Ooh La La

Before I begin the final chapter of my European adventure, I'd like to apologize for the terrible order it's in. The only way to have avoided that would have been to write it all in one day, which just wasn't possible. If the chronology confuses anyone, just follow the dates in order.

Monday, May 22, 2006

After sleeping in just a little, Jill and I awoke in Paris. I woke up with a sore throat and just felt kind of sick, generally. We were actually quite slow in getting out the door. I think our exhaustion was setting in full force. Nevertheless, we eventually did make it out of the hotel and IT WAS COLD! It was so different from Italy. The wind was blowing and rain seemed inevitable. We headed off toward the metro stop and stopped at a bakery along the way. We both purchased a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette and a pastry. YUM! How I wished we would have just ignored all the pastries in Italy to save room for the ones in Paris. The sandwiches were delicious as well. The only problem was mine had butter on it. What were they thinking? I just scraped as much off as possible and enjoyed it anyway. We wandered for quite a bit (shocker), but finally found the metro stop.

Our first outing was to the Louvre. I was giddy like a school girl when I saw it. There's just something about that glass pyramid that I'd seen in movies and in pictures over and over again. To be standing in front of it was very surreal. We spent a good 3 1/2 hours in the Louvre and I enjoyed every moment of it. I'm not a big art enthusiast as I've previously mentioned, but there was so much genius in one building that it would be hard not to appreciate it.

After the Louvre, we headed off toward the Arc de Triumph. It wasn't terribly close, so we got to see some of the city. I fell in love. I have heard a lot of bad things about Paris. I heard that it is dirty and that the people are mean. I found neither of these to be true. Granted, the people weren't quite as hospitable as in Italy, but no one was ever rude to me. Also, I thought Paris was exceptionally clean. There was a quite peace and serenity that calmed my soul. Okay, that line was a little cheesy, but I really did love it.

I bought a banana from a vendor on the way to the Arc. I hadn't had nearly enough fresh fruit. Plus, the vendor was extremely friendly and spoke very good English. All in all, the transaction was quite pleasant. Sorry- I digress. Did I mention it was freezing? It wouldn't have been bad without the wretched wind.

As we were walking down the Champs Elysees, we saw a movie theater and popped in to see if by some chance The DaVinci Code was playing in English. It was indeed, so we marked that on our things to do list. We made it to the Arc de Triumph and headed right up to the top. Lots of stairs, but well worth the climb. We had an excellent view of the city. It was our first real view of the Eiffel Tower, which was spectacular. It really dwarfed every other structure in the city.

By the time we came down the Arc de Triumph, it was about an hour from the movie's start time. We were a little afraid of French restaurants as none of the menus were translated to English. It just seemed a lot easier to recognize food on Italian menus. Our fear drove us to McDonald'ss since we were in a hurry. I know it's despicable and we were ashamed. Nevertheless, a fountain Diet Coke really made me happy.

After a quick bite, we headed to the theater. The DaVinci Code was the only movie showing and there were almost no other people in the theater. Also, the theater had no concessions, just a couple vending machines. I really wanted to teach a class in cross selling. Oh well. I guess they do things their way. The movie was in English with French subtitles. The only problem was that there were some conversations in the movie that were in French. Since we were actually in France, I guess the powers that be thought we would not need English subtitles. I'd like to see it again to know what they were saying. Notwithstanding that minor annoyance, we pretty much got what was going on. Plus, I had read the book so helped fill in the gaps. It was very cool to see scenes in the movie that we had seen in person that day; specifically the ones in the Louvre.

After the movie was over, we headed home. It was about 10 pm and the subway wasn't crowded. We were very tired as usual. We got back to the hotel and planned our itinerary for the next day. It looked like it was going to be one of our busiest days yet. The trip was almost over and we had a lot of ground to cover. Paris was full of stuff to see. We agreed (reluctantly) to get up earlier than usual to get started on our "things to do in Paris" list.

