Parisian Highlights

---

The bells tolling at Notre Dame

It was another early wake up call this morning as we had a full day of sightseeing in Paris to do. After a bland breakfast in the hotel this morning, we all boarded our coach to head out to the Louvre museum. It seemed that most everyone purchased the optional museum pass which allowed you to skip the line and just go the front. All 6 of us stuck together and decided to go find the major works of art like the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory. We found the Mona Lisa which was overwhelmed by tourists. I tried sneaking a photo but was caught by security. Eventually, I was able to steal one but with a bunch of heads in the shot. After finding the Mona Lisa, Suzanne wanted to locate the Madonna of the Rocks painting. I decided to test out my French and asked one of the workers for assistance. To my astonishment, I was able to ask what I wanted to say and even more astonishing, I was able to understand his directions. After finding the main 3 works of art and taking in lots of other statues and paintings in between, we decided to go and check out the Egyptian Room. As an artist, Patrice was in heaven here in the Louvre. However, we all had our fix of art and decided it was time to move on and check out what else Paris had to offer. We exited the Louvre and checked out the huge glass pyramid in the courtyard. Then we strolled along the banks of the Seine River on our way to check out the Notre Dame and maybe find Quasimodo. Once we got to the Notre Dame, the bells were tolling. It was pretty cool to be looking up at this structure with all it's history while the bells were tolling like they have been for hundreds of years. We decided to check things out inside. It was pretty cool and there was a mass going on. Suzanne, Clay, and I wanted to climb to the top of the belltower to check out the gargoyles but couldn't find the line. It turns out that the line was outside. While we waited in line, Patrice, Mar, and Amy decided to go do some souvenir shopping. After about 45 minutes of waiting and not moving very far in line we decided to screw the bell tower and find everyone else for lunch.
Suzanne wanted to find a restaurant near the Notre Dame which her dad had recommended. After asking a few people, we were able to locate it but after looking at the menu decided that it was well outside our budget. We settled on a real touristy restaurant next to the Notre Dame. I expected the waiter to speak some English considering he was working in a real touristy area. However, I was amazed at how much French was able to come out of my mouth. I was able to help order for everyone and ask our waiter for things that we needed. It was pretty cool how much French I can spit out when needed. The waiter was friendly and was quite patient with our limited French. I wasn't that hungry so I had onion soup and shared a crepe with Suzanne. Afterwards, we decided to get off the beaten track a bit and look for the catacombs. The catacombs are a series of underground tunnels where millions of human skeletons were placed many centuries ago when they ran out of cemetary space. We asked for directions from a few shopkeepers and nobody seemed to have any clue as to what we were looking for. Everyone was really friendly though, one lady even opened up a map and helped us look for it. Who says that the French are rude? We decided next to check out a tourist bus to see if they had any idea where the catacombs were. I didn't quite understand the driver but was able to make out the street name and subway exit. After consulting the map a few more times, it became pretty clear that Me and Clay were going to be the directional leaders of the group with Mar chiming in a few suggestions here and there. All of the girls seemed to be pretty clueless when it came to directions. Luckily we found the subway station and it was pretty close, only 3 subway station stops away. We made our way to the Denfert-Rochereau subway station and still had no idea where the Catacombs were. We tried asking a few young people as they tend to speak more English. Each person we asked kept directing us to different locations. After about half an hour of aimlessly walking around. We finally found it right in front of the subway station we exited half an hour earlier. We paid our entrance fee and then went down this really long spirally staircase. After reaching the bottom, we then had to go down this really long dark narrow tunnel. It was kind of claustrophobic but at least it was cool and damp. I imagined it was going to be warm and stuffy. We finally entered the crypt and we all kind of had a weird creepy feeling looking at all the bones and skulls arranged in artistic formations. We all played the part of scared tourists while playing with the bones and skulls. We continued down the tunnels and it was more of the same....more bones and more skulls. Water was dripping from above and puddles were everyone and I decided that I had enough. We continued through the tunnels and found the exit but not before having to climb another spiraling staircase to take us back to ground level. Now out of breath and exhausted, we finally were back on the sunny streets of Paris. It's hard to imagine that below the Parisian streets, there exists a huge maze of underground tunnels. It was definetley my highlight of Paris.
Back on the subway, we decided to check out the Opera house. We had wanted to go inside but it was closed for the evening. We were all pretty exhausted at this point and just sat around on the steps of the Opera House not sure of what to do next. Clay and Suzanne decided to go back to the hotel to rest before they headed out to a cabaret show. The rest of us decided to march on and continue our sightseeing. Patrice, Amy, Mar, and myself decided to catch the subway to check out the Arc de Triomphe. We took our typical photos and decided to just chill out at the base, relax and just people watch. Still feeling tired we decided to forget about climbing to the top. After the Arc we decided to stroll down the much heralded Champs Elysees, world famous for their shopping. It was just a bunch of high end and upscale shopping, nothing really interesting for me. However, it was cool just walking around and exploring what many call the world's most famous boulevard. We went into a few stores like Sephora and Quiksilver. None of us purchased anything significant. We were just content with looking around. Despite the disapproval of everyone else, I decided that I wanted to go to Mcdonalds for a beer. I thought it was pretty cool since we dont' have beer at Mcdonalds at home. Everyone else just thought it was a waste of time. Once we were done with the Champs Elysees, we walked through some of the parks trying to find somewhere to get dinner. The parks were a real quiet oasis amidst all of the urban noise and chaos. Since we weren't that far from the Musee D'Orsay, we decided to check it out and see if they were still open. Unfortunately, they had closed an hour before so we decided to keep walking to find somewhere for dinner. We walked over to the Latin Quarter and had a really good dinner at a French restaurant. I had some seafood platter which was quite good. I really wanted to try some escargots but decided to stick with something safe. After dinner, we decided to call it a night but before hand, I convinced everyone to check out the Eiffel Tower one more time at night. So we got back on the subway to the Place du Trocadero where we had a real nice view of the Eiffel Tower from a distance. We took some photos and sat there for a while just admiring the tower. Once we got back to the hotel, we noticed Andrea and Sara relaxing out in the courtyard playing Uno. They said that the cabaret show was awesome and that the rest of the group had gone to an Irish bar next to the Moulin Rouge. I decided that I was still up for some night time fun. So back on the subway I went and ventured over to the red-light district. I found the Moulin Rouge which was packed with people dressed up in their best waiting in line to get in. I made my way over to the Irish bar and found the Contiki group but wasn't able to find Suzanne and Clay. Since I didn't really know anyone else yet, I decided to just leave and go back to the hotel. However, still not ready to call it a night, I convinced an ancy Patrice to go out with me to some bar that I saw down the street. We hung out at a sidewalk table at the bar and had a really friendly bartender. We downed a few Kronenburg's and had some stale chips. It was our first real moment where we just sat around, relaxed, and reflected on everything we had done thus far. I decided to call work and rub in the fact that I was at a bar in Paris relaxing and downing a few beers. After about 2 hours, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel.

---

Photos

Inside the Louvre
The Venus de Milo

The Catacombs
Walking through one of the long tunnels in the Catacombs