Lost In Paris (Part II)

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Last story was In the middle of night getting lost in Paris to reach the hotel. For your information, I had this trip together with my friend. She and I had never been to Paris, even Europe before, so this was our first trip there. Ok let me continue the story. My friend decided to phone police when we found a public phone. She dialed the police number, and the police asked us to stay where we were because they would come in ten minutes. I had a feeling that the hotel wasn’t so far from where we stood, so I told her to just finding the way rather than waiting the police to come. The arguments among us started to begin…

While having debates, a drunken guy crossed. This made my friend’s argument to stay still and wait the police was more reasonable. But I still persisted with my argument since ten minutes had been away and the police still didn’t show up. Fortunately a young woman crossed, so I asked about our hotel. She didn’t recognize it, but when I asked about the Japanese restaurant which is before the hotel, she knew it. Yeah by her guidance we finally found the hotel.

The next day in Paris was the time to exploring the city. This time we really promised ourselves to seriously mark our paths so we wouldn’t get lost anymore. Our main destination is Louvre Museum, we found it but it was Tuesday and it’s closed on that day. Although we couldn’t see the famous “Monalisa Painting” which has been storing there, but still there were many objects to be captured by our camera namely, the big Napoleon statue, Arc de Triomphe, Musee D’ Orsay and many more. Every single object in Paris is good to be shot because of their historic value. Besides touring the city, as tourist I didn’t forget to buy souvenirs and clothes since my bag where I put my clothes was lost. For your information, it’s not easy to find the cloth especially trouser for me there, because the different size between Paris and Jakarta, but honestly the sold clothes were really stylish, as Paris is the city for fashion. Tiring for shopping and walking every where, I told my friend to be back to the hotel. But she had different thought; she wanted to visit the luxurious palace, Chateu De Versailes. At that time we decided to separate and went through our own preference. So I went back to hotel alone.

After cleaning my self at the hotel and eating “Saorma” (like kebab) at the Turkish Restaurant, at the evening I planned to visit the famous university in Paris, Sorbonne University. I went there alone, asking the officer at the train station the way to Sorbonne, I followed his instruction. The confusing came again when I stopped at destination station. Since all the buildings look similar and I think I stopped on the wrong station. I have walked quite long and got lost (again)J. This time I wasn’t too panic, although really alone, since it’s not too late and there were still many “normal” people around. So I decided to enjoy my self sightseeing the city. It was in Notre Dame. Paris is really such a “live city”. It was 10 pm at that time, and there were some people actively jogging, walking and rushing around. It’s a different view to see in my city or even my country.

The next day was the day for us to go back to our country, but we need to stop by at Krakow first. When we reached to the boarding locket, surprisingly we found that our ticket number couldn’t produce the boarding pass ticket at the automatic machine. We asked the officer what’s wrong with our ticket. Her answer really shocked us. She said that we were one day a head to leave Paris. Because the time difference between Indonesia and Europe, and we were too exciting enjoying for this travel, we didn’t notice the days and dates, then we realized we should stayed there for three days, in fact it was just two days, what a joke!!! J

Knowing that we still have one day to stay in Paris, we decided to book a hotel near the airport. The airport officer on tourist information was really helpful. He recommended us the suitable hotel and places to be visited that we haven’t seen. While in airport, I took chance to check my bag, they had found it, the bag was stuck in Frankfurt airport, they promised by night I already could get it. It relived me a little.

My friend and I really used the time wisely this time. We went to The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica, a popular landmark; the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city, as informed by the airport officer. We could see the view of the whole city from here, and it was really beautiful. And we didn’t regret at all for being one day left in Paris because we can visit this place.

From there we went back to the central city. Again there was different preference destination to be visited among us. My friend wanted to have a boat tour while I wanted to go to TheGrande Mosquée de Paris(English: Great Mosque of Paris), located in the5th arrondissement, is one of the largest mosquesin France. So we were separated and on the way to our destination respectively. But we had to be back to the airport before 12 pm, since it’s the latest for the bus from airport to the hotel.

This time I didn’t get lost, I found the mosque and met a nice sister there. We shared each other about Moslem community in our country. I also told her about my losing bag. She gave me a scarf as sympathy to my problem. It’s a touchy moment…. After praying I left the mosque to the airport station, I fell sleeping on the train, and when I woke up, I found only me alone on the train. Hurriedly I reached the airport and went to the baggage claimer. Finally they gave it back. Thanks God.

The next day was really the day to go country home. After receiving the boarding pass from the automatic machine, we tried to find the gate to board. Seems the lost curse was still with us, because we got lost again in the airport. For your information, Charles De Gaulle Airport is so big and not easy to be adapted. But actually it’s due to taking wrong turn so we got lost againJ. The panic came again, because we were afraid the airplane already took off, then we asked the information center after queuing for some minutes. Rushing to the boarding gate, and we were already close to the boarding time. But we made it, the plane hadn’t left yet. Otherwise the story would be longer…J. So it’s time to say good bye for Paris, a wonderful city with lots of adventuring moment that we wouldn’t forget and would be a good story to be shared. I hope I can visit Paris again one day, but with different situation and different story as well J

The end..

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