Paris - Day 1

I did the last thing I thought I'd ever do on my first night in Paris. Nope, I didn't drop frozen eggs from the Eiffel Tower. I didn't try my hand at oil painting on a canvas and easel trying to capture a romantic rainy night. And I didn't stroll along the Champs-Elise in the moon-light with my lover's arms around my waist as he gazed passionately into my eyes. Think something a bit more basic. I watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. For some reason I had never seen it before and the night was still young when we retired for the night so it seemed like a movie was in order. What better way to kick-start the holidays?

Now for the rest of the story.

Cindy and I left Thursday morning to the airport with standby tickets and a wish for an adventure in Paris. All week I've been telling myself that there was a possibility that we'd have to change our plans last minute and fly to Peru with all our winter gear...because there was a possibility and I wanted to prepare myself for a different adventure in case that happened. Climbing Machu Picchu in winter boots during the middle of summer actually sounds like a great change of plans.

First leg was to get to Atlanta. Second leg was to Paris. We made both the flights and got to go 1^st class from Atlanta to Paris. For those who feel envious of 1^st Class tickets let me tell you that on a7 hour flight the flight attendants spend 5 hours feeding you so that you feel fat and you only get about 2 hours of rest. The only good thing about 1^st Class is watching unlimited movies (well it is limited to the length of the flight) but the movies are all complementary. So, I took advantage of some of my feeding time and watched The Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Crazy Stupid Love. The Ape movie had so much potential but it fell short of my high expectations and Crazy Stupid Love is terrible and made me angry.

This is what Cindy and I look like on a plane in coach. The picture of us in 1st class didn't get taken because we weren't by each other. But basically it would have been of food, of our eyes glued to the movie screen, and of us snoring under a fluffy blanket while lying down next to strangers.

We got into Paris at 5 am Friday morning. Got our bags and found the RER (the train to Paris) but couldn’t use our American credit cards at the kiosks…but once we found a live human being at a ticket counter everything went smoothly. We got on the train to Paris and then transferred to the Metro, to the stairs to the surface and saw that we were in PARIS!!! and then walked a few blocks in the dark cool rain to Jaron’s apartment. The foyer was dark but Cindy found a light and we carried our bags up 3 flights spiral stairs to rap on Jaron’s door. He welcomed us in and told jokes and stories to us until it was time for him to leave for work and time for Cindy and I to sleep for a few hours before our adventures begin.

This is what it looks like in Paris when you wake up. It was a drizzly day. But that meant the photos were going to be terrific...as long as we didn't go into really dark dark dark cathedrals and buildings...

After trying to wake up we headed out to see Notre Dame and walk around the outside of the Louvre. Today was a day to get our bearings. Tomorrow the real touring begins. Cindy bought a huge beautiful crepe from the street. It was a frommage and jambon crepe. I want one tomorrow but today I wasn’t hungry…the airplane food was still making me feel fat.

Then we wandered over to the Louve and the Arc de Triumph Carrousel.

We thought we were seeing THE Arc de Triumph but were corrected when we saw a little sign in French and I spied the real Arc through a distant Carrousel down the way. Good thing we got that straightened out.

Do you see the heart? I think I am going to collect hearts from Paris on this trip...afterall it is the City of Love where they speak the Language of Love...I want to watch Better Off Dead now...

The real Arc de Triumph is behind the caroseul in the background. Can you see it?

Then we wandered down to the Sienne and saw some of the signs of love around Paris. Scarred birches and love locks on bridges. Ahhh, if only I had some one to lock my heart to. I’ve got a prayer in the Prayer Wall in Jerusalem but I don’t have a lock on a bridge in Paris.

Do any of you know someone with the initials E.A.? He needs to be single and available because apparently we were MFE.

You can't see from here but I did notice that there was something on the bridge fencing...can you tell what it is? I thought it was Christmas ribbons...nope.

We found another bridge that was full of locks too. We need to do this somewhere in Utah. I imagine I could make a killing on cheep locks.

Some scenes by the river, the first being the most important lesson I learned during the day:

I loved these heads on the bridge. They were all different. All so very dramatic.

I've decided I want to live on a house boat on the Seine (or another river, I don't want to be too picky) someday.

Then we went to the Notre Dame and walked around inside.





In the next photo I want you to notice Baby Jesus is missing. He is missing from all the Creche exhibits we've seen so far. Is France trying to make the statement that Christ is too often missing from Christmas? or do they have a tradition not to put Christ in the manger until Christmas day? I'll never know since I won't be here on Christmas day.

I love cathedral architecture. Hopefully we make it up on top of the Notre Dame some day soon. Then there was more wandering and more churches to walk about.

This cathedral was near the Pantheon.

Why is baby Jesus sitting on that book? I think there is a deeper meaning but I am too tired to think about it right now. Just make sure you let Christ whisper to you while you read the scriptures.

Then we made our way to the Pantheon and saw the tombs of Marie Curie, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, and Louise Braille. That was interesting.

I loved how this guy was saint was picking up his head and the little bit of celestial light that showed that his greatness was something to astound.

I love ceilings and arches.

This was just a nose-less girl's head that I took a picture of.

This guy became a Christian and this is his baptism. I thought his blond flowing hair and mustache was kind of funny looking so I took a picture of him.


This is the view of the Eiffel Tower when we came out of the Pantheon. Pretty.

Part of our walk home had us return by Notre Dame. Very pretty at night.

We stopped in another church during our long-way home, who needs short-cuts when you are in Paris and there really isn't anywhere you have to be. I'm not sure the name of the church but there was a long-bodied Jesus statue that I took a picture of.

Dinner was a street panini. I wasn't hungry the whole day due to the airplane feast but this panini came just when the hunger pangs were starting to kick in. Tomorrow we go back out and see what more we can see. I hope I get a crepe. And I hope I find a really yummy chocolate Panini or chocolate crousant…today’s chocolate croissant wasn’t very chocolatey.