I went on a trip with my mom and little brother where we stayed downtown in Paris for two days.  We had gotten there early and wanted to see if we could check into our hotel and get some rest. After an hour-long drive from the airport, we finally arrived at our hotel, and we checked in at the front desk. 

The receptionist then told us that we had only booked a two-person bedroom. We had told her that we had paid for a three-person bedroom. She had said that she would refuse service if there were more than two people in the bedroom. 

We left to eat dinner, and while eating, we had to look for a new hotel. With us being downtown in a whole different country, getting the internet was a problem — especially with New Year’s happening. That same day, we had a lot of problems trying to book a hotel because they were all booked out. After we ate, we looked to book a new hotel and were able to get the last room available at this one hotel because almost every hotel in the city had been booked out. 

After resting and sleeping for a couple of hours at the hotel we got ready and went walking to see the different options of restaurants that were next to our hotel. I was surprised by the different varieties of restaurants and bars they had. We ended up trying a Vietnamese restaurant. I got some pho and some spring rolls. The whole time we stayed there, it was 40 degrees. 

After eating, we got a taxi to take us to the Arc de Triomphe where everyone was waiting for New Year’s to watch the fireworks show at midnight. There were so many people there that they had to block off four different streets to the Arc, which made it harder to be able to see the view. People were running on the streets in the last ten minutes before midnight trying to find a shortcut to the Arc. 

They had the French police guarding all the streets that they had blocked off. After New Year’s had hit, a big majority of the people had left, so we walked around the city, and as we were walking, I was able to see that we were close to one of the best views of the Eiffel Tower — it was next to a club that had been playing house music next to a crêpe stand. 

After taking some more pictures, we headed back to the main road trying to get a taxi back to our hotel. As we were walking, I heard my mom yell, “Stop!” I quickly turned around and she told me that some guy had tried to pickpocket her. He had tried to reach for my mom’s phone in her pocket and she had told me how she had felt his hands in her pocket and had grabbed him by the hand, and I had hit and pushed him off and started yelling at him, so he had run away. 

After what had happened, we were still in shock, and we had been outside till 2 a.m. At this point, there were fewer than fifty people outside, and every Uber and taxi that was giving out rides had tripled their prices because of the time. Although we were close to our hotel, we were charged eighty euros for a sixteen-minute ride. 

The next day we were able to meet one of my mom’s friends who works at the Louvre Museum as a professional photographer, and he was able to take some pictures of us. After that, we went to the Eiffel Tower and took some pics of the Eiffel Tower lighting up. 

Overall, I enjoyed the trip despite the minor problems we had. Being able to experience new things is the best part.