Stuff keeps on piling onto the list of things I've got to write about, but for some reason, I have not been in the mood to write at all. This is probably because I look at all my photos (and I take a lot because they are my memory) and it's all very overwhelming. So, if for some reason, my writing stops and I just can't go on any longer because there's too much to say and not enough effort to write it all down, I'll just upload lots of photos for you to look at. But anyway, here's a shot at real words...
My second day in Paris with my mom and sister was really laid-back, but we managed to do a lot. After finally getting out of the hotel room by 1 in the afternoon (we can just blame that one on the jet lag), we explored Paris a little without a set-in-stone goal in mind. It was kind of cold and rainy, and usually that constitutes a museum visit, but to be perfectly honest, I'm not a big museum person. I know it sounds kind of sacrilegious or whatever to say that, but it's true. I've visited lots of great world-renowned museums and I try to be really interested in all the famous paintings and the exhibits that go on and on and on... but for some reason, after the first half hour, my mind immediately starts thinking, "how long is this visit really going to last, and when'll be the next meal?" I guess I just prefer walking around outside and people watching or sitting around at a café with steamed milk with vanilla syrup. (If you haven't tried this yet, I highly recommend it.)
So all in all, that's why Mom, Gigi, and I drank steamed milk in cafés instead of going to the Louvre. We walked a lot though, and we visited the opera neighborhood, the Montparnasse Cemetery, Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, and Moulin Rouge. I know that doesn't sound like much, but we walked pretty much everywhere, and the sites aren't exactly next door neighbors. The Sacre Coeur and Montmartre neighborhood was very pretty and touristy, and considering we're tourists, we fit right in! And there really were all the typical French stereotypes: mimes, accordion players, cafés and crêperies, portrait artists, kitschy souvenir Eiffel towers... At one point, I finally decided to get my portrait done and that was just a disaster. For 15 euros, I got a beautiful picture of a completely random stranger that ironically had exactly the same haircut as me.
On Easter Sunday, we got up semi-early to head over to mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. There were thousands of people there (most of them tourists) but we waited long enough to have decent seats for the 11:30 international mass. Once that was finished, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to the Bastille Opera for a performance of Don Giovanni. The opera was great, the set and the actors were fantastic, but oh my goodness, the first act was difficult for me. For some reason, my body must have snuck in two giant sleeping pills during lunch, and I was having a really hard time staying awake. To make matters worse, I was sitting in a really wobbly aisle chair that kept tipping me over into the lap of a really well-dressed, good-looking gay man who kept giving me disapproving looks every time I accidentally slid his way. I forced myself to semi-hold it together for the first act, but without that cup of espresso at intermission, there was no way I was staying awake for the second half.
That evening we all decided to climb up the Eiffel Tower because you can't go to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower. Since the line for the elevator was ridiculous, we all decided to rough it in our Sunday best and take the stairs. All 1652 of them. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I looked pretty darn cute in my patent leather shoes climbing 'em all. And even though it was absolutely freezing, we got great day and night views of Paris.
The rest of the night was calm. More steamed milk in cafés, a quick walk on the Champs Elysées... all that good stuff.
Monday was our last day in Paris. Since several references told us that Opéra Garnier is a must, we headed back to that for a tour and afterwards, we bustled on over to Notre Dame and Ile de la Cité again to explore. We stopped at Shakespeare & Co. which is a famous old English bookstore in Paris, where I bought a copy of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" because it seemed fitting considering the circumstances. And more importantly, it was small enough to fit in a suitcase. We went back to the hotel that afternoon to gather our luggage and headed to the train station for our trip down south. (Another story for another day.)
There you have it. I finished the whole trip in Paris and this entry only took me two days. (I was honestly planning on finishing yesterday, but I had to leave in the middle to go to a party.) So before this takes me three days to finish, I'm ending it now with the pics:
Garnier Opera House
Montparnasse Cemetery
Me and Gigi at the Eiffel Tower!
Sacre Coeur Cathedral
Moulin Rouge
Ile de la Cité
Inside of Notre Dame Cathedral
Back View of Notre Dame
The Librarian at Shakespeare & Co!
Don Giovanni at Bastille Opera
