End of The Road

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It was a bittersweet morning as I came to the realization that today was my last day of travelling before heading back home. After breakfast, I set out for another full day of sightseeing around Paris. As I walked towards the Notre Dame Cathedral, another demonstration was being organized in front of the Hotel De Ville. After yesterday's encounter with the anti-gay crowd on the Champs-Elysees, I decided it was best not to stick around for much longer. I made my way over to the Notre-Dame and got in line for the ascent to the towers. Entrance wasn't until 9:00 and I arrived at 8:15 so I had about 45 minutes to kill. However, the whole time while I was in line, I was continually bothered by these gypsy women who tried to get me to sign their petition to help the disabled. I knew that it was some sort of scam so I kept telling them no. In all, about 4 gypsies came up to me trying to get my signatire. One even kept pulling on my sleeve to get me to sign. I don't know why I was continuously targeted but they never approached anyone else in the line. Once inside, I paid my entrance fee of about 8 euros and began the long and tiring ascent to the top through a narrow, spirally, and claustrophobic staircase. By the time I got to the top, I felt a little dizzy but I was rewarded with fantastic views of the city of Paris. I have a bit of a fascination with gargoyles so I was obviously in heaven with all of the gargoyles around me. As we only had about 10 minutes before we had to start descending, I quickly snapped as many photos as I could of all the gargoyles from various angles but also made time to savor the moment and enjoy the fresh air and fantastic views. Before continuing on with my walk around Paris, I decided to go back to the hotel for a bit. On my way back, the protest that was in it's beginning stages a little over an hour ago, was now in full swing. I just assumed that it was another anti same sex marriage protest that I encountered yesterday. However, this crowd seemed much more subdued and well behaved. I didn't see the same signs as I did yesterday and many of the signs that I did see, had the word "ecole" in them. This being the French word for school, I came to the conclusion that they must be protesting some kind of issue regarding education or the school system. After a quick rest back in the hotel room, I was back on the subway heading over to the Montmartre area to check out the Sacre Couer. Montmartre is Paris' highest hilltop and for centuries has been a famous stomping grounds for the local bohemian and artist community. One of Paris' top attractions, I can't believe that I had never previously paid a visit to this part of the city during any of my 2 previous trips. After exiting the subway, it was a slightly uphill walk up an extremely touristy Rue Steinkerque where I passed hordes of other tourists and tacky souvenir shops. Climbing up the stairs to the Sacre Couer, I started seeing many young African men trying to sell cheap Parisian souvenirs as well as trying to scam unaware tourists with the famous bracelet scam. It was a bit humurous to see all of the run every time a policeman happened to be nearby. By now, the weather had definitely warmed up and I was breaking out in a light sweat. Once I made it to the top of the stairs at the base of the Sacre Couer Basilica, I turned around and was rewarded with fantastic view of this great city. I didn't feel the need to go inside the basilica, so instead I chose to have a wander around the Montmartre area. I had thought that Montmartre would give me a good feel for 18th century Parisian charm but the area was completed innundated with tourists especially the streets surrounding the Sacre Coeur basilica making it rather difficult to enjoy. Trying to capitalize on the area's reputation as an artist's enclave, there were many touts trying to sketch your portrait. Within just a few minutes, I was approached by no less than 5 of them asking to have mine sketched. I could not help but just think about how charming and more interesting Montmartre would have been without the hordes of people. Perhaps another return here after dark is in order later tonight. Before leaving, I went in search of the Le Consulat Restaurant that I have seen in countless photos over the years in order to take my own photo with the spires of Sacre Coeur's dome in the background. From Montmartre, I made my way back on the subway and headed over to the Musee D'Orsay. The last time I was here in Paris, we had arrived too late in the day to enter. Unfortunately, as I approached the museum, the place looked completely dead and I realized that it was Tuesday, the only day of the week the museum is closed to the public. With the museum closed, I decided to return to the Eiffel Tower. Although the tower is best seen at night, I had never seen it during daylight hours during any previous trip to Paris so off I went to the Trocadero which offers the best views of the Eiffel Tower. I took what seemed like thousands of photos as I walked down from the Trocadero down to the gardens below. The garden's statues and fountains were absolutely gorgeous and made any photo of the Eiffel Tower even more stunning. I walked all the way across the Seine River to where I was eventually underneath the Eiffel Tower. Again surrounded by thousands of tourists, I chose not to ascend to the top as I knew that waiting in line would take hours. There was a surprisingly large military presence here today that I also noticed earlier when I was at the Notre Dame. Perhaps there was some kind of security threat or maybe just another indicator of the times in which we live. Not sure of where the nearest subway station was, I instead just backtracked all the way back to Trocadero. At this point, my stomach was giving me some major problems. I couldn't find a public restroom so when I got close to the Trocadero metro station, I found an Architecture museum in the Palais Chaillot called Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine. After paying my 8 euros entrance fee and using the bathroom, I decided that I might as well check the place out. Not being much of an architecture buff, I simply just wandered around the main exhibit area which featured casts of monuments from throughout France. The museum was definitely nice visit and a calm and relaxing oasis away from touristy Paris. However, it was just really an expensive bathroom stop. Back on the metro, I made my way over to the Arc de Triomphe in order to walk down the Champs Elysees. While wandering, I found La Duree, a famous bakery specializing in desserts and macaroons. There was a long line of people waiting to purchase macaroons and I decided that these would be nice little treats to bring back home. I didn't realize it at the time how expensive they would be! Back home there seemed to be a bit of a macaroon craze going on especially among Asian Americans. While standing in line, I realized that probably 75% of the people were of Asian descent. Some of these people were so excited over these macaroons, it was as if they had just seen they're favorite movie star. Still to this day, I do not understand this macaroon fad amongst Asian people. After an hour of waiting, I added fuel to this fad by purchasing almost $80 worth of macaroons. With my macaroons in tow and in a fancy La Duree bag, I walked up the Champs Elysees until my feet decided that they had enough of walking for the day. I eventually made it back to my hotel room to rest and wait for my friends Troy and Melanie to arrive.

I met Troy and Melanie on my Morocco tour and we instantly became great friends. Out of sheer coincidence, they happened to be going to Paris after Morocco as well. To make matters even more crazy, their apartment that they were staying at was right across the street from my hotel. It was as if some divine intervention was in place to get us to meet. Before they arrived, I pathetically had dinner at a nearby Subway and picked up some beer and wine for us to enjoy once they arrived. Around 10:00pm, I heard a car pull up outside. As I looked out my window to the street below, I saw Troy and it was as if old friends were reunited. I went down to the lobby to meet them and help them get settled into their apartment. After settling in, we ventured into the Marais district to find someplace open for a late dinner. We settled on an expensive Thai restaurant as our options were pretty limited by this time. After dinner, I was tired from walking all day and they were tired from flying all day but we still wanted to walk around as we knew our time hanging out together was very limited. We walked across the Seine River and I showed them where the Notre Dame Cathedral was. It was a cold night but it was awesome to be at the Notre Dame without anybody else there. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out in their apartment and consuming the bottle of wine that I had bought. Eventually, they wanted to go to bed and I had to pack for my flight home. It was about 2:00 in the morning and there was no way I was going to get any sleep or else I would risk not waking up. Around 4:00 I caught a taxi over to Orly Airport for my flight home via London. So this is how my trip to Morocco and Paris ends. It was a great trip and I saw some great sights but it was all made better by meeting some great people.

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