — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:58:28 +0000

I took a transatlantic cruise with my mom Spring 08, and got one 12 hour day trip to Paris, and fell instantly, totally, head-over-heels in love with that city. It’s a driving force in my life to return with my husband. Congrats on getting to see/enjoy so much more of it!!!! Yes, we’ll always have Paris. :)

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:59:23 +0000

I visited Europe with my brother back in 1994 after having lived there as a child. We bought eurail passes and our least favorite part was Paris. The weather was horrendous (coming from warm Spain and Italy), and even with 5 years of french under my belt I still struggled with communicating. We loved the street crepes though!

We visited Jim Morrison’s grave, went to Notre Dame which was under construction and covered in scaffolding…then the Eiffel Tower which only the bottom 1/3 was visible due to fog. Ick.

Glad you were able to replace your converter

By: victoria

victoria — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:44:51 +0000

I love it that you had a McFlurry in Paris. So . . . defiant. I’m also very impressed with how much you’re covering in a single day. Talk about stamina!

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:21:37 +0000

Your entries bring back lots of memories of my trips to London and Paris – glad you are having fun! The restaurant “Indiana” always caused DH and me to go into hysterics, especially its Indian-head logo. Serves great Indiana regional cuisine, no? LOL

By: Lirpa

Lirpa — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:13:44 +0000

I just have to tell you that i really feel for you in that i get myself lost so easily too! I really felt your pain in this post. I am constantly walking or driving by where it is i am trying to get to, and forgetting things at home or wherever, and get so frustrated and angry with myself! this especially happens when i’m travelling and know i only have a limited amount of time to see what i want to see and go where i want to go and do what i want to do, and then i get sidetracked and think FUCK! SHIT! DAMN! and yes, even when everything is o.k. again, it takes my body close to an hour to catch up and really calm down. So i felt like i was right there in that moment with you when you were explaining it! I’m so sorry you had such a rough day! Glad it all worked out in the end though. I am so impressed with you travelling to a foreign speaking country and touring all by yourself! You are much braver than me! You must be very proud of yourself. That must be an awesome feeling of accomplishment and self-reliance. Way to go! :)

By: RG

RG — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:56:00 +0000

Unfortunately, travel and lost adapters seem like a common problem. I’m thinking I should buy a backup if I ever notice a cheap one just because it seems 1. inevitable and 2. really is expensive to replace (plus time lost) on the fly. And the getting lost – I think that’s the point of travel, to knock us out of our comfort zone. Which reminds us 1. how capable we are and 2. how nice it is not to be lost and 3. wherever I go, there I am, meaning that it gave me insight into the role I play into the situations I run into.

I was thinking that I did a big London/Paris trip at 24, when it was more expensive but hey. Knew enough French to feel pretty comfortable, and remember zero problems with the metro but did waste a few hours in London because my compatriot thought the bus driver was going to be more helpful than he was. I was never bit by the travel bug, mostly because I’ve lived in cities and there’s usually so many subcultures that can fill my time.

Gelato, in the US too, generally comes with small gelato spoons (like espresso spoons but flat) to remind you to savor. It works with strong ice cream, too!

By: Ang

Ang — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:54:18 +0000

I juat have to say again, you are AWESOME for making this trip on your own! But, maybe you feel like you have all your readers along with you are really traveling with lots of people.

You are truly inspiring!

By: Amalily

Amalily — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:10:42 +0000

I am glad you are having a great time seeing all the sights. You take great pictures