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Published: March 3rd 2006
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Snow!
Here is Mont St. Aignan in snow - quite pretty actually - aside from the caution tape. Paris Trip #2
I needed a bit of a break after my very large post a few days ago. I was literally blogging for 5 hours - including the uploading of pictures. I'm not entirely sure if anyone has read the last one yet - but if not, read it... in sections. It's long. You'll need breaks. Haha.
Last Friday (February 24), Allison, Alison, Andrea, and I decided to embark on another fun-filled trip around France. This time, however, it was a bit more planned, and was to Paris! We all had things that we hadn't seen on our first trips there, so it was a good chance to cash in on some more Paris sights.
We met in the Ango lobby at 7:45am, pumped and ready to go. Low and behold, the ground is
covered with snow! It's no big feat for all of you, I'm sure, but for someone who has not seen snow in two months, it's a nice sight. As we were walking to the bus stop, it was snowing quite hard - big flakes - and I was giddy as I tend to be at the smallest little things. I did, however, curse
Traffic Jam
The effects of an inch of snow on Mont St. Aignan/Rouen. my decision to wear my glasses and not my contacts.
The bus came on time, and we started off down the road. We came to the hill that leads from Mont St. Aignan down towards Rouen, and the bus stopped. There was a car stalled in front of us. In fact, there were cars all around us! My first thought: The inch of snow on the ground was too much for the French drivers. Then I thought of everyone at home who have been having snow storms, and chuckled at another funny French situation. We had the option of getting off the bus and walking to the train station - but it's probably an hour walk - probably longer with the snow. So we decided to stick it out and catch the next train out. 45 minutes later, we are finally able to get around the car that was stalled, and continue on our way to the station. Ever the troopers, we thanked the driver and went to the station.
On the train, the skies magically cleared, and the snow disappeared! (Go figure, Normandy has difficult weather!) From the train, we hopped on the metro with hopes of
Jardin du Luxembourg
It is pretty with grass. reaching
Notre Dame Cathedral - and got off at the station we believed was closest. Nope. We ended up at
Jardin du Luxembourg, one set of the many parks in Paris. This was no ordinary park. There was gravel over much of the ground, aside from a tiny grass area near the statues. We cured our pain by imagining the park in full bloom in spring - you'd better believe that I'll be going back there in April!
We took a shortcut through the garden and ended up in the
Latin Quarter. No big deal, I hadn't walked much through here last time I had come. We continued walking and ended up at the
Pantheon, another random sight we were not expecting. I don't entirely know any of the details behind the building, but I can tell you it sure looked important!
We finally reached
Notre Dame and debated going up to the top - then saw the large line wrapping around the Cathedral and decided against it. We did the picture thing, and the angry walk through the tourist-booth packed Cathedral. On our way back to the metro, we found a skating rink. Beside the skating rink
Jardin du Luxembourg Statue
One of the many statue in the park - I like the colours of it. was an igloo and even a Polar Bear! Always good for a joke, the two Canadians took pictures with the igloo. It only seemed fitting.
On the metro once again, we rode to
Place de la Bastille somehow hoping to see the Bastille - before realizing it actually did not exist... We took pictures of the pole in the middle of the street. There's not a whole lot on the street, but it's circular and enjoyable in that way.
From there, we made our way to the Paris
Opera House, dreams of finding the Phantom. No success: c'est ferme pour la jour! After being attacked by pigeons, we made our way back to the metro, I all along humming the theme to Phantom of the Opera. I'll have to make sure to go back on a day when it is opened.
We made another trip on the metro (we got day passes - the
only way to travel by metro in Paris) - and got off at Montmartre, in hopes of making our way to
Sacre Coeur. A bit of a hike up the hill, we were at the church. Quite impressive. And white. There is also
Jardin du Luxembourg
I really cannot remember what building this is. I want to say a Palace - but I think it's now a governmental building. I want to say the Assemblee Nationale or the Senat, but I don't know for sure (can you see that my French Civilization class is coming in handy?) a great view of Paris from the top - overlooking the entire city, and also a view of the
Eiffel Tower in the distance. It was a bit foggy that day, but we got the gist of the view from there, and were able to point out a few sights as well. After lingering for a while, we walked around
Montmartre for a while, looking at an outdoor art exhibit on the street. Allison and I decided to taste our first crepes in France (after 2 months, I know...) - I was quite pleased, even if the chocolate was messy.
We decided to get back on the metro and visit
l'Arc de Triomphe, and walk on the
Champs Elysees a bit. L'Arc de Triomphe is placed in the middle of a large roundabout that I could never ever be able to master in a car. We even saw a man hanging out of his car window taking pictures of the structure! At least he wasn't the one driving!
On our walk on the Champs Elysees, after by-passing the insanely priced stores, we found what must be the fanciest McDonalds ever! We got drinks - rather, I got the
Pantheon
And here is the Pantheon. Feel free to research on it, because I really don't know its significance. I know I've heard of it at least! most petite jus d'orange in my life! I wish I had a picture - it was more like a Dixie cup really. And I paid a euro - waste of my money. I had forgotten that the portion sizes are much smaller here.
We walked a bit further down and found another McDonalds, and feeling a bit hungry, we stopped and had some food - I stayed away from burgers and fries and went for the Filet 'o Fish - hoping it would make me feel less disgusting afterwards. I think the French McDonalds is less greasy as it is. Then we got McFlurrys and Allison made the observation that there was a tornado on the front - a tornado is not a flurry. A flurry is associated with snow!
We sat and relaxed for a bit, waiting for it to get dark so we could venture to the
Eiffel Tower to see the light display. And this is what we did. We got off at a metro stop that would place us right in front of it, but from a distance that would give us a great vantage point. We positioned ourselves - monopolizing really - a
Latin Quarter
Opportune picture as there is a Creperie and a Boulangerie, plus a random alley! space in the centre of the Tower, and waited for 45 mins or so. And then it came. So pretty. I took a movie. It didn't turn out all that great - but it's something!
Next, we decided to go to the
Louvre as there was free admission for those under 26 (I enjoy the free/reduced stuff for students - there should be more of it at home). We visited Venus again, and wandered around for an hour - as Allison acted out her position to be immobilized in stone like all the others in the room. The Louvre was closing, so we had to leave, once again not seeing even 1/10 of the place, but at least this time it was free. This Friday night thing is genious!
We made our way to St. Lazare train station and got tickets for an 11:50pm train - hoping there was maybe another one earlier (It was around 10 at this point), but no luck, we were stuck with the 11:50 train back to Rouen. To waste some time (and get out of the sketchy station), we found a pub just outside the station and sat down and relaxed for
Bridge Over Seine
This bridge leads towards the island that Notre Dame is located on. a bit. The train back was nothing too exciting, all of us listening to music and pondering what time we would be getting up the next day! We arrived back at Ango by 1:30am - and so ended another Paris adventure!
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cZetyrboks
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Footsteps
Bon jour Kara, Love your pictures and descriptions! Cannot wait to walk in your footsteps this coming Fall. Auntie Pat