1. Know someone who knows someone with an available apartment in the only affordable part of Paris -- one hour outside of it
2. Use your 12-25 discount card to reserve train tickets two weeks in advance, guaranteeing seats that face "le sens de la marche"
3. In preparation for the trip:
a.) Pack your backpack solely with essentials: hair dryer, straightener, make-up, extra socks,
two t-shirts, a pack of cards, a few pieces of fruit and a camera
b.) Research rules for 2-player "Gin"
c.) Take a shower for freshest appearance -- Paris is a big fan of first impressions
d.) Arrive at train station at least 25 minutes in advance, and verify 30 times that you are at the
correct platform. Just to be sure.
4. On the train:
a.) Play lots of Gin... mostly until you are equally successful, or tired enough of keeping score to
care
b.) Feel lucky to be facing forward, and not needing a vomit bag
5. Upon arrival:
a.) Forget immediately the directions to your destination
b.) Squeeze onto métro just before the doors slam shut, shoving strangers like sand grains
together and watching a miracle occur, as a guy with a backpack gets half-stuck in the uncompromising door, having lept on one milli-second too late, and a hiply-dressed stranger gives him a friendly shove, letting the doors close calmly behind him
c.) Almost die of something like mustard gas in the Paris Gare du Nord station. Cover your
mouth and nose
d.) Arrive, exhausted, finally at the far edges of the Paris map
6. First day of exploration:
a.) Try to wake up at the crack of dawn. At the sight of rain, sleep in a bit longer
b.) Take a few trains into a cinematic dream; Montmartre. Enter the Basillique de Sacré Coeur
and stare in awe at the luck, the hope, the history, and the mosaics.
c.) Explore the artists' quarter and find your favorite one, who represents in a remarkably realistic way, building fronts from the chic city
d.) Take photos on the famous stairways, high above the sprawling city
e.) Make your way to La Villette, the station for the Cité des Sciences et de L'Industrie
f.) Learn about mathematics, challenge your knowledge of sound and volume and geometric
thinking; explore the pros and cons of the world's building materials and try to wrap your
mind around the size of space, lazily reclining in a bluish pool of light, safely inside of the
planetarium
f.) When you feel like you can no longer stand it, pay 7 euros for a splash of coffee and a Dixie cup
of tea
g.) Fill your mind until the coat check is about to close, and then run out into the serious weather,
huddled beneath a polka-dot umbrella
h.) Walk to Notre Dame at night, then cross the river and stop at a brasserie for a solid red and a
substantial dinner
i.) Take the subway to the symbol of the city, and stare up as the 300 meter marvel lights up like a red-carpet sequined dress, or the world's most gigantic collection of tinsel
j.) When you are thoroughly tired, soaked and sort of cranky, return to the métro in hopes of a
direct train back to warmth and home-made crêpes; when you realize there are no more
after 10:30 pm, and you are both very irritated, laugh instead and admit it was a really
good day
k.) Watch through the window as the train speeds by and your friend falls asleep, half on your
hand, lost in some kind of dream of motion and weather and language
7. Sunday:
a.) Leap out of bed in a room full of sunshine; shower rapidly and throw all belongings in the
backpack before inhaling some toast and sugary tea, then closing the blue door, number 15,
behind you
b.) Fumble around with an unclear ticket machine and a tourist map, discussing and
hypothesizing until you finally ask the friendly worker at the desk
c.) Sit in stillness as you barrel towards the city center, bet on ETAs and find that you average
out perfectly
d.) Descend from the métro, underground, just around the corner from the lovely Eiffel's
construction; gasp in awe as you climb up to the street level and see her poised gracefully,
as if waiting patiently for you two to meet
e.) Find your friend's kindred, a man of striking resemblance, a little bit taller, with different
colored-hair and lighter eyes, on the phone with his mom, explaining, "She called just to see
if the family was still alive."
f.) Eat lunch and laugh often, about France and travel and education, and feeling at ease
g.) Take pictures, and start walking, with 4 hours left in the city and no particular plan in mind
h.) Stop at the Grand Palais, across from the place where little Napoleon was buried in a gigantic
tomb
i.) Stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries, until it pours out into the courtyard of the Louvre
j.) Take pictures of people & geometry, watch as the emergency exit doors rise up from the
cement, like weird ghosts resurrected
k.) Continue on the sides of the Seine, following the cobble-stoned lines, stopping occasionally to
look back at where you have already been
l.) Stop at Notre Dame and go inside, tiny atoms of a massive, complex molecule forcing its way
through the imposing ornate doors
m.) Listen to the organ echo, the golden pipes like bubbles of hope stretching endlessly up
n.) Find a cafe with red fabric and orange lights, hot tea and delicious crêpes; through the window, watch as people file past, stop and use the free self-cleaning port-a-john; pay the check and feel grateful for "madame"
o.) Pick up the pace as you near the station and the clock hands accelerate
p.) Find your seats, and fall asleep, awaking later to wonder if it was all just a dream.
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