What is there to say about Paris that hasn't been said before? It's gorgeous. It's bustling. It's full of busy Parisians who will reluctantly speak terse English if you sack up the courage to ask them something.

The hostel that I stayed at was called the Vintage Hostel near Gare du Nord. I arrived at around midnight, after a 10 hour bus ride (thanks to security stops and delays) and walking around the nighttime streets lost for a bit. From my time in London I learned that trying to squeeze in all the major tourist destinations of a city into a one-day plan was foolish. It was just too much. For Paris, I decided that I would simplify, and just stop at 2 main points: the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville and the Eiffel Tower.

I find traveling alone to be so different from traveling with a friend (which I talked about a bit in my previous post). It's nice that decisions can be made quicker, but sometimes, especially in a country where they speak a foreign language, it can feel quite isolating. I found it helpful whenever the need to connect with someone was overwhelming, to take out my journal and write for a bit. This was a great way for me to feign processing or planning via "dialogue," which I'm used more to.

For lunch, I had a delicious Assi Kebab, which was the first major sustenance I had since leaving London. It was savory, delicious, and cheap (by Parisian standards)! And, I sat to eat on a bench that had a great view of a cluster of sex shops. Call me #blessed.

I chose the Musée d'Art Moderne in lieu of the Louvre for two reasons: 1. I hear so much about how underwhelming the Mona Lisa is in real life, and 2. The Louvre is not free, the Musée d'Art Moderne is. Seemed like a pretty clear choice to me.


Museums are such a great way to spend half a day. I love walking through and sitting in front of the exhibits. I saw pieces by Chagall, Matisse, Bonnard, plus a bunch of fascinating contemporary exhibits (for example, one collection of pieces had a theme of "disorder").

I had a clear view of the Eiffel Tower after exiting the Museum, so I crossed the River Seine to see the iconic monument. I'll spare the photo since we all know what that looks like. There weren't many tourists there, but on a rather chilling note, I did see a lot of police with assault weapons.

After that, I walked to the Metro, spotting the Arc De Triomph along the way, grabbed dinner, headed to the hostel, and watched Bob's Burgers in bed with food. Since I was still on antibiotics at the time, I took that as an excuse for an early night.

The next morning, I took my free breakfast from the hostel and headed to the Gare Saint Lazare. This next farm, the first and only farm in France that I would go to, was situated near Avranches, which is located in the lower part of France's Normandie region. It's a dairy farm that sells milk, cheese, and yogurt. My first time working with cows! My first time making cheese! The anticipation (and nervousness) was killing me the entire 4hr train ride there.

I'll tell you all about the farm in the next post. Bye until then!