Day 9: Paris is the Texas of European cities.
1:45pm
Paris, in case I wasn't clear before, is fucking enormous.
Left my hostel around 10:30, walking on foot, have yet to see a major sight. Did have an inexpensive lunch on the way, though.
7:15pm
Walked along the Promenade Plantée, a really nice skywalk that is one long garden path. That took me to Bastille Square where the trendy modern opera house is. Lots of teenagers in alt fashion hanging around the exterior. Skateboarders across the circle.
As I was walking along the Seine an Australian lady approached me asking for directions to the Novotel. Neither one of our maps was showing the street name she was looking for, and I still couldn't get any WiFi, so I just pointed her in roughly the direction of Bastille square and Gare du Lyon.
Saw Notre Dame and its breathtaking windows. Lit a candle for the family and gota nice rosary for Mom. Took a break at the little park past Cité and talked to some Polish girls who sat at my bench, then headed down Rue de Rivoli to the Louvre... I now have a "greatest thing ever seen." Been here at the Louvre close to three hours (it's Friday so the Louvre is open late). My feet are killing me. I've hit my limit of how much I can tour through the halls of paintings, of which there are over 100. I'm not even sure I saw all the paintings but I am completely overwhelmed by the scope of it all. I'm at the Starbucks on the ground floor now, having an herbal tea Frappucchino. The WiFi doesn't seem to work here. WTF?! This place should be ashamed to call itself Starbucks.
Day's end
The cute Italians I was trying to strike up conversation with in Starbucks left, so I packed up the remainder of my bottled water and took the escalators out. Walked out of the Louvre and passed through the Jardin des Tuileries, a gorgeous park of sculpture and fountains. It was getting late, but I was determined to make it to the Arc de Triomphe and get a few pictures in before the battery drained (and while I was in the area), so I went on foot all the way up the Champs-Elysées. Lots of trendy retail on this stretch, and a McDonalds or a Quick (European fast food joint) on every block. I snapped some gorgeous pictures of the Arc with the lights on and twilight sky in the background. By then it was well after 9, and I needed to find a good place to have dinner, so I headed up one of the other eleven streets extending from the Place Charles de Gaulle, and eventually found myself walking along Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, a street that runs parallel to the C-E two blocks to the north. It's a hotel and embassy sort of neighborhood, but I did manage to find Ante Prima, a place with the day's menu on a chalkboard (good sign) and hours until 10:45.
The waitstaff, Vanessa the hostess and Aurélie the server, were absolute darlings, spoke English, doted on me, and talked about having been to America. Vanessa in particular had lived for a year and a half in Miami and New York, and lamented all of the English skill that she had lost since then. Dinner consisted of the perfect antipasto buffet (€19) and a plate of penne pasta with smoked octopus and a delicate pan sauce (€16). Pricey, but excellent.
I hopped the Metro back to the hostel and spent some time catching up on Internet things, having been denied WiFi all day. Some shirtless Irish guys came in around 1AM talking about how they had come here to see Oasis at a big festival concert on the Seine, and Oasis bailed after making them wait 3 hours. They were rightfully angry. One of them also talked about being an extra on The Tudors and the strange imbalance of getting paid to do nothing -- his extra role was as a dead body.
Around 2:30 I decided that I was overdue for bed, and right as I was heading for the elevator Matt & Cam arrived. We talked for a bit and it seems like we won't get to travel as a group at all since they are meeting up with a large group outside the city tomorrow.
Paris, in case I wasn't clear before, is fucking enormous.
Left my hostel around 10:30, walking on foot, have yet to see a major sight. Did have an inexpensive lunch on the way, though.
7:15pm
Walked along the Promenade Plantée, a really nice skywalk that is one long garden path. That took me to Bastille Square where the trendy modern opera house is. Lots of teenagers in alt fashion hanging around the exterior. Skateboarders across the circle.
As I was walking along the Seine an Australian lady approached me asking for directions to the Novotel. Neither one of our maps was showing the street name she was looking for, and I still couldn't get any WiFi, so I just pointed her in roughly the direction of Bastille square and Gare du Lyon.
Saw Notre Dame and its breathtaking windows. Lit a candle for the family and gota nice rosary for Mom. Took a break at the little park past Cité and talked to some Polish girls who sat at my bench, then headed down Rue de Rivoli to the Louvre... I now have a "greatest thing ever seen." Been here at the Louvre close to three hours (it's Friday so the Louvre is open late). My feet are killing me. I've hit my limit of how much I can tour through the halls of paintings, of which there are over 100. I'm not even sure I saw all the paintings but I am completely overwhelmed by the scope of it all. I'm at the Starbucks on the ground floor now, having an herbal tea Frappucchino. The WiFi doesn't seem to work here. WTF?! This place should be ashamed to call itself Starbucks.
Day's end
The cute Italians I was trying to strike up conversation with in Starbucks left, so I packed up the remainder of my bottled water and took the escalators out. Walked out of the Louvre and passed through the Jardin des Tuileries, a gorgeous park of sculpture and fountains. It was getting late, but I was determined to make it to the Arc de Triomphe and get a few pictures in before the battery drained (and while I was in the area), so I went on foot all the way up the Champs-Elysées. Lots of trendy retail on this stretch, and a McDonalds or a Quick (European fast food joint) on every block. I snapped some gorgeous pictures of the Arc with the lights on and twilight sky in the background. By then it was well after 9, and I needed to find a good place to have dinner, so I headed up one of the other eleven streets extending from the Place Charles de Gaulle, and eventually found myself walking along Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, a street that runs parallel to the C-E two blocks to the north. It's a hotel and embassy sort of neighborhood, but I did manage to find Ante Prima, a place with the day's menu on a chalkboard (good sign) and hours until 10:45.
The waitstaff, Vanessa the hostess and Aurélie the server, were absolute darlings, spoke English, doted on me, and talked about having been to America. Vanessa in particular had lived for a year and a half in Miami and New York, and lamented all of the English skill that she had lost since then. Dinner consisted of the perfect antipasto buffet (€19) and a plate of penne pasta with smoked octopus and a delicate pan sauce (€16). Pricey, but excellent.
I hopped the Metro back to the hostel and spent some time catching up on Internet things, having been denied WiFi all day. Some shirtless Irish guys came in around 1AM talking about how they had come here to see Oasis at a big festival concert on the Seine, and Oasis bailed after making them wait 3 hours. They were rightfully angry. One of them also talked about being an extra on The Tudors and the strange imbalance of getting paid to do nothing -- his extra role was as a dead body.
Around 2:30 I decided that I was overdue for bed, and right as I was heading for the elevator Matt & Cam arrived. We talked for a bit and it seems like we won't get to travel as a group at all since they are meeting up with a large group outside the city tomorrow.