Paris in Conclusion

What an awesome trip!! Doing something like this is humbling in a way. Sometimes I think, how did I get so lucky to do something so grand like this? Who am I to be doing such big things & seeing such incredible stuff? I thank the Lord all the time for how blessed I am & thank Him for these amazing opportunities to experience LIFE. I am lucky!

Paris life

People = Kim & I are ready to dispute anyone saying French people are rude. we had no problems with them at all. Everyone we encountered was nice & quite helpful. We have a theory that the ones who say that go there as Americans expecting the French people to bend & cater to them. You have to remember that it is THEIR country. How many people say here, "You're in America, speak the language!"? Well, when in France, TRY to speak their language & you'll get a much better response, no doubt.
Parisans seem to know exactly where they're going, why & how. They are all very stylish! 8 out of 10 people always where a scarf it seems, no matter what the temperature. The women look beautiful & fashionable, the men look pulled together & stylish as well. I don't think I saw 1 guy wearing just jeans & a tshirt. If they did, they had a sportcoat on too & probably a scarf.
Nobody is overweight at all. Didn't see a one. You can't be with all the walking you have to do there! I'd say that a good 50% of the population smoke too! YUK!!! It was hard to deal with cuz you smelled it almost everwhere.
It seems their lifestyle is pretty relaxed. They do rush to get places, but on any given day there's so many people out at the parks just eating, talking, hanging out & relaxing.

Eating = Boy, do they take their time. Not 1 restaurant hurried us along & tried to get us "in & out". In fact, everywhere we went, we had to sit, wait & ask for the check! "L'addition, s'il vous plait?" Their food is fresh & delicious. They always give the bread basket at dinner but I don't think they ever eat it with butter. We always had to ask for that too. Beurre (sounds like bur) which we couldn't manage to pronouce correctly no matter what.
Cafes are everywhere w/ outside tables. Loads of people sit outside eating & smoking. You have to hold your breath when you walk by. Eating is relaxing & a leisure. A pleasurable experience.

Metro = Like I said, they know where they're going, how & why. Stand out of their way! Similar to NYC, it's a rush down there in the metro stations. It's incredibly efficient though. Once you understand how to read the metro maps, it's a piece of cake. Everything is very well signed with arrows & color-coded. One metro train is HUGE-probably holds 1,000 people at once! You can get to your stop in about 2 minutes when it would have taken you 30 minutes to walk.
It's not fun though during rush hour! The cars are super packed with people, bodies pressing against each other, squishing. I was pressed up against the center pole, it was so crowded. Just when you think no more people can come in, 6 more pile in. I was smashed up against that pole-squished! Kim gave me a sympathetic look & said, "I think I'm going to have this man's baby!".Too funny!!
One sure fire way to ruin my day though is to give me brand new metro tickets that DON'T WORK!!! It happened numerous times. ARG!!! I'd try 5 tickets & they all wouldn't let me through the turnstyle. I had to go to the info booth to get different ones. Then they wouldn't work. Sometimes there wasn't an info booth w/ a human being in it so Kim or her mom had to give me a ticket so I could get through. What a hassle!
But all in all, the metro was very efficient & smooth. MUCH cleaner than NYC!

The Louvre

The infamous LOUVRE museum is practically right across the street. I was not leaving Paris until I went there so I left the others today to go there on my own. I had all day to take as much time as I wanted.
I downloaded a tour to my Ipod so I used that to get me around to the famous pieces. It was great!!! I saw DaVinci, David, Michelangelo, Venus de Milo, Raphael and course the MONA LISA! I saw lots of famous paintings & believe me, in person-they are really impressive!!! Some of these paintings are bigger than my house! (I mean I couldn't fit it on my walls-they're SO huge!)
After I got through the famous pieces I spent the rest of my time there in the Ancient Egyptian wing. YAY! I smiled the whole way through thinking, "Yea, I was actually there..." EEEEE!!! Still, what they had there was incredible. I did not see lots of those types of things cuz we only spent 2 hours at the Cairo museum. It was all unbelievable!!

By then 3 hours passed by & I was ready to go. I saw all I wanted to see. Although, you could spend WEEKS in the Louvre to be able to see everything. I felt satisfied though.
I got a sandwich & sat out in the Touilleries gardens people watching. It was such a beautiful warm October day. Lots of people were out just laying in the grass.