What I learned in day 8:

1. Throat lozenges would be much more helpful if they were in my suitcase rather than on my "list of things to pack" without a check mark next to it.
2. Wearing three sweaters at a time is very uncomfortable. It would have been a much better idea to have brought a jacket.
3. If you packed an umbrella, take it with you when you leave your hotel so you don't have to buy one that says "Paris" in great big letters across it.
4. Those French people have really figured out how to make bread.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

We didn't get up quite as early as we had planned the night before. Oh well. We both got ready for the day. I had changed my clothing color pallet from blacks to browns and therefore needed to change purses. As I did this, I realized that my wallet wasn't in the purse I had used the previous day. I looked for it for a while before Jill noticed that I was getting a little frantic. When I told her that I thought my wallet was gone, we both scouredd the room. When we were both satisfied that my wallet was not in the hotel room, we tried to think about the last time I had it. I knew I had it when I paid for the movie and I was pretty sure I had it when I took my metro ticket out to get home.

We headed straight to the movie theater- just in case. Okay, maybe we stopped for some pastries, but we were starving and I knew that food would calm my nerves. Plus, I bought the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. It was similar to a giant macaroon, half dipped in chocolate, but a little less dense than normal macaroons. Okay, back to the wallet search. I knew in my heart it wouldn't be there, but we had to try. The nice man gave me a flashlight and set me loose in the theater. We turned up nothing. No one had turned it in.

What was in my wallet you ask? Well I'm ashamed to say. You would think with my years of education and natural born genius that I would not put my passport, debit card, credit card, driver's license, and cash all in the same place. But yes. Yes, I did. I had the equivalent of $180 cash and all my methods of getting money or heck...OUT OF THE COUNTRY wrapped up in a nice little package for donation to some nice pickpocket.

There really was nothing else to do but head for the American Consulate. We spent the morning there, but the good news is that the lady at the counter was the nicest lady ever. She helped me cancel my credit cards and made the process of getting a new passport as painless as possible. It went off without a hitch except for another lady taking about 5 minutes of looking back and forth from my old passport picture to me. She was really not convinced we were the same person. I had to explain to her that the picture was taken 9 years ago and while I agree that bleach blonde was not my best look, it sometimes happens. We were in and out, passport in hand, in about 3 hours. It could have been much worse. By the way, I was quite proud of myself because I never really freaked out and I did not cry! The saddest part was that our entire morning was gone and we had to seriously limit the day's activities by cutting stuff out.

First stop for the day was the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It was beautiful. I hadn't really taken many pictures of all the churches we had visited because a lot of them looked the same, but I wanted a picture of this one. I was digging through my purse and realized that my camera wasn't there. Don't worry. It didn't get stolen, but in my haste to recover my wallet, I had left it at the hotel. Since Jill didn't have a camera, I saw no alternative but to go get it. How could we go for an entire day (well, half a day) in Paris without a camera? So we headed back to the hotel. Man, this day did NOT turn out like we had planned. The beds in our Paris hotel were merely springs with sheets, so neither of us had slept well. We both layed down for just a second and woke up 2 hours later. Whoops! After our brief cat nap, we headed out again. We went up to the Sacre Coeure Basilica (Sacred Heart Church). It's this IMMENSE, beautiful church up on a hill. It had the most amazing views of the city. After looking inside for a while, we wandered around the streets around it. It was so cute. It was clearly tourist oriented. There were a million restaurants and creperies as well as gift shops and art shops. We walked around looking at the shops for a while before stopping for dinner at one of the restaurants. This is where I met my french waiter/boyfriend. Okay, so our courtship only lasted about an hour, but it was good while it lasted. I need to disclaim that I am fully aware that said waiter is a shameless flirt to all American girls who sit at his tables, but I did not care. It was fun. He had a gap between his teeth the size of Texas, but I paid no mind. This restaurant was really special. It was the first place that served tap water instead of overly priced bottled water. Also, we had these huge dinner salads that actually came with dressing. We were in heaven. We were really deficient on our vegetable consumption as well. We lingered for quite a while and got to know our good waiter, Nabil. He tried to take us dancing, but we did not accept. He also offered me a free massage with my dinner, followed by a kiss. Sadly, I did not accept those offers either. Nevertheless, Nabil will always remain in my heart.

After dinner, we stopped at a creperie and ordered chocolate banana crepes. These were terribly disappointingg. The chocolate was bitter and we ended up throwing half of them away.

