Bonjour, Paris!

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Paris in January!

I'm traveling with a school group as part of a program that focuses on the history of science, particularly women in science. Today was a travel and sightseeing day. We had an overnight flight to Paris, followed by a lunch and tour of the city. At the time, I thought it was nuts to have a fairly full schedule planned for after we land, but it ended up being a good thing because it kept us up during the day. We all would have chosen sleep had nothing been scheduled.

So, after making it to our hotel and quickly cleaning up a bit from travel, we walked from our hotel to a cafe called Le Petit Louis. Our program included a three course meal there. I tried some oeufs mayonnaise (eggs mayonnaise), a vegetable lasagna that had a cream-based sauce, and a tiramisu for lunch. Everything was delicious but very rich and filling. I only ate about half of each course, and, even then, I wondered how my stomach would hold up (answer: not so well).

After lunch, we caught the Metro 8 with our tour guide for the day. I think we took the metro to the St Sébastien Froissart stop. We peeked at some private courtyards behind 16th century townhomes, and we explored some public courtyards. We looked at some art through gallery windows, and I ran through the streets of Saint Paul to find a bathroom. After cutting across another courtyard and heading down another street (rue. I'm learning), we came to a coffee shop, La Caféothèque. Apparently, the owner is a woman from Guatemala who travels back there to purchase coffee directly from growers. They roast their own beans in the shop and do coffee tastings and education. She's currently in Guatemala, but we had a very knowledgeable server who was passionate about coffee. Frederick helped us choose coffees, he had us smell beans, and he did a slow, individual drip for each of us who chose one. I think he called it a V60 method. I chose un tasse (one cup), two other ladies split a deux tasses, and one of our professors, Jerrid, chose a deux tasses for himself. There was a lot of bean comparison going on, and, at one point, Frederick even brought out tasting wheels and utilized a coffee growing map to further our knowledge of coffee. Although I drank an African coffee, I chose half a pound of their Guatemalan beans to take home as a souvenir for a friend.

We spent quite a bit of time at the coffee shop, but I think everyone enjoyed it (even the non-coffee drinkers). Afterwards, we decided to walk to Notre Dame before heading back to our hotel. We passed an ice cream shop, Berthillon Glacier, that Summer said had excellent ice cream. After the lunch we had, I couldn't imagine having ice cream at that moment. Still, I have a note now to go back and try it one day!

I actually wasn't all that excited about Notre Dame at first. All I really knew about it was that it's a church that had been featured in a book I hadn't read and, later, a Disney movie I hadn't seen. That said, the church was incredible! The Gothic architecture makes the church stand out from blocks away. As we got closer, we could see flying buttresses and gargoyles. We arrived and found the walls were covered in statues, very detailed statues depicting religious images. We walked around inside a bit (there was a mass, so some parts of the church were closed off). It smelled of incense, and worshipers had lit tea candles throughout. There were more statues and some religious wood carvings and paintings. We went back outside the entrance of the church, and our guide (Summer) explained how the statues and stone work tell a story. Notre Dame was built at a time when many people were illiterate. So, the images helped them "read" the Bible. There were depictions of people being judged by Saint Michael, some going to the angels and others being lured by devils and deceit. Really, it was awesome and definitely worth the stop.

We parted with Summer at a Metro station. We managed to find the right metro and make it back to our hotel, all while staying awake. There were a lot of yawns and droopy eyelids as we made our way back. We've been traveling and touring for a day in a half on about one hour of sleep. Our petit beds look very welcoming right now, and I'm going to sleep with positive first impressions of Paris.

Below this post, there are more pictures from my first day in Paris.

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Photos

Our first meal in Paris
Lunch at Le Petit Louis

My school group!
Great people--I'm lucky to be traveling with them.

Courtyards of Paris
From the city streets, there isn't a lot of greenery aside from some pane trees (a type of sycamore). When you walk through the buildings, you find gardens and courtyards in the back.

Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis
On my hike back from finding a bathroom in the Village of Saint Paul, I spotted this church.

Paris High School
We walked by a high school in Paris, and our tour guide pointed out the stone wall. It's Midieval, from about 1100 AD, I think she said.

V60 Coffee Tastings
Frederick was enthusiastic to share his coffees with us.

Crossing the Seine
Notre Dame is on a large island in the river.