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Hello to everyone! Hope you have had a lovely day, we certainly have! I will tell you all about it; but first I must have a rant...
Through out our stay in Europe we have marveled at the old buildings, the friendly tourism assistants, the interesting hostels, and the spectacular history. In short, this continent has got it going on.... all except one thing.... the pay toilet situation. See I do enjoy a good clean facility or a toilet anywhere for my use really, however, do I not think that I should have to pay for it... this is especially true when facilities are always in locations in which you have already paid to get into, example restaurants, train stations, metros etc. I believe that the bathrooms should be included in the price. Now I understand it takes money, time, and someones wages to clean bathrooms and I appreciate their efforts, HOWEVER, our capitalist money driven economy pushes up prices for profit so much that they could give us lowly consumers a break on one body function that we cannot ignore without health risks....?! Seriously people, 50 cents a time, this is a lot considering how much people (especially women) need to pee. Think of those people who need that 50 cents for a meal, is it really fair that only the rich get to pee? Its like private healthcare, is it really fair that only those who can pay for it get the best treatment available? I mean we are all human beings with essentially the same make up, we all bleed and we all need to pee!!
Thank you for your time.... now on to Paris....
So we got up today and decided it was a tourist day! First to Saint Chapelle, we had never heard of this place but got it recommended to us by our bike tour guide. It is a church with the most beautiful stained glass ever... Now I realize you are all thinking, wow stained glass...ummm its like tha tin every church.... But seriously for you skeptics, this place has like 10 thousand scenes or something. The place is not that big at all, its mostly stained glass on the second floor. Breath taking. It depicts, sort of like an old, historical comic strip, the beginning of the earth, the coming of christ, the end of the earth, and everything of importance in between. Its crazy cool!
After this we went to Notre Dame after a recommendation from my brother. The church part is breath takings, but the best part (and the longest line up, but so worth it) was climbing up the stairs up one of the towers, seeing the bell, up to the very top of the church for a spetacular view of the city and close up view of all the gargoyles! I think the person who made those gargoyles had a great sense of humour, lots of funny faces! One of the things that made this experience the best was that in the line up Dan went to go get a crepe (yum) and came back with 2! He got one for free cause they made to many, it was a beautiful thing!
On to the Arc de Triumph(sp), very cool close up. Its in the middle of a huge round-a-bout, so there are tunnels underneath to get up close. We could have gone to the top, but we are cheap and have had many wonderful views of Paris from other wonderful monuments. After that we took a walk through on of the many shopping districts in Paris, quite overwhelming! we wondered into a department store which carried so many scary/expensive labels like Chanel and Prada! Run away! Run away!!
Then back to the hostel via the metro and a stop at the grocery store to get the fixin's for one awesome/bitchin chicken salad (which we ate while reading a Cosmo magazine!). That pretty much brings us all up to speed, we have had showers since and read a bit in the comfy chairs in the lobby. Its quite nice to have a hostel that we actually can and want to relax in!
Oh one thing to add to yesterday, the free day at the Louvre made my day, the other thing that helped make my day was the free toilet in the metro station outside of the Louvre! Wonderful wonderful. I have a tally of free washroom places if anyone in Paris cares to join in my strategic peeing escapade!
love to all, robyn and dan
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dad
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hi ! from the point
Glad to here there's somewhere free to pee over there!! Speaking of which I just got back from Vangroovy buying a new double flush toilet that conserves water for the yet to be started bathroom. We also bought a neat mex cabinet for the new mex sink. So I guess it's time to start ripping out the old so bye for now and we look forward to your next blog . Love Dad + Mom