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Published: June 19th 2006
Bonjour, tous le monde! It's Monday of Week 2 and everything is going great. The title of today's article is becoming my mantra! It's the thing that I hear most from Judy. lol. She eggs me on with it. I haven't seen myself as a whimp before but it's like "le bawd" is trying to tell me that
it is the boss, not the brain. The heat has continued but we're still exceeding about 8 Km per day, I'm sure. I have sunburn on my sunburn on my sunburn. I'm putting sunscreen on dailly but it doesn't seem to be helping me much. On the other hand, Judy hasn't been wearing any sunscreen at all and she has yet to get a sunburn.
Saturday, we explored another area of the city: nord, sud, est ou ouest -- I'm not sure which. I just follow Judy from one subway train to the next and sooner or later, we come up from the tunnels and see something fabulous. This was the day of "Le Grand Boite" also known as "La Defense." It is a very impressive building of unbelievable dimensions. Judy's architectural background probably accounted for her "um-ing" and "ah-ing" throughout the visit. We paid 11 Euros (about Cdn$16) to go up the elevator to the top where we were supposed to see a panarama of the city. Actually, it was as if the french didn't finish the roof. There was only a small section of it that was accessible to the public. And that section was roped off with
tacky, tacky yellow tape like you see at a crime scene. The rest of the upper floor was taken up with a peculiar art show...nothing to my liking. We stopped for a cool drink before leaving and that was rather expensive: an orange juice and a coke cost just under Cdn$10 but it was cold and wet and badly needed.
We walked down the grand march and saw lots of high-end buildings and enjoyed watching the people. That's where I got my sunburn. The breeze felt wonderful so it was easy to forget about the strength of the sun beating down on us.
I got some great pictures of some cows! Caught you off guard with that one, didn't I? These were fiberglass ones that were all painted up quite uniquely. You'll see what I mean when I return.
Back down to Le Métro we went and disembarked at Les Tuiléries. This is a charming and immense garden that used to be the "royal approach" to the Grand Palais, now Le Louvre. We found a fabulous seat in the shade and had a delicious lunch there. I had been wanting veal ever since we arrived and I finally had some that was totally awesome. It was very nice to sit back and watch the people. It seems to be a very beloved place to the French.
After lunch, we continued walking towards Le Louvre to see the Great Pyramid. It was under construction on my last visit to Paris. The fountains all around it were very striking and totally inviting on such a hot day. Children seemed to enjoy them but I didn't think that the gens d'armes (police) would look kindly on two middle-aged ladies tromping through them (although I was highly tempted). This is about the place where Judy started saying to me, "It's just a little bit farther, Linda." Yeah, I've heard that one before. My feet were really starting to hurt so we jumped back on Le Metro to go home. I bought some foot balm in our local supermarche and soaked them in the bidet when we got home. It gave marginal relief. So I've finally figured out how to use the bidet!
Yesterday (Sunday), most of the city was closed until 2 pm, when some stores opened. We walked to a bank of artisan shops that are nestled between the girders of an old, now-defunct bridge. The shops were closed until later but we could see enough through the windows to know that we'd like to go back. That will be easy because it's quite close to us in Le Marais.
We did a lot more walking on Sunday but decided that we needed a break during the heat of the afternoon. It was a great plan. We have our eye on one certain store but haven't yet managed to get there when it was open. Tomorrow. There is just so much to see and do here.
Today is Monday. We got up at our usual (around 7 a.m.) and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we struck out for La Tour Eiffel. Two trains and we were there. I hadn't spent any time in the parks that flank the tour previously so that was great. The fountains of the Great Promenade weren't on for some reason. We arrived at the base of le tour about 10 a.m. There wasn't much in the way of a crowd yet so we timed it well. Security is sure tight: you have to walk through a metal detector and a guard looks in every bag and tests them with his hand-held metal detector. There are also a plethora of video cameras. It kind of made us feel safer, actually, and it didn't slow down our visit by much. The wait for the elevator was a little long but that could have been because we were so excited that we were here. Judy turned into a giant goosebump on the top deck. It was breezy, to be sure, and the sun hadn't put in an appearance yet but nothing I couldn't handle. The change in the weather was welcomed by me .
By 11 a.m., we were walking to the north end of the whole concourse (I think it was north) to the site of l'Ecole Militaire. I thought my mom would like to see a picture of it.
Back on the Métro, we made our way home via Galleries Lafayette (where we stopped for lunch) and Au Printemps. It's on my way "home" so I thought that I might write a little to bring you up-to-date. I think my feet at wanting another soak when I get home.
Just a sidebar: people here are nuts for the World Cup Soccer and it's quite something to hear all the hooting and hollering that goes on whenever there's a game on. Last night, the natives were more restless than usual -- France was playing. We heard a collective "groan" when they played to a draw.
Well, that's it for another installment. Talk to you soon. Salut!
~Linda.
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Linda B
Linda Burchill
Hi, Madeleine!
I don't come to the Internet Cafe everyday so, sometimes, it may seem like I've overlooked a comment but, usually, that's not the case. It's just my long "turn-around time." It's quite surreal being here and still in good touch with people at home. Thanks for keeping in touch. ~Linda.