I walked back towards the apt & took a detour up the street to see the Opera House-which is HUGE & gorgeous! It was a lot longer walk than it looked! I found the entrance & realized they stopped the last tour at 430pm & it was 515pm. AARRGG!!! Oh well.

Back to the apt. We're all getting ready to go out for our last Parisan dinner & packing. We'll be leaving at 7am so we want to get ready tonight. I'm starving & ready to go!

Day 7 in Paris- the dogs are talking

The dogs are talking as in....my feet are KILLING me! I have walked so much in 1 week it's amazing.
Yes, it's our last day but I think we're all getting ready to go home now. There's something about being away for awhile that makes you miss your own stuff, your own bed, your own routine. I could stay 1 more day & visit Sacre Couer church. That would be cool. Oh well. I sure did a lot in a week!

Kim, her mom, aunt & I went out this morning to get chocolate croissants & coffee, then take the metro to visit St. Chapelle church. Jay sent me a picture of the stained glass windows from when he was here & it's truly outstanding. i was excited! I heard it wasn't much to look at from the outside but inside was breath-taking.
It truly was. BUT-the whole front was boarded up for renovations!!! WAAAA! We got to see the church downstairs & the phenominal stained glass windows upstairs except for the front. It was still worth it! 70% of the windows are original from the 13th century. Isn't this stuff amazing? How could you NOT want to see this? They had a nice gift shop area too so I got a couple things.
We saw some cool flower/garden outdoor shops nearby that we putzed around in. I don't know how I find these things, but I found a HEDGEHOG wall hook!! Yes, it's mine. :)
I saw some tiny adorable flowers that I really wanted to take home! Wish I could have, I've never seen anything like them! I took a bunch of pictures.

Next, we walked over to Il St. Louis to get some 'famous' ice cream. I saw what looked like raspberry & asked the guy if they had raspberry. No he says. I point to the pink container-what's that? Peach. Peach? Pink peach? Ok, i'm game. It was delicious!! I can't say it was as good as the OUT OF THIS WORLD ice cream I had in Naples, Italy though. Still, it was a great treat. I ran up to the awesome chocolate store & bought more chocolate covered hazelnuts-YUM! Plus a gift for mom & dad & Joe! I told the girl, "This is my 2nd time here. I love it!" She gave me a pack of 6 cookies FREE! WOOHOO!! I love Paris.

Day 6 in Paris- Firecracker in a Coconut Ball

Today is Kim's 40th birthday!!
She called the shots today so we did whatever she wanted. She & Lisa started the day off w/ a run while the rest of us got to sleep in-yay!
When they came back & got ready, we left to go to a cafe & got sandwiches for a picnic lunch in the great Luxemburg park!
John snuck in a bottle of champagne to toast her bday. We took the metro to get there & walked to the park, plunked ourselves on a bench & ate our lunch. It was a beautiful day. There's a giant gov't building there which was beautiful to look at PLUS a view of the Eiffel Tower! Tons of people were out- old, young & everywhere in between. We've been asking alot this week, "Doesn't anybody WORK??". Statues were scattered throughout the park, cherubs holding up a flower vase, a huge pool/fountain, tennis court, men playing chess at tables, kids running around...you could have people-watched for hours. I got the CUTEST pic on the sly of an adorable little girl.

Backing up- at the apt, Lisa gave Kim her present which was a Pandora bracelet w/ a silver charm of a suitcase w/ the Eiffel Tower on it. When we were ready to leave for the picnic, the rest of us each gave her a charm to add to the bracelet. Lisa was a genious for thinking of the idea. The plan was to give her a charm gradually throughout the day so she could open a present all day long! How cool is that? She loved the idea & our charms.

At the picnic, her mom gave her a charm from Kim's husband Joey. It was sweet.
As we left to hop back on the metro, guess what I got? Yup,- a chocolate crepe!!

From there, we took the metro to the Rodin Museum. He's the sculptor that did "the Thinker". The "house" was amazing-gorgeous & filled w/ his work. Then we went out to the gardens where they had his sculptures throughout. We did a group shot mimicking the Thinker pose at the statue. Everybody was doing it-just like people holding up the leaning tower of Pisa. It turned out cute!

