Paris (Saturday)

I know I've been slow in getting this post up, sorry! Things have been quite busy, but that is for another post or two. After seeing Nice and Cannes I flew north to Paris. In Paris, I stayed with a friend of Eben's friend Simon. Her name is Jess and she is wonderful! She made me feel so comfortable and welcome. I unfortunately failed to take a photo of the two of us together, so that will have to wait until she comes here to visit.

After arriving and navigating the extensive train/subway system from the southern to the northern part of the city (it all went smoothly except for the part when I was locked in the subway because my ticket wouldn't open the exit gate), it was time for some lunch.

Before I get to lunch though, I must take a moment and comment on Air France... They are AMAZING! Even on a short one hour domestic trip they give you a meal! The seats were really comfy, you get your own tv, and the flight staff was so nice. Flying to and from Boston it felt like they were constantly feeding me, and it was good food too! I booked myself as a vegetarian and not only was the food yummy, but since I had a 'special' meal, they always fed me first. Being the sort of person who upon finishing one meal, begins to think about the next, this is heaven. There is nothing worse than being super thirst or hungry (or for me, just thinking about food) on a plane and seeing the flight attendants about 20 rows away. For me this raises a feeling of panic; what if they run out of water and apple juice and the one food item I am willing to consider 'edible'? I continuously lift myself, hands on the arm rests, to poke my head above the seats to check the progress of the dear, dear food and beverage cart. But no longer! From now on, I will always book myself as a vegetarian! The other plus, no more strange grey spongy 'chicken'.

With that out of the way, back to Paris. Once I made it to Jess' flat, she took me to lunch at this yummy local cafe with giant salads topped with pommes frites. The salad was a welcome change from all the bread, cheese and croissants I had been eating for the last few days. While in Paris, I didn't DO a lot, but I saw everything I wanted to see. I essentially had half of Saturday and all day Sunday to walk the city. Each day I walked about 19 miles (I had my trusty pedometer with me). I will list all the things I saw in the order with which I walked through that city. Saturday: Sacre Coeur ('Sacred Heart' a huge cathedral on a hill overlooking the whole city in Montmartre the northern neighborhood), Moulin Rouge (not nearly as ostentatious as I had anticipated), Les Halles Chatelet (a Gothic cathedral with a pretty park and lots of people relaxing), some really famous mall/store (it was a madhouse, Jess needed to pick up a few things and then we got out of there), all around the outside of the Louvre (I never did get inside. The weather was too nice so I didn't want to spend the time inside), Jardin des Tuileries (a park), Place da la Cocorde (a huge spire shaped sculpture covered in hieroglyphics with large fountains surrounding; given to France as a gift from Egypt), Champs Elysees (very famous tree lined street leading to the Arc de Triomphe with lots of designer shops), Palais de la Decouverte (2 fancy buildings for special exhibits), walk along the Seine, Eiffel Tower, Parc du Champ de Mars (another big park), Palais de Challot (not sure what the building was but it had a great view of the Eiffel Tower), Hilton Paris (to pretend I was a guest and pee), Ecole Militaire (some military building, I was getting really tired and was not as good a student at this point), Esplanade des Invalides and Hotel des Invalides (a large park and series of military museums and war hero tombs), Assemblee Nationale (had armed guards, just wanted to find the train and get back to Jess' to eat and sleep). That was Saturday. Jess walked with me till the Louvre then had her own things to do. She got quiche and made us some salad for dinner, which was wonderful! I slept so well that night.

I think I'll leave you for now with some photos of my first day in Paris and save the second for another day.

This is the front of Sacre Coeur. Like I mentioned, it sits on a hill overlooks the whole city.

For anyone that's never been to Paris, this is a perspective shot of the Eiffel Tower from the hill in Montmartre by Sacre Coeur. Too bad it's so short...

The court yard (probably the total incorrect thing to call it) of the Louvre with two of the glass pyramids and some fountains.

If you view the photo larger (click on it, I think) you can see the hieroglyphics on the Concorde.

The Eiffel Tower has a tendency to just sneak up on you. I was walking down a street looking for a Vespa dealer (there's something I wanted to get that's much cheaper in Europe) and *poof* there was the tower peeking out between two buildings.

and one more phallic French photo...