25 hrs in Paris, A chance to use my native tongue, climbing Eiffel Tower by foot, love to come back

A short bus ride (6hrs) and I was in Paris, one of my favorite cities, then more I come here, the more I want to move here :) I knew that I would be here only for 1 day so I just tried to enjoy as much of the city as I could, visiting places that I didn't get a chance to see when I was here last.  After dropping my stuff at St. Christophers Hostel, I was off to Basilique du Sacré-Couer, which is located Monmartre, the highest point in the city.  As I sat on the grass in from of the basilica, enjoying the amazing view of Paris, It was all kind of surreal that 2 days ago I was in New York, then in Brussels, this morning in Antwerp, and now looking over Paris... all in one weekend :)  I was told that I had to visit here when in Paris and I think everyone should.

.. There was more that I had to see, mainly Pont Alexandre III and I wanted to catch it at sunset. I jetted to find the nearest metro and was off to Museum D'Orsay stop and I got there just in time... Being that I am into photography this offered a great opportunity for some awesome shots, the sun hitting the magnificent architecture of the bridge, the Eiffel Tower and Museum D'Orsay in the background, just unbelievable!

After that I was off to Trocadero to see Statues overlooking Eiffel Tower, and once I was there I noticed that there was all sorts of Skateboarding and Rollerskating competitions there... Extreme sports have taken over Trocadero & Palais de Chaillot for the weekend :)  There were numberous competitions, downhill slalom on skateboards, guys doing acrobatic tricks on skate near the stairs, and my favorite the football game on rollerskates haha.

.. I have never seen people play football on skates before so this was a treat! And of course once I am back at the Eiffel Tower I have to have the BEST hotdogs in the world... I don't know if it is the fact that the french put the hotdogs into a huge baguette but its damn good! I spent the a little while relaxing in the park under the Eiffel Tower starring up at the magnificent structure and asking myself how come it took me 3 yrs to get back here lol...

After having my dinner haha, I couldn't come to Paris and not see the Louvre at night, I missed it the last time and I knew I couldn't have that happen twice... It was a great site to see, and really made my night :)  Back at the hostel, I met a buch of really cool roomates at St.Christophers, and got a chance to use skills that I didn't think I would need to use in France.

  My new friend Dante, a Bolivian and a world traveler, was writing a short film for the Cannes Film festival later in May, and it was about a guy going to Russia and falling in love with a local girl, and he needed someone to translate the main song for the movie into Russian... Now I wouldn't be the first to tell you that my Russian translation skills are not the best being that my vocabulary is that of a 9 yr old haha, but I was glad to help, Dante was just glad that by pure luck he was rooming with someone who spoke Russian haha... We spent half the night disecting the song, exactly what he was trying to convey, and we got it done... I also met an awesome girl, Georgi from Brisbane, Australia that was great to hang out with and was a major factor in me getting over fear of heights but more on that later. ...

Next morning we got up for breakfast, had a great time telling tales of our travels, I specifically love Dante's tale of travelling through Russia by train, meeting a few lads named Igor and Ivan, getting completely pissed on samagon(russian home made alcohol, about 150 proof) dancing on the table, somehow not getting his ass kicked sitting in the visitors section of a hostile football match... And living to tell me all about it! CLASSIC!

Being that my flight was in the afternoon, there was something that I wanted to do, but I couldn't do alone... I wanted to climb the Eiffel Tower by foot, and Georgi agreed to do it with me and overcome my extreme fear of heights.  So we are off to Eiffel Tower, and so I take a quick breath, and start climbing.

.. on pure adrenaline I make my way up the steps, and actually it wasn't too bad, and I was really proud of myself for doing it :) After enjoying the great view of Paris from above, I was off to Charles De Gaulle to catch my flight back home to New York... My time in Paris was short but very fulfilling, meeting awesome people, doing things that I never thought that I would be able to do.