We returned to the apt to relax a little before dinner. I started to write in my journal & my head was bobbing. I took a nap for a 1/2 hr or so-felt great. I joined the others on our balcony-they were having more wine/champagne & talking. It was so relaxing.

Kim's birthday dinner was at a place called Royal Madeline. John & Lisa ate there twice before & said it was fabulous. It was very nice-great atmosphere, great food & great waitresses who spoke English really well.
I got a REAL crab & avacado salad & some authentic French onion soup. I figured I had to try the real deal, right? It was all fantastic.
Out of nowhere, a little white gift bag appears on the table next to Kim (thanks to John). She squeals & opens her present. It's another charm from a friend. She was so surprised & excited! A little bit later, another gift bag appears undetected. More squeals! She was so touched! John & Lisa ended up giving her about 5 total charms from friends at home. Kim was so touched she was teary eyed.
We were all too stuffed for dessert. Next thing you know, we hear "happy birthday" music on the restaurant's speakers & the staff comes out singing to her in French! They came out carrying a FIRECRACKER on a plate!! It was shocking & hysterical!!! We had NO idea this was going to happen. We were just making a fuss over Kim's bday & the waitress did it all on her own.
On the firecracker plate was a pear with cream. She poured chocolate sauce all over it like gravy. It was so amazing!!!! Really, it was a footlong firecracker standing straight up on a plate w/ the pear. I saw it stuck in a little round thing & asked the waitress what it was in. "Uuhhh...coconut" she says. HAHA! I got pictures of the whole thing. It was crazy. I kicked myself in the butt later for not remembering/realizing to take a video!! darn! But the pics are cute.
Me, Kim & her mom were all crying. It was sentimental & emotional.

I told Kim it must be the best birthday ever & I can only wish my 40th will be as awesome.

Day 5 in Paris- train stress, royal hoes & stolen candles

Another fun day in Paris!!
All 6 of us headed out for a day trip to Versailles. It's not close so we had to take the Metro, then get on a train, then walk to get to the palace. 4 of us needed train tickets, so Kim & I went to a kiosk at the metro station to buy them. It was a touch screen-we started off by hitting the English button & figured out to press this, that & the other thing to get a round trip ticket to versailles. Please enter credit card. Not valid. WHAT?! Maybe it goes in the other way. Nope, not valid. Upside down? Nope, not valid. Try typing everything in again. Enter credit card...nope, not valid. Let me try...nope,nope,nope. It says it takes Visa! What the heck? The other 4 were waiting for us by the train station turnstyles (which was a looong walk away). Kim walked to them & got their credit cards. We tried 6 different cards about 3 times each & it never would accept it. RRROOAARR!!!
To get us even more stressed, the machine only took coins-no bills! Well, we didn't have enough coins. It figures! Of course, there's no human being around (employee) to help us.
So now we were on the hunt to find somewhere to get change for a bill. We found a shopping center connected to the metro & went there. It was about 9am & nobody hardly was open yet. We asked at a coffee shop & they said no & pointed upstairs. Then we went to a concierge. They had no money & told us to go to a store & ask. We laughed. He was good about helping us & even wrote down how to ask for change "en francais" for us. So we went to another coffee shop. The poor girl was so nice about it but she was reluctant to give us all her change cuz then she wouldn't have any for customers.
Guess what? After all that, we were 1 euro short. Kim goes ALL the way back to the others & asks for all the change they've got. Then, praise the LORD we FINALLY got our tickets after about an hour. Let's GO!
Luckily, the others in their time waiting for us, figured out how to get on & transfer on the train to get to where we're going. Sheesh.

