Quel Bon Voyage! Okay so my french is terrible so I won't try to keep going but my weekend in Paris was an absolute blast.
I went to visit an old friend who I haven't been able to spend much time with in the past ten years or so. We spent the first afternoon just talking and catching up...we literally talked for 5 or 6 hours straight.
Then I got down to business the next morning...I mean I had to be able to say I did Paris in three days just as I saw Rome in two...Hilary quite possibly will be the only one who understands this is she reads this though hehe.
Anyways Day 1: Friday
I started off at L'ecole Militaire and la Tour Eiffel. I decided to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and just a warning to anyone going in the future...that can be a very time consuming although worthwhile event. All in all it took over three hours...close to 3.5 I think because of all the lines. In the meantime I got to see my first Parisian street performer though and he was quite funny. He was this man dressed in a bomber jacket, scarf and aviators who would walk up within inches behind tourists and mimic there every move until eventually they realized, turned around, and generally freaked...hilarious! After about an hour of watching this guy I made it up to the ticket booth and then eventually up the first lift and then the second. I went up to the top first and looked out over Paris. I took lots of photos (do you expect anything less of me) and enjoyed the view. I even impressed myself by being able to identify a lot of the key landmarks. After that I went down to the middle level and looked around some more. I actually preferred the middle level to the top, the views were just as good if not clearer and it was much easier to move around.
After my lengthy visit to the Eiffel Tower, I walked along the Seine, through les Invalides, saw hotel de les invalides where the dome church is as well as Napoleans crypt I believe, up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph, back down the Champs Elysees through the gardens at the other end on to the Louvre. I saw a lot along the way and just generally enjoyed all the flowers and gardens. It was the first time I've seen anything green in awhile and its amazing how much I missed it.
After all this I decided I'd seen enough for one afternoon and heading back to the 20th arrondisment to meet up with Hilary.
We went out to an Indian neighborhood for dinner later...go figure go to Paris and have Indian food but it was good :)
Day 2: Saturday
After a lazy morning we got on our way around one in the afternoon and had a very busy although leisurely day. We started out at the Pantheon which was a cool building from the outside...I didn't bother going in though. There was this little church next door though that I thought was really pretty so we decided to take a peak inside there. It was very open feeling and bright which is noteworthy considering the feel of alot of the other gothic churches.
We then wandered over to the Jardin du Loxembourg which was very pretty and green! There was a little pond in front of an old palace (Paris is full of these) and there were young children with toy sailboats on the pond. It was all very storybook in my opinion.
After this we headed over to Ile de la Cite to Notre Dame. The stained glass was gorgeous just as everyone says but the church itself was very dark and kinda of eery...fitting of the gothic style I suppose. Also leave it to the civil engineer to pause in the front and look at the dimensions of the altar/interior and comment on odd proportions...yes I'm that much of a dork. Hilary thought I was a little nuts I imagine as I sat that and said that it looked odd to me because it didn't follow the dimensions of the golden rectangle. The inside was extremely narrow and extremely tall though and so it struck my attention.
We walked around the back to see the flying buttresses after per my request...again can you tell I'm a civil engineer? But we stumbled across a hilarious street performer as a result. There was this guy in the street who did this silent skit with his bike and I guess you would have had to see it but it was so funny. He had this tape tight rope and then did all sorts of stunts on his bike and then rode a toy bike that was probably only a foot long. It was really quite amusing.
After our first street performer of the day it was time for crepes and I have to say there is something quite awesome about sitting on the Seine, looking at Notre Dame and eating a delicious, fresh crepe!
We wandered around for a while longer and ended up at this shopping center where on one of the random patios outside an exit they had this statue with cartoons all over it and it said in french " find the one that looks most like you then tell your dad you're changing your first name" so now I'm Dina everyone...the girl diving head first into water, seem fitting?
Eventually we ended up in Monmartre and walked the strip with all the caberets etc including Moulin Rouge. I took my stereotypical tourist shot in front but I think the photo I took of all the tourists taking photos is probably more entertaining hehe. We then found this hilarious yet awesome fondue place that Hilary had been to five years earlier called refuge des Fondus. It was this Fondue restaurant with graffiti all over the walls from previous visitors and just two long tables. If you sat on the inside the waiter literally helped you climb over the table to sit down. That way everyone, strangers and people there together alike, all sat together and chatted in a mishmosh of several languages which was a blast. They also served the wine in baby bottles which is ridiculous but entertaining nonetheless.
Hilary and I then wandered the streets of Monmartre with our leftover baby bottle of wine and ended up getting our portrait done at midnight before ended up at Sacre Couer. Can't forget going across the city and then missing the last metro and walking back to her place until 3am either hehe. It was a very full day :)
Day 3: Sunday
Famous dead people in a cemetary, sandwiches in the park, and my flight home. Simple yet fun.
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