The Paris that you don't see in the movies! March 5 - Part 1

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So today we saw the Paris that they don't show you in the movies. We saw the dirty subway beggars, the people that try to "force" you to buy a bracelet, the graffiti on everything, and sex shops. Loads and loads of sex shops.
Allow me to explain. I woke up in a grumpy mood with Jay telling me, "Erin don't snap at me." Today is Day 5 of the trip and I've gotten little to no sleep at all. We headed to breakfast where there were pastries, cereal, milk, coffee and tea. At 9 am, we were to load the coach and begin our three hour tour with Isabelle who is from France.
As we began to drive around the city, floods of memories came back to me, when I first visited the city back in 1999. And its just as beautiful now as it was then. We drove around for about an hour, while Isabelle pointed out various things and gave us the facts on a building or statue. We were eventually dropped off near the Notre Dame Cathedral, the bus driver wasn't allowed to actually drop us off right in front of the cathedral because the mayor doesn't allow it. (Why? I really don't know)
Standing outside the cathedral, we gathered in a semi circle and Isabelle gave us a brief history on the cathedral, although I didn't hear most of it, I was freezing and miserable. It was just bitter cold. I had on two long sleeve shirts, and a jacket, and a hat, plus scarves gloves and boots AND still cold. Finally, Isabelle took us inside the cathedral, which luckily, there was no admission to go inside.
Spectacular would have to be the word I would use to describe Paris' most extraordinary monument. Gothic style ceilings, beautiful pipe organ music filled the pews, and exquisite stained glass windows aligned the walls. The quiet, softly lighted interior contains numerous chapels, tombs and statues. The last time I was in Paris, I don't even remember liking Notre Dame. I remember feeling annoyed and worried I'd be pick pocketed, it was so crowded in there. But then again, I was 16 at the time, what did I know about gothic style churches that was completed in 1345?

Shortly after, we were back on the warm bus for more sightseeing. Place de la Concorde, the Seine River, and Eiffel Tower, which is where we were dropped off to take pictures. And wow, what a marvel. No, we did not go up on top of the Eiffel Tower. The line was way too long, and we had a packed schedule for the day Upon exiting the bus and seeing the tower, it felt like we had entered a set of a movie. Really, it did. Pretty accordion music played out loud. I had no idea where it was coming from. At the time I thought it was coming from a loud speaker, but only after a few minuets I realized it was an accordion player standing outside playing. For a tip, of course. I took a video of the area. It was just amazing, we were looking at the Eiffel Tower, an icon people associate with all of France and could only dream of seeing and here we were taking pictures of it, in the freezing cold!

This was where our tour ended. Those who had paid the extra to go to Versailles were back on the bus, but we had not, so we ventured to explore the city on our own.
Our first stop, after riding the Metro, was to go see the Sacre Coeur church located in charming little Montmartre. Last time I was in Paris, I did not get to see it, and neither did Jay. The afternoon started off nicely enough, but just as we entered the church grounds, I saw 4 men starring at us. I knew exactly what they were doing and so did Jay. We tried to scurry up the church steps to get to the top, but one man literally jumped in front of Jay grabbed his arm and started braiding him a bracelet. Looking back I wish we had been more aggressive and said "you can make that, but we're not paying for it" but anyway, we were taken by surprise and another guy came up, grabbed my arm and started braiding a bracelet. Now, mind you, they were actually friendly and trying to talk to us, "where are you from?" "your girlfriend is pretty," etc. We were sort of freaked out by the whole thing, and at that point I thought, "well I guess we'll have to give them a Euro or something." I know some of my friends who are reading this are probably thinking, "why didn't you just walk away?" and believe me, we tried. They were very aggressive and there were 4 of them, 2 of us. Then, just as soon as they appeared, they took off. Jay and I looked at each other like, "what the-?" they literally ran away without their "tip." The only thing we could come up with, was an officer must have walked by and we're assuming their not supposed to be harassing the tourists and they saw the officer and ran away. Good.

Sadly, as we were at the top of the Basilica, taking in the views, we kept looking around for the arm bracelet braider guys. We were certain they'd be back trying to get us to "buy" their bracelet. Luckily, they were gone, but we just wanted to take some pictures and get out of there. We went inside the church though, which was equally as beautiful as the Notre Dame, but of course, a beggar sat on the churches front stoop with a cup in her hand begging for money! Hey, I know I seem mean complaining about all these beggars, but come on, if I gave away all my money to these beggars, hell I'd be out there begging for money myself. And hey, I work hard for my money, and worked even harder to come on this trip.

Shortly after the braiding incident, we decided to grab lunch at an outdoor cafe and I realized we were just a few short blocks away from the Moulin Rouge.
Ahh, the Moulin Rouge and sex shops, everywhere! As we ate our lunch, all I could see was a red sign blinking off and on "Peep show." Gone was the glamour and romance of Paris that everyone knows and loves. I took some pictures of course, with Jay rolling his eyes. I took a quick picture of the Moulin Rouge and we were off to the subway to see the Arc de Triomphe.

But I must add the craziness we encountered on the subway with more beggars. *Sigh*
Well, in the subway alleys it wasn't uncommon to experience people standing there playing an instrument with a cup or a plate with tips on it. Fine, it added to the atmosphere to the subway. If subways have an atmosphere that is. So we're on the subway, and a woman gets on. With a boom box in one hand, and a microphone in the other. She turns on her music and begins to sing into the mic. Loudly. I looked at Jay, "what is she doing?" "She's making money?" he replied. Money? I thought. Then, I understood. She finished her song, no one clapped, and began to walk up and down the aisle of the crowded subway with a cup in her hand trying to get tips. To be honest, I found this funny. Until it happened again. And again. Later on, when we had to transfer trains, a guy got on smiling, with a boom box in hand and a microphone. Jay laughed. "Not again," I groaned. By this point I figured out this was a normalcy. Anyway, the man turned on his music and began to sing. "La Bamba." He sang La Bamba. A Spanish song in the middle of Paris in the underground subway system. Again, no one clapped, and no one tipped as he walked up and down the aisles with a Styrofoam cup in his hand. Jay and I watched as the train stopped and the man got off and immediantely jumped onto another train to perform the same song on another car.

Ok my blog is so long I had to break it up into two seperate blogs....to be continued

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Photos

Bus
most of these next few pics are taken from the bus window when we got our 3 hour bus tour from Isabelle.

Le Eiffel Tower
Isnt it wonderfuL?

hotel
This is where Princess Diana stayed on her last night.

Paris street
the streets of Paris

street
right before we got dropped off to see the Notre Dame.

Notre Dame Cathedral
Absouluty stunning.

inside of Notre Dame
I cant get over how beautiful it was inside!

Stained glass window
Just look at this!!

ceiling
see the gothic style ceilings?

chandolier
beautiful !

stone carvings
all of these stone carvings tell a story