Versailles-
it was just a short walk up the street to get to the palace. HOLY COW- there it is on top of a hill, immense!!! HUGE!! Unbelievable. It was so exciting!! We got through the line quickly & into the courtyard. It's so vast...elegant, impressive, gorgeous.
Inside, we got a free audio guide that tells about the rooms as you go. We shuffled our way through the different rooms w/ the crowd looking at the incredible furniture, paintings, trimwork, moulding & murals on the ceilings.
I kept falling behind cuz I wanted to listen to all the blurbs about everything. After a short while, the others started getting impatient & punchy. Kim said they'd meet me in the gardens if I wanted to linger.
I saw them up ahead of me at one point, then went down steps & lost them entirely. There were about 4 different exits they could have gone. After a few minutes of trying to find them I said "forget it, I'll meet them in the garden somewhere" & went on to look around. Kim was waiting for me when I came out. They changed their plans & wanted to eat first instead of the gardens. I'm so glad she waited for me to tell me that. I started realizing that maybe I don't travel well with a group. ;)
Lunch was fine, then we all toured the gardens together. Not long after the others wanted to leave. There was so much more to see! Kim & I stayed together & took our time seeing everything we wanted to see. It was fantastic!!!
Past the gardens (22 acres) we walked to Marie-Antoinette's domain & the Grand Trianon where the kings went to "get away from it all". It was so much nicer cuz there were barely any crowds. We could look at stuff without being rushed, it was GREAT.
There was a room that had glass cases which held what looked like garden tools w/ fancy ribbons/fabric tied to them. I laughed & said, "Look! It's a royal hoe!" Guess you had to be there. :)
We found some neat things at the gift shops & headed on our way out. It was such a grand place to be. I'm so thankful Kim wanted to stay!

On the way back to the train station-guess what? CHOCOLATE CREPES!!!! Ooo la la~

We got back to town no problem. Rested in the apt for a tad then went for dinner at the Louvre which is about a block away.
Kim said it was one of her favorite restaurants-Cafe Marly. It was very nice & the food was great. It was a beautiful place located in the surrounding perimeter of the Louvre courtyard. I ate dinner with a view of the Louvre & the glass pyramid. AAGGHH! It was another "pinch me!" moment.
There were pretty frosted glass candle holders on the tables that Kim loved. She said "I wonder if I tell them it's my birthday if they'll give it to me". So, on we went w/ our meal & conversation. There was a little stress at the end when the waiter didn't understand "seperate checks" & charged me for sparkling water when I asked for tap water.Anyway, we had a nice time & started walking back to the apt. Then her aunt pulls the candle holder out of her purse & says "Happy birthday"!!! OH MY WORD- we were dying!!! We laughed all the way home. She swiped it off the table next to us & nobody knew it. Too funny!! Kim was thrilled.

Tomorrow is Kim's actual birthday. I can't wait to surprise her!

Day 4 in Paris- Catacombs & Musee D'Orsay

I got to sleep in today-yay! Went to bed late but slept til 10:45am while Kim & Lisa went out for a run. Took our time getting ready & then headed out to the catacombs! It was a longer metro ride & right smack in the middle of town. You'd never know there were mile(s) of underground tunnels!
We walked for a while through narrow tunnels w/ low ceilings (no problem for me!) with little light. No flash photography was allowed so my pics came out pretty crappy but you get the gist. Tons & tons of skulls, femurs & tibias were artfully arranged in rows, about shoulder height for what seemed like a mile! It was impressive. A really neat thing to do.
We had lunch & hit the metro again after 4pm to rush to the Musee D'Orsay (museum). It was an old train station-so cool! The ceilings were really high w/ awesome arches & decorations & a HUGE clock. We only had an hour til they closed so we didn't see much. I'm not too into art so I can look at that stuff pretty quickly. I did spy from the 2nd floor a tambourine!! There was some kind of huge white statue on the 1st floor of an angel guy ( I think) w/ women around him & he was holding a tambourine. I was excited but they shushed us out in a hurry. Oh well.
We got our Museum Pass for 4 days which will allow us to get in almost all the other museums til Friday.
Kim, Lisa, John & I ate at a fabulous Thai restaurant across the street. I got scallops (again!) with green curry & coconut milk-YUMMY!!!! We'll go back again.

Tomorrow is a day trip to Versailles!!! Can't wait!
http://www.chateauversailles.fr/

Paris Day 3- Puces St. Oeun & Eiffel Tower

AAARRRGGG!!! I spent about a 1/2 hr this morning writing about what we did yesterday & when I went to post it, it all disappeared!! So, I'll try to recollect what I wrote... :(

My calves are so sore from walking up the bell tower! But what a day we had.
We headed out in the morning on the metro to the Puces St. Oeun flea market. I was wondering if they had Chinese vendors selling purses & sunglasses in Paris. Close! We followed the signs when we got off the metro & found the 1st section. It was pretty cheesy-African stuff, jeans, clothes, shoes, jewelry & hooka pipes! All the vendors were African or Arabic. I wore my MZUNGU tshirt (foreignor) & wondered if any of the African guys would start speaking Swahili to me. Nope.
I wasn't impressed w/ anything. Just junk.

