I optimistically predicted that we would be at Shakespeare & Co. by 10:15. Mallory predicted 10:30. We were both wrong... I was more wrong. And, of course, 10:15 is what we told Kelsey. In my mind it was simple - go to Gare du Nord. Drop off bags. Take 4 min train to Notre Dame. Shakespeare & Co. right there. Sounds like a 30 minute journey to me. Add an hour onto that and I would've been right on the money.
I could not for the life of me figure out where the lockers were. I was blindly leading four other people all around the busiest train station, searching for somewhere to put our luggage for the day. I ended up leading us outside of the train station, based on my interpretation of the directions I had received. It is the worst being the confident one of the group when not a single person has a clue where to go. I kept asking everyone where they thought we should go, and they would just stare at me blankly. So onward I went. And onward they followed.
Granted, I had been the one saying that it wouldn't take long. Seeing the distress in Amy's eyes thinking of Kelsey standing all alone waiting for us, I sent her ahead with the best directions I could muster.
Our generation clearly cannot make plans without cell phones. How did people used to plan to meet up so early in advance? It is a lost art.
Right after Amy left, we found the lockers. Of course. We then made it to Shakespeare & Co. without a hiccup... I somehow remembered where it was from the summer before! As we were crossing the street we ran into Kelsey who had just given up on us. Poor girl had waited 45 minutes for us! Had she given up a moment sooner we never would've found her. The joy of finally finding her turned into despair as we realized that Amy had never reached her.
Without going into all the details of running back and forth between Starbucks and Shakespeare & Co., let's just say we were together at last, with the fear of splitting up instilled in everyone. After everyone got what they wanted from Shakespeare and Co., we headed to the Flea market... And never made it.
The train stopped at "Paris du Nord" and I knew it had to be the right one... Or at least I thought I knew. As soon as we got off, Mallory looked at me and said, "This isn't right." There was just enough doubt in my mind, that I just said, "Aah!" and we followed her back on. In moments like that, when there's a ten second window to either stay or get back on the train, I don't think anyone can think clearly.
The next stop was outside of the city. I had flashbacks to two summers ago, staying in the suburbs of Paris. I knew we were doomed. Amy chimed in with a lovely "I knew the one back there was the right one." I now realize how Julia must've felt when I used to say things like that back in the day. Partly proud that the person is learning, but at the same time... Really wishing they had spoken up just a bit sooner. Love you, Amy :)
Apparently, we needed new tickets to get back into the city. And no one's credit card worked on the sketchy machine. And we didn't have enough change. Kelsey, Amy and I set out on a mission to get change. We found a fruit stand with a man who had a bowl of change. We asked if we could give him a €10 for the same back in change. He replied that if that's what we wanted, then maybe we should go see if the homeless man with the cart behind him could help us. (There is some debate on whether the man he pointed out was homeless - Kelsey and Amy say he was selling things... I'm in no position to judge, but to me shopping cart + disheveled man = homeless).
Instead of pursuing that option, we bought an apple from the man with the bowl of change. We still didn't have enough. Everyone thought that we did, so they all went ahead, leaving Kelsey and I behind with enough money for a ticket and a half. The train was arriving in less than a minute, and we had one whole ticket between the two of us. I grabbed her hand and pulled her through after me, as she said, "God knows we tried as hard as we could!" And boy, is she right.
Not wanting to push our luck anymore, we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. Right around this time, the caffeine, lack of food, dehydration and medicine that I had recently took, oh and the stress - all, caught up to me at the same time. I looked at Mallory and said, "Man, that cough medicine is making me feel weirdddd." She responded with a, "Weird, how?" Me: "Well, now that you ask... Weird, like I'm gonna pass about, I guess."
As the world swirled around me, we arrived at the Arc and made for a place to eat since I clearly needed something.
Then we climbed the Arc for an unforgettable view of Paris.
The climb down, of course, caused Mallory to start shaking...
The two of us were clearly ready to get on the bus back to Brussels. Before we did this though, we stopped at Laduree for some delicious macarons (my first macarons ever)! Not a bad first place to get them!
Presentation is everything.
We then headed towards the metro to go to the bus station. We ran into the Sweets who warned us that since we were getting in so late from Paris that the trains in Brussels might not be stopping at our little town of Zaventem. Surprisingly, we made it to the Paris bus station without an issue - wasn't exactly expecting that!
We had wifi on the bus, so I looked up trains and realized that if we were on time we would have to wait an hour until a train could take us home. I didn't tell anyone this - not wanting to kill the little bit of morale that had been built up from us getting to the bus station OK. When we made a stop for over thirty minutes (it was only supposed to be 20 min), I was sure that we were doomed. But sure enough we got in 20 minutes early and were able to get a train back right away. Never thought that lumpy pillow and threadbare comforter at the Zav center would feel so welcoming and cozy.
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