Paris- Day 4

The grounds of the Louvre

We woke up at 5 am and jumped in our taxi by 5:30. When we arrived at the train station St. Pancris (not Spleen), we were blown away by how beautiful it was! So clean and nice. The brick was up in columns and everything was very orderly. We were early enough to get breakfast at a little cafe while we waited to board. Again, the best hot chocolate and muffin! The train took us mostly underwater to Paris, but we got a few glimpses of the countryside and I fell asleep.

When we got off of the train it was like we were in some crazy foreign country! Which we were. Everything was old, kind of dirty, people were everywhere, loud, and speaking all different languages. Everything was in French and we were so overwhelmed. We tried to get some euros for cash and then find out which train to take into Paris. But it was all so loud, busy and confusing, we looked for a taxi. Finally we found where the taxis were and got in a huge line to wait. As we waited, the line was moving slowly. I paused for literally 2 seconds to take a picture and the girl who was behind just took our spot in line! I was flustered and thinking to just chill out, but I couldn't, maybe b/c I'm pregnant! :) So I said, "So, I pause for a few seconds and you take my place in line?" She said,"Oh, yes, well, I was going to ask if you wanted to go ahead and move back up." Steph was mortified! It was awkward and Steph asked if I thought the girl was offended. I said, "I don't care, I was!" :) That was awesome. Total smackdown.

So we got in the taxi and asked the driver the very line we asked about a million times in the next 3 days, "par le voux anglais?" (do you speak english?) Everyone said a “only a little”, but it was always helpful! Their English was way better than our French! We basically showed our taxi driver the address of the hotel and we were off! There was building to building traffic! He took us around through these crazy side streets fast and expertly. Talking in broken English about Paris. And then we saw it. The Eifel Tower!!! We were so giddy and excited ! He drove right by it on the way to the hotel. We were surprised by how gigantic it is! It was a beautiful clear day. We drove through the round-a-bout around the Arc de Triumphe (made by Napolean) which was amazing. We’ve seen so many dang marble statues.

Our hotel was called the “Ideal Hotel”, nice. We got up to our tiny Pa risian hotel room- what a change from the incredible 5 star hotel Jeff’s school is paying for! We dropped off our stuff, got our day bags together and tromped off to the nearest metro. The info lady helped us buy our tickets. The metro is France is dirter than London, but there always seems to be fun entertainment. Whether it’s some French black dude singing (VERY badly) these African sounding songs and then spouting off political views about the system that we didn’t understand. Or a fun band of 2 guys on guitars singing Micheal Jacksons, “Smooth Criminal” and “The Greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return”. Those were amazing and Steph thre w some money in their guitar case. She was excited to be supporting the arts! J The metro was easy to learn by trial and error and asking friendly Parisians for help. Everyone was always kind and pointed us in the right direction.

The Louvre! Our first real stop! It was incredible and mind blowing. We ended up eating a beautiful jabon (ham) and cheese baguettes to break your teeth off on and Diet Coke right on the grounds over looking the Louvre, statues and gardens everywhere. By that point it was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen (that changed on the last day of Paris). We thought we were there, but it was seriously like a mile of gardens and parks before we actually reached the pyramid. Then we waited in line, which went smoothly, but was lame after all we had been through to get there. We wanted to get the Museum Pass so we wouldn’t have to wait in line anymore at any other museums, so after 45 minutes to get through security, we asked where to get the museum pass. Steph led us on the way a lady had told her, right through the other security line to get in!!!! My heart sank. The police lady said we’d have to go to the end of that line! NOOO!!! We had already waited for so long, I was not about to go through that again! So, I talked to another rent-a-cop security dude and said that we went through by mistake and he luckily let us back in! UGH! So I had to lay another super-prego smackdown.

We saw so many masterpieces, but kept it quick and thorough and to only what we wanted to see. You could spend days there. The coolest thing was seeing the Mona Lisa. I don’t really understand why it’s such a big deal. But we saw it, it was beautiful, and we pushed our way up through the hordes of people to see it. After we saw the Mona Lisa painted by none other than Da Vinci himself, we felt a sense of , “ok, we saw the Mona Lisa, now we can relax and enjoy everything else”. We slowed our pace and enjoyed the sculptures and paintings that were all beautiful. Not only that, but the room and ceilings sometimes outshone the art!

After the Louvre, we were hungry again, so we went to our first Parisian café! The waiter was busy and nice and ever gave us an English menu. I got a beautiful quiche, Steph got lasagna Bolognese and we also bought a $5 water. Dang. It was pretty expensive to eat there, but SO delicious! We enjoyed every bite, took in our surroundings and relaxed.

Then it was getting dark. We walked through the Louvre grounds again. No wonder they call Paris the city of lights. At night, everything is all lit up and breath taking. The fountains and towers were gleaming. We got a gelato and ate that while sitting by a large circular duck pond. Then we followed our guide book that has a tour of France at night in it. It’s in English and French. You pass it to a taxi driver and they can take you on this route around Paris to all of these spots. We finally found a taxi place (you can’t just flag them down) and got our taxi. He took us the Notre Dame (massive and lit up magically), over the Seine River which runs through Paris, past Napoleon’s Tomb, past the Arc De Triumphe, and of course the Eifel Tower. At each place we would ask to get out for a quick minute for photos. He was very kind and seemed to enjoy telling us about the different things in Paris. Most of it we had a hard time understanding. The Eifel Tower sparkles every 5 minutes to the hour, so we happened to leave it right when it started sparkling! So pretty! And SO French!

The taxi drove by some fun shopping, so we just stopped there, got out, and shopped. Most of the stores were way too expensive. But we loved walking around, people watching, window shopping, and taking in the night life in Paris. The street was beautiful with sparkly sequence hanging from the trees- so French. After that, it was late, we took the metro back to our hotel. Everywhere we went was full of people and we felt safe. On the quick jaunt from the metro to the hotel, not too many people were out. But I had a firm grip on my mace as we walked up to our room. A busy, wild, day in Paris. The next would be our favorite day of the trip!