Then we made our way across the highway to another section to find the antique stuff. Wow- it was alley after alley of tiny little shops-what a maze! It was so neat to look at everything-lots of dishes, paintings, furniture,etc. I was hoping to find something cool but I didn't get anything. It was all so expensive!! Kim was eyeing up silver candlesticks from the 18th century for 450 euros (about $800)!! We had lunch there & made our way back to the apartment. Her aunt bought a giant copper pot we had to drop off before heading to the Eiffel Tower.

Around 5pm we took the metro again to the Eiffel Tower,yahoo! We got off at Trocadero, walked about the corner of a huge building, looked to the left & .....AAAAAHHHH!!!!! There it was! HUGE & right there! It was such a magical moment. To be standing there in front of a wonder of the world- something you only see on TV or read about-is phenominal. Speechless. Awe-inspiring. This is what I live for. It reminded me of Egypt-staring at the pyramids. It's just outstanding. I hope the Taj Mahal is next!

We made our way across a huge courtyard & highway to get to it. Kim said there was a great crepe place there. So I got my daily chocolate crepe-YUM!!!
The line for tickets was not that bad. It was long but we moved pretty quickly. We took the elevator all the way to the top! They cram so many people in there like sardines! They have a sign saying, "Beware of pickpockets".
So we get out & head straight up the steps to the lookout- 360 all around. WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!! This was unbelievable!! The views of the entire city were simply breathtaking. You could see all the monuments-they looked so tiny from up there! They must use the same material for all the buildings cuz they all have the same white material.
We got some great pics then headed down to the 2nd level lookout for more pics.

It was so outstanding!! I can't wait to get my pics developed. It was dark when we left so we got to see it all lit up!!! Just like a poster picture! Every hour it "sparkles" too! As if it couldn't get any better, we saw it sparkle at 8pm & 9pm. I took a short video of it. I could have stayed there for an hour just watching it. Pinch me, pinch me!!

2 aching feet later, it was so worth it.

Notre Dame-Paris Day 2

Today was a perfect day!
The weather was superb. Kim, her mom & aunt & I headed for a long walk down the Seine to Notre Dame for 1130am mass & tour. It was a little further than we thought so we had to hoof it! It was an incredible sight when we got there! There's a huge courtyard out front w/ lots of people milling about & a loooong line to get in the church. The line went very fast though & we got in about 5 minutes after the service started. It was an international service but it was mostly all in French & I think some Latin. Get this- the woman next to me was from Lebanon, PA! Too funny.
After the service, we did the tour all around the perimeter of the church. The stained glass windows are truly awe-inspiring & impressive. Then, Kim & I stood in line for an hour to go up the bell towers!! It was SOOO worth the wait! We walked up numerous steps that led us to a gift shop. Kim & I looked at each other like, "this is IT???!" cuz we couldn't see where else to exit to go further up. Well, a guy said we have 5 minutes & then we continued on. They only let 20 people at a time, every 10 minutes to control the flow of people traffic going up & down the GAZILLION steps. :)
So we climbed on, higher & higher. Our thighs were burning! The steps were like climbing a lighthouse-extremely narrow & spiraling up & up & up. We came out onto the lookout at the 1 tower. GASP! Breathtaking!!! Panoramic views of the whole city....stunning!!! Gargoyles so close you could reach out & touch them! I asked Kim if rubbing a gargoyle would bring good luck.haha So I gave one a little back massage. Some gargoyles were cute & nonthreatening, like a stork or heron & an elephant, others were menacing. One nasty statue was devouring a small animal! But I liked the creepy ones.
As we walked around the tower, we saw 2 little dwarf doors that were open. In we walk & there were steps going up some more to the....BELL!!!! Holy Hanna-it's the biggest bell you've ever seen! I really wanted to just tap it.
Back outside, we walk around & find more steps going up. There's more??? Woowee! Yes, so we climb even higher to another lookout point on the other tower. More impressive views of the city all around.
Going back down was a lot easier!
We met up w/ the others, exchanged money & got lunch. Kim & I shared a sandwhich of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers & brie which was fantastic!!!! They made crepes too so I HAD to have one! I saw "Chocolat coco nut" & thought, "ooooooo-NUTS & chocolate!" So I had her make that one & here it was chocolate & COCONUT!! DUH!!! It was truly delicious though!!! I'm definitely getting more crepes!

