Jetsetting to Paris!

Last month I traveled to Paris for my "day job", and although I was only there for less than a week, working 13 hour days, I did manage to get a glimse of the city and the people. Not only was this my first time in Paris, but it was my first time traveling alone! It was a great learning experience traveling alone, sightseeing alone, not to mention eating alone!!

Here are 10 things I learned while in Paris:

1. Motorcycles have their own lanes on Paris highways / streets. They're called the shoulder and the dividing lane lines. They will fly in these lanes going 50 km/hr while cars are stuck in the real lanes going 20. I wonder what the statistics of motarcyle fatalities are? I'm guessing high.

2. If you eat out alone, bring a something to read / do. Or make sure to eat at on an outside terrace, so you can watch the people strolling by instead of awkwardly staring at the people at the tables around you. (dinner in Paris is slow, 1 hr will feel like 3 when you have nobody to talk to)

3. The Eiffel Tower is really freakin' cool, and I could stare at it all day

4. LC's trip to Paris may have been more glamorous than mine, but I got to see the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong (for you guys out there, LC is from MTV's The Hills and she rode on a dreamy guy's (who wore really tight pants) motorcycle around the city at night, as well as attending the Crillon Ball.)

5. You aren't allowed to hail a taxi on the street, and they are never at their marked locations. The only way to get a taxi is to call them, and when you do they start the meter then...not when they pick you up. Every cab I got in (when the exception of the airport) started at 8 euro or more. If i can give one bit of advice to someone vacationing in Paris, this would be it!!

6. I'm pretty bad when it comes to a sense of direction, but wtih the Eiffel tower as my north star I am very proud to say I didn't get lost once! This is pretty amazing considering I didn't look at a map before i arrived.

7. The espresso tastes just has horrible as the worst airline coffee, but can snap you out of the worst jetlag in a second!

8. The sun sets a little over an hour later than it does at home, around 9:45 (in late July).

9. I love cheese = I love french cuisine.

10. Paris is much more fun when shared with someone you love ;)