Next we headed off toward the Eiffel Tower. We had heard that it took 3-4 hours to get to the top, so we weren't even going to try. However, in a mere 25 minutes, we were on the elevator headed straight there. It was fantastic. Do you have any idea how tall that tower is? It took forever to get to the top. Once up there, you could see forever. If we thought Paris was cold on the ground, it didn't even compare to Paris up high. The wind was fierce! It was barely bearable to be outside. Luckily, at the top, there is a room with windows that shielded us from the elements. It was about 9:00 pm by this time and we wanted to see Paris at night, so we decided to hang out there until dark. We had no idea that it wouldn't get dark until 10:30 - stupid daylight savings time. We were up there FOREVER! It was okay and probably worth it, but geez! Paris is gorgeous at night and when we got back down to Earth, we discovered that the Eiffel Tower is just exquisite in the dark. By this time, it was time for bed so we headed back to the hotel.

What I learned in day 9:

1. They have British women working at the American Consulate..Odd.
2. The American Consulate is not at all exotic or exciting. It is suspiciously similar to the DMV.
3. Even if you're not in a crowded place, pickpockets are still smarter and more talented than you are - ZIP UP YOUR PURSE!
4. If you have to wear 3 sweaters to stay warm, perhaps flip flops are not the best footwear choice.
5. You have to ask for the next course and the check at restaurants. They do not assume you are ready for it because apparently Europeans actually sit, linger, and enjoy their food for HOURS!

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Today, we got on a train and headed south about 45 minutes to Versailles. Versailles was cute, from what we saw. We headed straight to the Palace of Versailles. It was, as expected, beautiful. Everything was just so ornate. My favorite part was the grounds though. They were just amazing. I could have lived forever there - well except for the blustery cold. Have I mentioned that yet? It was so green and just so exactly manicured. It really was amazing. We hung out there for a couple hours, then headed back to Paris.

Once back in Paris, we searched high and low for a farmer's market that Jill had read about but never did find it. We did get to see more of Paris so I guess it wasn't a total loss. We also attempted the crepes thing again. This time was much more enjoyable. They were amazing. It's a good thing I don't live there. I would have to stop eating or gain 200 pounds. One thing I did not get sick of was having men shout "Ooh La La" as we walked by. Ooh la la just seems more sophisticated than cat calls. Suspiciously though, they were all trying to sell us something. Do you think there's a correlation?

By this time, we were both beyond exhausted, not necessarily from that particular day, but just from the trip as a whole. Jill's feet were killing her and I was still sick...remember that? At about 5:00 pm, we headed toward the hotel. We stopped briefly at a grocery store and picked up some cheese, then to a bakery for a baguette. At the hotel and after a nice, long bubble bath for me, we pulled out the portable DVD player and watched 2 movies. How lame! We were in Paris for the last night of the trip and we were watching movies in our hotel room. I think both of us had just lost the fight! I also had to repair the duffele bag that had split wide open. Thank you Annell for the travel sewing kit. I really don't know what we would have done without it. After the movies, we packed up as much stuff as possible, then went to bed.

What I learned in Day 10:

1. Only buy crepes from men that shout "ooh la la". They taste better that way.
2. I love Nutella.
3. Buying items in a grocery store is about 1/4 of the cost at a vendor stand at a tourist attraction.
4. If you are in a city with an underground metro system that you are unfamiliar with, bring a compass so you know which direction is which when you emerge from beneath the earth's surface.
5. Herbal Essence Shampoo really does make your hair fall out.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Wow, what a trip it had been! We got up, got ready and packed up the rest of our stuff. We had some money left that we didn't want to change, so we were planning on stopping at our favorite bakery and loading up before heading to the airport. Sadly, it was closed. What kind of bakery is closed at 7:30 in the morning? We were very sad. We got on the subway and headed to the RER, which is another type of train in Paris that I never quite figured out. The RER took us straight to the airport. We had a little trouble getting into the airport as there were turnstyles that required a ticket, but no ticket windows or machines. Eventually we convinced a worker to just let us in. The lines were long, but we were plenty early so there was no real problem at the airport. We spent the last of our money on high priced airport food, but it was pretty good. At almost 11:00 am, we boarded our plane headed for the US. After a very long 10 hour flight we landed for a 3 hour layover in Dallas.

Luckily, my dear friend John met us there (he is finishing a master's program in Dallas) and took us out to get ice cream. That was a much needed outing and he was so sweet for doing so. Plus, it was really good to see him.

Finally, we got back on a plane and headed for home. It was an amazing trip, but I was ready to be back. For my next trip, I want to go lay on a beach for a week!