An American In Paris

This morning I realized that I was missing a plastic bag of things. It finally dawned on me that I had left it on the upper rack in the train yesterday. My beloved blue scarf is gone along with a tin of cookies, some maps from the last few trips to Aix-en-Provence and Avignon, and another scarf I had just bought the day before. I am quite angry about this. [Still angry on the 21st as I write this.]

Today I met up with my friend Manuel who lives here in Paris. We met in Archaia Corinthos, Greece which seems like ages ago. I'm glad I have this blog or I wouldn't remember much of what I have seen and done. I wasn't sure how much time Manuel had to spend with me and thought we might just plan out an itinerary over coffee. He kindly served as my tour guide for the day as we walked around Central Paris. Our walk started on the E end crossing the River Seine and following it until we were at Notre Dame Cathedral. This globally recognized church was filled with people walking through the outer circuit of the interior (the area roped off for tourists to pass through). It was quite noisy despite the Silence signs as everyone talked in their own language to their people about what they were seeing. Amidst camera flashes and the clank of coins being dropped into the medallion machines (yes, you can purchase your own Notre Dame coin from vending machines throughout the church), the atmosphere--if there ever is one--was nonexistent. The Gothic style did nothing for me. The stained glass was not pretty. The walls/ceiling were composed of stone block which made the entire place look like the metro of Paris--i.e. tacky and dingy. Compared to Sacre Cour in Montmarte, Notre Dame is a hollow building for the commercialism of religious goods. I was not positively swayed or moved.

Further down the river we walked into the Louvre and grabbed some information on times and prices. There are three buildings of fun waiting for me to discover! We took a stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries next to the Louvre which is really more of a sandy, deserty like park with trees in it. Not overly pretty and very bright from the white dirt/rocks on the pathways. We walked past the Obelisque and crossed the river again and passed the Assemblee Nationale building (their legislative/political building). We wandered through the St. Germain area looking for a another church which we eventually found. It's very similar in architecture to Notre Dame with high arches and stained glass windows, but very quiet as no tourists really come here. We walked back W to the Hotel des Invalides which is now a military building. I wasn't too interested in seeing the military history museum through the revolution up to Napoleon so we took a bus to the Jardin du Luxumbourg where we strolled around though a park that at least had grass in it. Most of our walking had been relatively quiet for the international metropolis of Paris. Most Parisians seemed to be on vacation (similar to spring break) or in the parks as we noted in Jardin du Luxumbourg. The place was packed! we stopped for some coffee and then wandered through the Quartier Latin where there are some lovely traditional French shops and markets. A guy was playing a crankable music box cart with paper cut out music while singing. Cheese, fruit, fish and vegetable stores tempted us with their delicious looking foods. Manuel picked out a tub of strawberries that are presently in season and we feasted on them. My Mom would have been jealous for how fresh and sweet they were.
[Paris skyline at night from Sacre Cour--apparently I didn't understand the slow exposure time. Still a cool photo though.]
We hopped on the metro and went to meet up with one of Manuel's good friends as they were growing up and his wife. We had drinks and appetizers at Le Rhumerie. I had a tasty fruit juice drink of pineapple, orange, banana and coconut juices. We snacked on some fried fish balls, something similar to bruschetta and what I think was a blood sausage with spices. All quite yummy. From here we parted ways with Manuel's friends and found a traditional Bretangne restaurant (region of France) where we had egg, ham and tomato crepes with apple cider wine. I was incredibly stuffed by this point. No dessert for me or I would have exploded! We headed up to Montmarte by metro to see if we could find a jazz club, but everything seemed pretty quiet up there. I was wiped out from all the walking and eating, so we headed home for the night. We planned to meet up tomorrow to head to Versailles.