And we’re back!
Our first day in Pontarlier started off with (you guessed it) a coffee and wifi hunt. However, there was one minor detail I failed to realize. Very few places are open on Mondays.
We made it to the cute centre-ville (downtown) and almost all stores were closed down. There was one café that was open that had neither good coffee nor wifi, but we chugged down our café au laits and continued to explore. While Pontarlier is a much smaller town than I originally would have liked, I’m finding more and more that there’s plenty to keep me entertained. Fun shops (Mom and I bought some extra decorations for the simple apartment), good coffee (duh), and quaint streets with gorgeous views. I keep wondering how I manage to pick places that remind me of Oregon. Klaipeda rained and had stormy beaches, very similar to the PNW and now Pontarlier with its rolling hills and rain. It definitely makes each of these transitions much easier (compared to the poor souls from sunny SoCal and Central America who have never experienced anything but sunny with a high of 75ºF.
After exploring town, we headed back to my apartment to clean and feeling like home.
The next day we met up with Mammie, Laure’s grandma, who took us to the Château de Joux! The chateau had been used as a castle, military base, prison, and trade hub as it straddles the border between France and Switzerland. When we figured out how close it was to me, Mom was eager to go, but the trip by foot was not going to be an easy one which is why we (read: I) were so relieved that Mammie was more than willing to come with us! She also proved incredibly helpful when we missed our planned tour time and she convinced the café owner to open up early for us so we could have lunch instead of heading back down the hill to town.
Once we had our lunch and petted the café owner’s dog, we ventured back for our tour. The chateau was, indeed, very cool as it sat way high up on a rocky mountain and overlooked the entire valley. We learned of daring escapes, horrible tortures, forbidden romances (and the unfortunate punishments), and, honestly, I’m surprised no one has written a book about it.
After exploring with Mammie, we headed home to book our train to Besançon!
We originally wanted to head back over to Switzerland for the day, but tickets to Neuchâtel were unreasonably expensive and would also take five hours to get to a city that should only be an hour away. Besançon is the head of my Académie and thought it would be a fun idea to explore before my orientation the following week.
As it was the main city, there was a lot more to do. Plenty of shops and sights and, naturally, coffee to keep us entertained for the day. First stop was coffee at a place called Öst Café and then we headed up to the Citadel that sits at the very top of the hill on the peninsula of Besançon. The Citadel, similar to the Chateau de Joux, had a long history between being a small city-state, a fortress, a royal residence, and more. Not only is it a museum today, but also a zoo! We were constantly surprised seeing mountain goats, monkeys, and an ostrich in different sections of the Citadel and there were signs that there were more animals elsewhere. We headed back down the hill for a quick stop in Victor Hugo’s birth home and to take a peak into a cathedral, before heading back to the train station.
Once back at the apartment, we packed up our things as the next day took us to Paris!
Now, I’m going to be good and not write a day-by-day account of what happened in Paris. I’m pretty sure everyone can only hear “we stopped for coffee and we saw pretty buildings” so many times; however, I know that there’s one story that isn’t often heard.
Like getting locked out of our Airbnb and sleeping on an apartment hallway.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
We arrived in Paris, locked up our stuff in a luggage locker and took off to explore the city. Because Notre Dame is closed to the public for the foreseeable future (which devastates me as it’s easily my favorite building in France), we stopped at Sainte Chappelle first which was a pleasant surprise! Although it’s much smaller than many cathedrals, the gorgeous stained glass windows that surround you were breathtaking. We then headed towards Sacré Coeur and, honestly, I need to remind myself that I cannot keep up with all the stairs Paris has to offer. My poor legs were killing me by the time our trip was done. Once we explored Montmartre a little, we then headed down to the Musée d’Orsay which I might honestly prefer over the Louvre.
And after that began our demise.
That was dramatic, but can you blame me?
Once we retrieved our luggage, we went straight to the Airbnb. Now, this was only around 8:45pm. In our American mind, this was not late. Evidently we were wrong.
We were told our key was in a lockbox in a grocery store just a block away from the apartment. Okay, no problem. Mom was tired, so she sat while I ran to grab the key. The only problem was, there was no key. The lockbox opened and there was nothing there. By the time I went back to my mom, told her, and she called the host, the host then explained that the housekeeper put the key at a different location and we couldn’t get in there because the store had already closed for the night and the housekeeper’s company couldn’t be reached either. Therefore we were left in a situation I had never been in before — homelessness.
Obviously, this wasn’t quite as extreme as those who are truly homeless, but with no other Airbnb and every hotel in the area completely booked due to Paris Fashion Week, we were in such a position that forced us to at least get into the apartment building and then set up camp on the very top floor in a skinny hallway. We slept in our clothes with our bags as our pillows, on the very uncomfortable hardwood floor, still sweaty and sore from the day. Both of us had a fitful sleep and we were sure to be up before anyone would wake up and stumble upon two American women sleeping outside their doors.
We were out the door by 6:30am and managed to find a single bakery/cafe that was open so we could get coffee and start our hunt for a place to stay. And thank the Lord for the Holiday Inn that managed to have a room available for that night. They told us we could check in right away and that was the end of that — we paid for our coffee and booked it to the hotel.
“Checking in” to our hotel was a bit of an exaggeration. Our room wasn’t ready, but we could at least hand our luggage over and freshen up in their bathrooms. After we got cleaned up, we set out for Day 2 in Paris!
We started on the Champs-Elysées grabbing macarons, tea, and palmiers at Ladaurée, which might have not been the smartest idea before climbing 300 stairs to the top of L’Arc de Triomphe. I took my traditional photo and then we headed back down to the Grand Palais. To this day, I’ve never been inside the Grand Palais. There is always some form of exposition or event going on that it’s closed. However, the Petit Palais was open and mom and I ventured inside to see various pieces of French art.
As we were leaving the Petit Palais, we noticed dozens of police vans lining the streets, with police in heavily armored gear. The weird thing was that none of them seem to be alarmed or alert. They were hanging out in the vans, playing on their phones or talking, guns hanging loosely. We eventually discovered that it was the funeral for their former president and they were merely getting ready for the processional.
Our last stop for the evening was at the Louvre! Because it was a Friday night, they were open extra late which allowed the museum to be at least slightly emptier than normal. We wandered through corridors (many of which were closed for construction or for Fashion Week) and I found myself in parts of the palace I had never seen before. By the time we were wrapping up at the Louvre, exhaustion was settling in and I was ready to be in a comfortable hotel.
And let me tell you, that was the best sleep I had had in a lonnnggggg time.
Saturday led us to the Opera House which (surprise, surprise) had many spaces closed due to Fashion Week. We had planned to go earlier, but they were closed the other two days we were in Paris. That also resulted it in being very crowded. It originally ranked as my second favorite Parisian building and I was so sad that my mom didn’t get to experience it the way I originally did.
But then it was all over and we were taking my mom to the train station so she could fly home!
We gave each other a hug goodbye and then I was officially on my own!
Once again, I’d like to go into full details of this past week, but I’m an idiot and I left my charger at home again. I need to stop underestimating how much time and battery it takes to write a single blog post and upload photos.
Anyway, I better go get lunch.
Until coffee, wifi, and my charger are all in hand,
— Kate
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