The subway was so full you couldn't move. Two shady men were starring at my friends backpack. It's 5pm.
Welcome to Paris.
We found our way to the hostel easily and to our surprise the whole staff spoke perfect English. Aw yeah. Our intention was to go to sleep early, but instead we walked around in the neighbourhood and then had a beer at the hostel with some other really nice travellers
until late.
The sun was shining on Christmas morning 24. It was so warm that I had to take of my jacket. I have understood that there is snow and -10 degrees in Southern Finland.
When we arrived at the Eiffel tower we had some croissants and cheap white wine with us. It was absolutely wonderful to feel the sun warming my face. We had no wine glasses, nothing, no glasses at all. Shady people asked for money and other shady people tried to sell shady souvenirs. All the lawns were closed.
I wish you all great holidays!
Instead of paying for queuing we continued to Montemartre. The view from the top was amazing, fantastic, the sun rays were still pushing through the gathering dark clouds. Also here shady people tried to sell shady souvenirs, and after a couple of "no"'s we promised them behind their backs to either shout NO and swear in Finnish or to make an American drama-scene the next time someone of them would try again. But no one did.
There was a moment in the subway when both had forgotten where we were supposed to get of. Oh well.
After looking at the L'arc de Triumf we walked down Champes Elysè , half of it was a big horrible over-priced Christmas market, to Louvre. And we of course visited the Disney-store.
Louvre was besutiful on the outside but we didn't care about going inside. We were super hungry at this point and it took a pretty long time to find a place to eat that was open, not to expensive, not a McDonalds and not a bar (they were also closed anyway). Eventually we found a small restaurant and everything was alright. Otherwise we just would have bought something from a grocery store.
At this point we could relax after some hours in the pickpocket risk zone.
The doors of Notre Dame were open even if there was a mass going on. It was interesting to listen to it (even though the pope spoke only French), and we go so close that we could see the pope. He sang beautifully. I've never attended a Catholic event before. This was impressive, the atmosphere was strong, the singing beautiful and the songs too, the cathedral of Notre Dame massive, candels were lit everywhere and the corridors on higher floors on the sides of the big hall bathed in violet light and the audience was all scilent.
The Seine was beautifully lit too, and it was now even harder to find a bar that wasn't closed. We were'nt surprised, but it had been raining for some hours now and we were freezing. Eventually we found a happy gay-bar, but got thrown out immediately as it was only for men. Luckily another bar across the street was open and we had a glass of wine and wrote some postcards.
Luckily the hostel offered Christmas dinner, so we didn't have to worry about food in the evening. We got to know more travellers and actually went to sleep early. And I called my family.
Happy holidays
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