After Berlin, we headed off to Paris for a specific type of party. We flew on Airberlin airlines. It was a short and comfortable flight, only 1.5 hrs or so.
We got to Paris and immediately caught the cab to Bastille (we could have easily taken the metro but I was too lazy to drag around luggage). Bastille is located in 11th Arrondissement part of Paris. Paris works like a clock if you look at the map. Each neighborhood is numbered going clockwise.
Right when we arrived to the airbnb location of where we were staying at ($64 USD per night is considered cheap in Paris), we couldn’t even find the address on any of the buildings so we asked for help from some neighborhood dance center and they totally ignored us. Basically they didn’t give a fuck up about lost-looking tourist like myself lol. So great! My boyfriend and I are looking like confused idiots in some random alley way in Paris not knowing what to do exactly but then a lady walked outside of her building and lighted a cigarette. She looked at me and I looked at her…for about several very long seconds to try and figure each other out. Voila! She was my airbnb host. We finally got settled into her cozy crib.
We strolled around the neighborhood and to my surprise, there were so many people out and about. There were restaurants, cafes, small mom and pop shops every where. So many people were just sitting outside sipping on beer and just chillen. I thought it was a quiet neighborhood until I actually took the time to walk around. It was very festive and with plenty of bars and clubs around.
We took the metro everywhere, mostly making stops at the most touristy areas like the Eiffel Tower (beautiful area to cruise around on foot) and the Republic metro stop. I felt fairly safe just walking around (of course there are some sketchy areas you should be able to sense right off the bat).
Night time fell and it was time to get into our interesting attires and head out to party our faces off. A burningman party at La Machine du Moulin Rouge. That’s why we came to Paris in the first place. If you don’t know what “burningman” is, please read this: http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman. It’s a very special event that takes place in the U.S. but with attendants coming from all over the world. Burners in Paris decided to create their mini version of burningman and of course, I had to be there.
Before heading to the party, we had dinner around 11pm or 12am which is perfectly normal in Paris on a Saturday. We started to head out to the party around 2am from the restaurant but we nearly ran out of luck. The particular metro line we needed to take was closed and all of the cabs were full. We walked and walked as close as we can to the venue and in hopes, maybe an empty cab we show up magically along the way. After 45 minutes of wandering the streets of Paris, passing by gypsies who were sleeping on mattresses at the side of the sidewalk, an empty cab finally came to the rescue. OMG! I was getting so sleepy. It was already 3:30AM. We finally got our asses to the party. Right when we walked in, a bunch of women in el wires and glow in the dark body paint started smothering paint on my boyfriend’s face and body. A second later, he looked like a tribal man with neon colors all over. That’s when I knew it was going to be a wild night. We partied with people we knew and also with those we didn’t know. Everyone was wonderful. My boyfriend and I managed to dance, jump, and dance some more to techno beats until the sun was beginning to sneak up on us a little bit. It was definitely a night full of black lights, funny costumes, dancing wavy bodies, laser stage lights, cardboard shaped elephants, and some jungle looking decor. It was fabulous!
Next morning, it was time to depart with my boyfriend. He had to head back to the U.S. and I stayed to continue my travel. For the first time, I was truly by myself, a solo traveler at this point on. I was really scared so I cried a little…well maybe a lot, missed my flight to Barcelona, and I was never more desperate for a companion until then, but eventually I had to pull myself together. At this point, I learned how to comfort myself by words of comfort that played over and over in my head and I forced myself do things that would make myself feel better (like eating sandwiches. I absolutely love sandwiches). Eventually, I rebooked my flight to Barcelona and got my ass on that plane. I felt instant relief just to know that I was actually going somewhere.
The only plan I had for Barcelona was staying at the One Paralelo Hostel, everything else was just going to have to go with the flow.
To be continued…
Traveling Photographer 