From there we made our way to Il St. Louis-down a busy shopping street. Found a GEM of a chocolate shop!!
Then we made the loooooong walk back to the apt to meet John & Lisa for dinner. Tired, aching feet!!!
We rested a tad then headed back out to the closest town square & ate at Le Royale. I got a salad w/ tomatoes, warm goat cheese on toast-YUM!!!!!

So we're back here ready for bed. Tomorrow is the St. Oeun Puce -flea market!
Bon nuit~
Jes

Bonjour!!

Bonjour mez amis!
I've arrived safe & soundly in Paris, France!! It's been absolutely amazing already.
Our flight was fine & uneventful. Going through security & passport check was fast! We ran into a glitch though when we got through baggage claim & our driver wasn't there!! We were all expecting to see a guy holding a sign w/ Kim's name on it. After a 1/2 hr she called the guy in charge of the apartment. He said he'd call the driver to see where he was at. If we didn't see him in 10 minutes, Kim should call him back. We waited an hour & nothing. It was super discouraging. We were super tired & didn't know where we were going.
When Kim called back, the guy acted like he didn't know what we were talking about, like there never was a reservation for a limo to take us to the apt!! WHAT??!!
So we ended up taking a cab to the apt & that worked out just fine & was a lot cheaper!

It looked like he pulled into an alley. That was our address! I told Kim maybe he shouldn't leave us just yet until we know the woman was there to meet us in the apt. Luckily, she was here & buzzed us in.
We're on the 4th floor in a huge complex called Palais Royale. It was the garden hang out of King Louis the 14th. It's beautful! Just like the website but slightly smaller. We have a full kitchen, bar stools, dining room, living room, 3.5 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms & a balcony. The balcony looks out into the gardens & surrounding complex=it's so nice!

Kim, her mom, aunt & I headed out later this afternoon on foot. We walked past/through the Louvre grounds-wowohowowohwow!!!! Somebody slap me silly!! It was so incredibly impressive! And this was just looking at the outside. Then Kim says, "Look Jes!", & there was the top of the Eiffel Tower! We made our way down the street & across a bridge to take a cruise tour on the Seine river. It was windy, slightly drizzly & cool. Oh no-I might have to buy a jacket! We sat on the upper deck & got some great pics of the surrounding buildings & monuments. I didn't realize how close everything is! The Louvre, Notre Dame & some other things are all within walking distance of each other.
We had a nice tour guide gal who spoke in French & English, thank goodness. We saw the Eiffel Tower up close-it was amazing!! I kept squealing with excitement. This is the kind of stuff you only read about or see on TV! Then here I am!!! I love it-it's such an incredible feeling. It reminded me of when I was going to Egypt & people would say, "Why do you want to go to Egypt?". WWWWAAAAAAAAHH???!! Have you ANY idea of what's there???
We got a nice view of Notre Dame too which was soooo cool. I can't wait til tomorrow when we tour there!

Get this- there were street vendors along the road walking to the cruise tour. What did I see? A print of a girl playing a tambourine!!!! It stopped me dead in my tracks. I didn't buy it-was going to get it on the way back but they closed. Tomorrow perhaps!

We walked back to our road & checked out what was down in the opposite direction. saw a sign for a supermarket & got milk for my cereal in the AM.

Then we headed out for dinner. I got a good dish of salmon w/ tomatoes in a cream sauce.
So now we've been up for far too long & utterly exhausted. I can't wait to lay down my weary head.

First day in Paris= pinch me!!! It's amazing! Plus I didn't encounter any rude frenchies.
Tomorrow- Notre Dame & a historic walking tour from there to Saint Chappelle.
Bon nuit!!
Jes