Allons-y!

[evilhippo]

Je vais à Paris! I have a lot of brushing-up to do on my French, and a lot of studying to do of winding streets and nonsense transit (apparently they have public bike rentals, though, which sounds absolutely fantastic).

Point being, now that I've finished waffling on the matter: I'm going to spend a week in Paris, from October 2 to October 9! And now I'm going to have to decide whether I want to nip off to London for a day or two in there (I probably will, if it won't cost me that much). Thankfully, the hostel situation looks reasonable, so as long as I don't sit around waffling forever over whether I want to go to London too I should be okay.

Yaaaay I'm going on a real vacation for the first time ever! (I can't believe I just spent that much money. And I've committed to spending so much more, because I'm obviously going to have to eat, and get around, and buy interesting things. Oh man.)

Vacation!

Yaaaay!

So, any recommendations on what I should do while I'm there?

Edit: Aaaand two days in London, the 5th and 6th. Woo! I am not sure I haven't gone mad, but if I'm going to vacation for real, I might as well do it properly. (Honestly, after booking the tickets I did a little dance. I am such a geek. But... eeeee, Paris and London! Finally!) I wonder if any of this will finally trigger some kind of fraud protection on my card...

Comments

[flutingfrenzy.livejournal.com]

Eeeeee, so exciting! I've never been to either city, so I have no suggestions for stuff to do other than EVERYTHING, but I can assure you that you haven't gone mad. I get the sense that you could use a vacation. (Alternatively, you have gone mad and therefore could use a vacation, so, either way.)

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Aaaah, everything! (Point number one for me being crazy: I was hunting down French language podcasts so I can get my listening skills back up and while browsing through, I caught myself thinking "Maybe I should do this for London, too"...) But I'll just consider this to be further proof that I need this vacation. (-:

So far today I've been browsing through hostels... most of the Parisian ones seem pretty standard (and all the cheap ones are in Monmatre, it seems), while the London ones are... pleasantly strange and all seem to have bars (this (http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/england/london/20230/) is the first one I came across... I think I may have to stay there). Judging by the reviews of pretty much every single hostel, I am going to need earplugs for this journey, especially for the hostels with bars and karaoke. But hey, my next step is to find a decent concert in one city or the other, so I might need them anyway.

[flutingfrenzy.livejournal.com]

Um, I think I need to go to London just so I can stay there. If you do, you need to post pics of the Internet Courtroom.

"Maybe I should do this for London, too"

I may have laughed out loud at this.

[lisiche.livejournal.com]

*rubs hands together* ALL RIGHT. Costas is a lovely fish and chips place. You get off at Notting Hill Gate on the Central/District/Circle Line and... can't remember which exit it is, but if you get out and there's a WHSmith across the street ahead of you and on your right you're where you want to be (I think there's a McDonald's next to it as well). Go forward about a block, there's a movie house (or was two years ago, hopefully it's still there), go down that alley/street, and there's a fish and chips place called Geale's. Don't go there, used to be good, traded good food for being fashionable and expensive. You turn right on the first street, and then your first left (if I remember correctly, there's a coin shop there) and there's Costas.

I've heard nasty rumors that they closed due to family members retiring, though... I hope not. :( Most awesome fish and chips ever.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Hehehe. Fantastic! I intend to copy these directions down on a post-it and stick it inside my passport so I have it. If you get me lost/killed in London, though... I'm coming for you. ^_^

[lisiche.livejournal.com]

If you manage to get lost in London... I will laugh very very VERY hard at you. You can't spit without hitting a tube station or bus stop. XD

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Psh, that doesn't mean I won't get lost, that just means I'll be able to be lost in several places in rapid succession. (-;