Just Another Day in Paris

9-18-2008

I awoke at 6 this morning in order to meet Jenny and Cody at 6:30 to make the walk to Notre Dame for 7am mass. Upon arriving, the beautiful cathedral was all locked up and we were made aware that mass didn’t start until 8am.  Thanks Jenny for the hour of sleep that I will never get back. Anywho, It seemed that’s when the rest of the town wakes up as well, because we walked around the church looking for a place to grab a light breakfast and it was slim pickings.

However, we did stop into a bakery that was just waking up. There I ate the most delicious croissant as it came almost right from the oven to my mouth. The bakery wouldn’t let us eat in the shop since he was still getting thing set up, so we had to bare the cold for a bit longer until they opened the cathedral. The mass was behind the alter in an intimate setting. I believe we were the only tourist there as the rest of the crowd looked like regulars who would be on their way to work right after mass.

Following that early morning experience at Notre Dame, we went back to the hostel, grabbed some breakfast, and then I needed a nap.

At 11:00 the whole group made the two block journey down the road to the Lourve, the place where art magic happens. Here I was able to take in more art than my body had room for:

Battle to the Death

This dude just reminded me of my dog

Yup, hieroglyphics

 

My imitation, ancient Bob Marley

 She's even more beautiful in person than I imagined she would be

No, I did not take a picture of the Mona Lisa. Rather, I took a picture of all the people trying to take a decent picture of the Mona Lisa. Yet because of the protective glass over her, no one ever gets a decent shot. She is much smaller than I  imagined her though.

Four hours in the Lourve later, I was getting some hunger pangs so we got some Chinese to go. I played it safe and got the sweet and sour chicken, but it was quite different than other sweet and sour I’ve had before, mostly because it wasn’t breaded. I almost preferred it. I love those little unexpected differences. They’ve been coming at me a mile a minute since I’ve started these past two weeks of Euro madness. But the little surprises that make you say, “ohh, I wasn’t expecting that” engrain the roll-with-the-punches mentality into your every day. Once you can confidently say “I’ll take each day as it comes and not sweat the details,” you days get much more enjoyable.

After a short nap, Jenny and I attempted to take in the Lourve around two. However, it was closed. The gift shop was open however and I purchased the best children’s book of all time My Little Louvre.

We watched as the night began to consume the Paris sky. We walked along a park by the Louvre watched the fountain and made up stories about the statues with we knew nothing about. For example, this fella is doing the morning-after walk of shame. 

We watched the sunset over the city from a high point in the park. We ate our first Nutella Creepe.  We walked down the Avenue Kleber to the Charles de Gaulle Etoile Arch. From the top of this famous Paris landmark you can see all the city in all of it’s splendor.

Following that we went to an extremely untouristie part of town where we each got a fabulous panini sandwich. By this time, it was midnight thirty, so we decided to make the journey back.

Once we got out of the underground station, Jenny and I spun around like a couple of lost tourists, because at that moment we were. Just then a kind woman came up behind us and said, “excuse me, I help you. Where you need to go?” We were blown away. This kind lady saw some confused American tourists and stopped to help us without our even asking.

She pointed us back in the direction of Notre Dame. We knew once we got there we’d be able to find our way back. What we didn’t know was that at 1:00 in the morning a film crew would be setting up for the shooting of what we assumed was a hip hop music video. At first, we thought they were sending off weather balloons. But it turns out the large balloons were for lighting. We saw a group of hip hop dancers warming up and watched as the crew set up their monitors, cameras, lights, and all the accoutrement needed for a film shoot. We didn’t get a chance to watch the filming, as it was getting cold and time for bed.