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Published: October 3rd 2006
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Bonjour everyone,
I have not fallen off the face of the Earth, in fact just the opposite! Finding my way to a computer was difficult while in Paris, so blogging never happened. In an attempt to fill you all in on the travels thus far I have written several blogs to document the past two weeks.
So far this journey has seemed like a sample from, a chapter of a book titled "How to Survive Unexpected Obstacles Whilst Traveling"
It all started with a tearful " Bon Voyage" from my family in the West Palm Beach airport. The security guard did not seem to find the sentiment in the goodbye, instead he searched my bag and confiscated my water bottle...oops!!
Two delayed flights later I arrived in Paris, France...three hours late and without one of my suitcases, apparently it decided to take a trip of its own on a different flight. Missing luggage and racing to catch connecting flight Lesson 101...check.
September 20th 2006:
After a big reunion of hugs with Kelly in the Charles De Gaulle baggage claim we were on our way. ( For those of you that do not know the magical Kelly
Jakes, I will fill you in now: she is one of my best buds from college we go way back from freshman hall to senior year... she is affectionately called Kizz, and I am called Shizz. Kizz is also teaching in France, in the same region as me.) To save money we thought that we should brave the Paris metro. All would have been fine if it had not been for our over sized luggage that we had to drag through the station and change trains with. Kelly's handle broke off which made it even harder to manage!! On top of all that, we were both nursing injuries. All the while we tried to translate the french signage and learn how to navigate a large city's public transportation system. Needless to say we were a sight to see!!
Sigh.... arrival into the centre ville of Paris. Checked into the hostel of hell and made our way to the Seine River to people watch. Now listen up: Paris is not the city of love and romance it is the City of Public Displays of Affection, nay...the World Headquarters of PDA! I think it is all the red wine and chocolate
here.... these people are not afraid to go at it on the metro, in the parks, on a river boat, in an elevator, at the cafe table..and various other public places. At times I feel that I am being forced to watch cheesy romantic chick flicks over and over again... rewinding and replaying the ultra ridiculous make out scenes.
We walked along the Seine and after a crazy conversation in broken french with a German, which ended in him asking for Kelly's hand in marriage, we embarked on a river boat ride along the Seine. Floating down the river was quite the experience, tons of tourists and crying babies...all the while listening to french chansons like "La Vie en Rose". The city at night is absolutely gorgeous, like living in a Christmas tree...everything is sparkly and lit up. Their electricity bill must be outrageous!! Before heading back to the hostel we enjoyed yummy nutella crepes with bananas!
September 21 2006:
The highlight of our Paris trip was definately the French Connection Bike Tour (www.frenchconnectiontours.com) . The city can be very overwhelming to tourists, especially when on foot..those pesky Parisians drive so fast and do not stop for
Bike Tour Group
in front of Hotel Des Invalides pedestrians! We met Paul and Christian, our bike tour guides at the Charlemagne statue at Notre Dame. Turns out, small world, I was connected to Christian and the bike tour company through Jill, a lady I met at Kanuga this summer...and Paul is from Wellington, New Zealand!! The tour brought us up close and personal with some of Paris's grandest sites, including Notre Dame; Le Tour Eiffel, L'Hotel Des Invalides, and Le Louvre. The weather was spectacular! We picked up lunch at a petit cafe and enjoyed the meal on the lawn in front of L'hotel Des Invalides. We finished off the morning with some red wine and bis bis!
September 22 2006:
Today we visited the famous Notre Dame Cathedral a French architectural landmark for centuries. Construction on the cathedral began in 1163 and was not completed until the mide 14th century. A gothic architectural god the Notre Dame is positively amazing! See the photos at the bottom... A highlight was my jump into the Holy communion line, I was the last person... really special to have holy communion in one of the world's most famous cathedrals...
The Day was finished off with a free visit
Biking...
in the courtyard of the Louvre to the world famous art museum Le Louvre. I heard they had some decent art or something... Originally built as a fortress in the early 13th century by Philip Auguste, the Louvre has been a museum since 1793. It houses an immense amount of art from the Middle Ages to around 1848. Supposedly if you took 30 seconds to glance at every piece in the museum, it would take you 9 months to see it all!! Some famous works we saw were Michelangelo's The Dying Slave, Venus De Milo, and La Jaconde.
The saga in Paris continues....
September 23 2006
Today we jumped on the metro and visited the bohemian and artsy district of Monmartre. On the top of the hill is La Basiliquem a late 19th century Cathedral. Purusing the cobblestone streets was rather difficuklt since every tourist in Paris as well as every Parisian pickpocketer was out and about. The Sacre Coeur is littered with street performers and wandering artists asking for "paint portrait mademmoislle". We enjoyed an eccentric 'puppet show'...
September 24 2006
Halloween came early for us when we visited the Catacombs, an underground cave full of exhumed bones. Rather odd,
Notre Dame interior
The rose window is literally unchanged since the 13th century huh? Actually it was quite interesting. In an attempt to solve the problem with the overcrowding of Parisian cemetriesm public officals thought of the crazy creepy, and grusome idea of moving them.... millions of human remains...to underground caves. Tthe caves were origianlly Roman mining quarries, and some fellow stacked them all up in the quarry and now it attracts visitors, such as yours truly. That's right folks, for under 3 Euros you too can experience the creepy boney Catacombs. See photos, Kelly and I had some fun in there!
To lighten the mood we stopped at the Musee D'Orsay for some uplifting impressionist paintings. Highlights were Monet's waterlillies, Van Goghs self portraits, and some works by Matisse, Cezanne, Degas, Klimt, and Rodin. The museum is an old train station that was converted into a museum to house art from 1845-1914.
That is all for now mes amies,
a bientot- Shelly
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dad
non-member comment
hi sweetie
glad to see you are having fun as always no matter where you are. please keep these coming as often as you can. we miss you and love you. dad