Oden Adventures

We were super American this day - that is, we packed in as many sights of Paris into 15 hours that we possibly could.  We first took the Metro to the neighborhood of Notre Dame and hunted down some breakfast.  We found the most delightful little patisserie and I successfully ordered in French - un pain au chocolat, un croissant, un café et un café au lait - oh la la!  I still got it :-).

 SO AMAZING.  Cruel, I know.  Your mouth is watering, isn't it?

Although I could've died happy after breakfast, we then we made our way over to the magnificent Cathédrale de Notre Dame.

The spectacular rose windows - they take my breath away!

I love this shot that Patrick got of the front rose window with the organ pipes!

I confess, one of my favorite parts of our tour of the interior were the three groups of French school children that were on a field trip.  They were wearing neon vests (each group had a color) and they were all taking (what I'm sure will be terrible) photos every 3 feet of whatever they were looking at.  So precious!  And so lucky!  I can't remember any school field trip quite like that.

Just outside, these very brave girls were letting the birds land on their hands and arms!

I was so wanting to show Patrick the amazing view from the towers, but we waited in the line for almost an hour and barely moved - and we had a lunch date!  So we decided to make our way over towards the Metro and see a few more things instead of just sitting there waiting to go up.

On our walk, we stumbled upon the Holocaust memorial, honoring French who risked and/or gave their lives to save Jews during WWII.



We got all turned around trying to find Victor Hugo's house and when we finally found it, it was just a plaque on a building - but now we were running late.  We made our way to the Metro again to make our lunch date...but unbeknownst to us, that Metro station was closed down!  So we had to walk all the way back to the previous one.  Once we got there, we were good, but late.  We got on and were riding peacefully to our destination when a lady from the car in front of us hurried back towards us, loudly proclaiming  (in French) that someone had just gotten off and left two bags abandoned in the center of the train car.  She was visibly rattled and told everyone who would listen about the bags and that she was afraid.

I confess, after recent political events, I was a little bit on edge about any sort of retaliation that might occur and not willing to take a chance.  After an eternal minute or two, the train reached the next station and there was a mass exodus from the train, though a few brave (or clueless?) souls stayed behind.  It was not our stop, but we got off, too.  As we waited for the next train, we didn't hear any explosions...so I assume it was nothing more than a forgetful passenger...but, boy, were they going to be irritated when they realized they had to track down their bags!

It wasn't long 'til the next train but now we were even more late!  Finally we arrived at the apartment of Heidi & Dave Onken - over an hour late!  But they were gracious and lovely all the same.  Heidi and I met in Toulouse in a French class, my last year in France, and her first with a team of 10 other Americans who'd come over to work with Agapé France.  This was the first time I met her husband of 2 1/2 years, and the first time for Patrick to meet both of them.  Heidi made a wonderful meal for us and we were so blessed by their stories & their beautiful spirits.  (But I very much regret that I was so taken up in the conversation that I didn't think to take any pictures together!)

After lunch, we hopped aboard the Metro again for the Arc de Triomphe.  I had consoled myself about not going up the towers of Notre Dame with the fact that we could still get the view from the top of the Arc.  I regret to inform you that we also did not get to do that.  You see, there was a ceremony taking place that evening and so it was all roped off, and a tribute was being set up at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  (We later learned it was the day Germany invaded France in the Battle of France in WWII, and would've been less annoyed if we knew that then.)  We waited a long time while I mustered enough bravery to ask people what was going on (but remember the rule about people who are paid to be helpful?).  I got only enough info to know that we could not go up. It was disappointing because it's one of my favorite views of Paris.

But we were in Paris.  So we got over it. :-)

So we strolled down the Champs Elysees into the Tuileries (which was strangely lacking flowers) until we reached the Louvre...

 The red shoes are proving their worth :-).

This next one I find very amusing!

I love this view!!!!!!

Unfortunately, nowhere near enough time to go into the Louvre.  But, of course, we must save some things for the next trip ;-).  

After this we returned to our hotel and found a wonderful (had to be) French restaurant called Le 14 Juilliet.  It sounded lovely from the website, but when we got there it was tiny and crowded and noisy and we were seated at the only remaining table, practically in the laps of another couple.  There were no menus to be found, only a chalkboard with the dishes available (and not all the ones from the website) in an impossible-to-read cursive.  I was about to leave, when the very animated French waiter saved the day.  He didn't care that I looked terrified.  He didn't care that my French was tired.  He didn't care that I couldn't make sense of his chalkboard menu. He wanted us to be there and, in his jolly fashion, he was determined to make it fun!  And it ended up being so great.  Totally fun ambiance.  Absolutely delicious food:  chèvre chaud croustillant starter, steak & frites, and pork curry...and (you're drooling, I know) crème brulée and tiramisu for dessert.  I am so very glad that we stayed!

After a flawless flight over America & the Atlantic, with really great seats, endless movie & game choices, odd but edible meals, and a few hours of sleep, we landed in Paris (CDG) at 2:15PM and I snapped into French mode.  We got some euros and a Paris map, emailed the families, found a change machine, and bought tickets on the RER B Bleu, the train from the airport to the city.  We found out later that trip would've been free (and saved us 17.80 euros) had I thoroughly read my Eurail pass brochure...but alas.  If that's the worst thing that happens on the first day of a trip to Paris, you know, life is good.

We made our way via Metro to the end of Line 4, Porte d'Orléans. (If you are planning a trip to Paris soon, I advise you NOT to be fooled by promotional passes such as Paris Visite for Metro travel.  Unless you are going to use the Metro fifteen times in one day, and I don't know how you could do that and actually see any of Paris, then it is a much better & more flexible deal to buy individual tickets, or a "carnet" of 10.) 

At the transition points of our trek, I quickly remembered one of the keys of France:  people are delightful and friendly and helpful...unless they are paid to be.  We had several lovely, good-humored, forbearing  folks help us out when spotting our confused looks or our obvious distress - for example, when my baggage got stuck on the other side of the Metro gate as myself, and then Patrick who was to follow me & push it through couldn't get his ticket to work.  A valiant man ushered my bags through on his ticket while also instructing Patrick to follow him "rapidly, rapidly" and when Patrick's backpack then got stuck in the gate (aka The Jaws of Death), the man stayed behind to help pull it out.

When I went to the information desk to ask where to buy Metro tickets, however, where there were two sour looking young women sitting there with no one to assist, one took several seconds before even looking up at me, and then replied as if I was the silliest traveler who ever entered her office.  A similar scenario occurred upon arriving at the Formule 1 (the cheapest hotel in Paris - cheap & basic, but clean & convenient) when Patrick bumped a stool in the lobby, which clattered to the floor, and the front desk clerk stopped helping a customer to loudly call out, "There's nothing broken over there?" with a scolding tone.  No welcome, no concern for the customer.  Just want to know the plastic lobby furniture is unharmed, and want to humiliate you in front of everyone there.

But on to better things!  We spent an incredibly romantic early-evening-into-night at...where else?...the Eiffel Tower!!  Patrick even coaxed me into taking the elevator to the second floor.  I have always dreamed of going to the top with the man I love, but unfortunately, in the years of waiting to find him, I have developed an intractable fear - nay, all-encompassing terror - of heights.  So I and the man I love went only to the second floor, and I made it up (and down) with only a few waves of panic.  And now, a few of my favorite photos:



On the way out the door



Waiting for the flight to board - ready to get going!