Paris in the Rain

I spent 3 nights in Paris. I won't write much, but let the pictures speak for themselves! The city is quite pretty, with beautiful buildings, all of which seem to have window-boxes with pink flowers.. and the Eiffel Tower is pretty spectacular at night! I didn't really enjoy Paris though. It could've been the rain, or the fact that half of Paris tries to steal from you or con you out of your money or rip you off, or the fact that it's so expensive, or even the fact that the metro system is madness! So I was happy to leave.

My hostel was St. Christopher's.. and this was by far the BEST hostel I've found! It's the first purpose-built hostel in Paris, and actually sits out in one of the canals. My room was on the end of the building and had amazing views at night. Each of the beds also had its own curtain, so you almost had your own little room! And breakfast was included. I've come to really appreciate those things!

One bad thing.. I went to Montmatre, where the Moulin Rouge is. You can walk up this hill to a church called the Sacre Couer. Thankfully, I'd been warned about the people up there. These African guys are up there with these bracelets, and they'll grab your arm as you walk past and start tying it around your wrist, and a lot of people fall for it and let them. Then they'll demand 25 Euros. Ouch! That's about $40 Australian. They'll stand in your way too, so you have to push past them. I knew to say no and keep walking, but these older ladies at the hostel told me they were accosted by them and had to pay them! One of the older ladies also got pickpocketed too.

The Paris underground metro system is utter madness, if you ask me! I think they purposely try to get tourists lost. There are 2 systems, the RER and the metro, with countless lines, each with colour-coded numbers and letters. In any other city I've been to over here, the metro has been easy to use. But we got completely lost in Paris. Thankfully, the French DO NOT live up to their reputation for being slightly rude, and they were lovely and helpful, and 3 different people eventually directed us to where we needed to go. On top of the confusing system, people literally sprint for their trains and you will die if you get in their way. The next day, though, after I knew how the system actually worked, I managed to catch the 3 connecting trains to the Eiffel Tower on my own!

In other news, I lost 20 Euros by getting ripped off by a bike tour that cancelled and wouldn't refund me, and I lost more Euros at a call shop when they conned me out of my money for a phone call I didn't even get to make!! All in all, I was so frustrated with Paris by the time I left. It simply ate up all my money. I'm pretty over-budget now, so I'm spending the bare minimum for a few days. Now I'm in Bruges in Belgium. It is absolutely beautiful, and I love it.. there are sooo many chocolate shops. I'm spending 4 nights here and I'm pretty happy with the idea of that!