"Impulse to Paris" a Paris Travel Page by razorbacker

Paris was an impulse:
We were soldiers on field maneuvers in the snowy mountains of Wildflecken. A 3-day trip to Paris was announced. A group bus would take us there and back. We'd be on our own there.
Unlike many I would be traveling and seeing Paris alone. I had about $100 in my pockets. That was all. I would have to wangle permission from my military non-coms.
Well, we'd been playing poker all night; might as well gamble on Paris.
First night I wandered 'til I found a hotel I really couldn't afford, but I managed.
Next day I headed to the heaven-sent USO on the Champs-Elysees. They directed me to a hotel I could afford.
I toured the Arc de Triomphe hard by, then ate - of all places - at the McDonalds(but I'd been out of the States for years and was a bit homesick.). There surely was a French accent: the Big macs had a sort of bleu cheese dressing instead of the standard "thousand island" American sauce.
Anyhow I used the fabulous (AND fabulously easy) Metro system to get around town. That was enjoyable and memorable...interesting sights and interesting humanity, including the Metro musicians.
I spent a LONG time looking for the Bastille until I asked a local and was laughingly enlightened!
I took a garret room in the Hotel Europa. Not much: a washstand and bed, but clean and comfortable, an adventure and a place to lay my head. I stayed there the last two nights.
Then...the Louvre! If I'd had to go hungry for 3 days to pay admission, I would have in a heartbeat. Oh, my word! The things I saw! Famed sculptures and paintings, Michelangelos, da Vincis, et al. Didn't get to see Mona Lisa as she was stuck in Moscow, but I think what impressed me most was seeing a painting I remembered from the pages of a high school English text. I walked in the gardens, the Petit Arc de Triomphe, past the old Paris Opera House, haunt of the Phantom.
That night I strolled the naughty streets of Pigalle. Ambling down a small sidestreet, I noticed a nice-looking, buxom maiden with long, blonde tresses leaning over a third floor balcony railing (I KNOW, there it's only the SECOND floor!) as someone on the street called up to her. I bestowed many an admiring gaze upon her, but, just as I was coming abreast, she responded to the person on the ground in a deep bass voice. My mind said, "Uh-oh! Wrong rue!!" I soon found myself on the RIGHT rue and enjoyed the rest of my evening very much indeed. The romance of the mostly abandoned nighttime Metro stations on the return to my garret was poignant.
Next day with heavy heart I reluctantly joined the others on the bus for the return trip to the FRG.
But Rick knew just what he was talking about when he told Ilsa, "We'll always have Paris."
I always will!!! And you will, too, if you go!

The easiest and most enjoyable subway system I've ever used. A novice will be an expert in a day.

Wow. Wow. Wow! Do yourself a favor. Get here once in your life. Though I was there before Pei's glass pyramid, the Pompidou Center, La Defense, or the new stairs to the top of the Eiffel, I will carry Paris with me to the grave and beyond!