I slept in. When I woke up, Darin was getting ready to leave and let me know that I should do my best to take advantage of the hotel's breakfast. I missed it -- sleep was more delicious to me in that moment.
When I did finally get out of bed, I took some photos of our dainty hotel room, as well as a few shots from the balcony.
For those keeping track, we stayed in the 8th Arrondissement (a fact I didn't know until just now when I looked it up).
Everyone told me that Paris is a filthy city, but I have NEVER seen so many trash trucks. Seems pretty tidy to me.
After my shower I watched some French television and rested, waiting for Darin to get back so that we could explore the city together. At about noon, he arrived and we set off. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. We were told that the days we were in France were the country's first of the year of sunshine and warmth, which was apparent from the throngs of people outside, sunworshipping.
First thing I noticed: the inaccuracy of our map.
The map shows this:

A more accurate rendering, with all existing side streets in red, might look more like this:

The second thing I noticed:
Bonjour!
How I love the way Parisians greet others with this word: presented as a gift, floating perfectly out of their mouths in a sing-song bubble. Greeting people was one of my favorite parts of being in Paris.
Parisians aren't rude. In fact, I find them to be more than extremely accommodating and helpful.
We first walked to the Place de la Concorde
through the Jardin des Tuileries
and to the Louvre.
We crossed the street to visit Trendy Bookstore
If you want to know what the driving is like in Paris, watch any episode of The Amazing Race.
We exited our taxi near the steps in front of Sacré-Cœur .
Upon finding a place to sit on the steps we were happy to take in the view as well as admire the talent being displayed, such as boys dancing and jumping whilst manipulating a soccer ball to do things you wouldn't think would be possible. Always a show to see in Paris. Thirty seconds after we sat down, two gentlemen took their seats to our left; each was carrying a guitar which was plugged into its own mini-amp, slung around the respective shoulder of its owner. After settling in they began their song. It was the mid-'90s crap-anthem 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', and their version lasted approximately twelve minutes. I don't think we had laughed that hard in a long time.
The quintessential Parisian song: " . . . shee sayed I theenk I ehrhememberh the feelm and . . ."
We toured the church (NO CAMERAS!) before making our way down the steps as the sun was setting.
Post-dinner, we nearly fell asleep at our table. It is assumed that you will take three hours or so for your entire dinner experience, so I caught the waiter's attention and said, "L'addition, s'il vous plait." We stopped for eclairs-to-go on the way back to our hotel, and upon arriving at our bed, crashed.
7 comments:
Now I'll think of Paris every time I go into that Old Navy. Hee.
Yeah, the Old Navy line ... ZING!
Soooo jealous of the choir-practice-listening.
I felt the same way about Parisians when I went a couple of years ago...they were all friendly and helpful. None of them were the way I heard they were.
We stayed in a hotel right next to the Sacre Couer!
Azu'car - AS WELL YOU SHOULD.
Fig - Honestly. They kept going over the same portion of a song, and I didn't care, I just wanted them to keep making that sound.
Dixie Mom - what a great location for a hotel! Did you go in the Spring?
Oh my friend. It does my heart good to read your posts about your trip. I can't think of someone else who deserved such an amazing experience. And I loved your pictures.
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