Tourist times

Wow. So on Thursday night Bradon came in around 11 pm and for the next two days we did crazy amounts of touristy things. Such as ...

We checked out the Trocadero Gardens (and the view of the Tower from there)

The Louvre was practically empty when we went for FREE on the Friday night (Under 26's get in for free Friday 6-9:30 pm). Which meant...

... no competition to see the Mona Lisa. 

So... I bawled my eyes out and had a minor heart attack when I saw her. Oh man... what a lifetime of anticipation can do to your emotions!

I was also pretty stoked on seeing this here painting (Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa). I only knew to recognise it because of a french para-surrealist play I wrote my final Theatre History research paper on. HAH, THE PLAY WAS RELEVANT, 'TEACHER'. Ehem. Notably, the research on this play was a huge push for me to want to come to France. Ah inspiration. (Play = En Garrrde by Rene Daumal) 

We spent a good couple hours wandering the Louvre and then we both got hungry and sore so we made out way back to the tower where we knew there would be 1) pretty sights and 2) fast food.

We happened to walk up to the tower just as the light show began = magic. Then we grabbed a crepe to share and metro'd home.


The next day we set out a plan to tackle some more monuments and stuff. We started off with the Jardin Du Luxembourg, which took us a surprisingly long time to find!

It started off a pretty gorgeous day, and the garden was also pretty quiet despite it being lunch-time on a Saturday. We grabbed Crepes near by at a little hole-in-the-wall place. The crepes were half the price of the ones by the Tower, and way better. The guy could tell we weren't french just by the way we were standing cause he was like, "You speak english, yea? Come here." I still tried to order in French, despite mispronouncing jambon in every possible way.

We made our way to the Pantheon, realising that we had walked directly in front of it on our search for the garden before (literally... in front of it) without even noticing. It's a pretty mammoth structure to miss!

Inside were crypts of people like Voltaire, Victor Hugo and select revolutionaries, and Bradon and I got in for free cause we were young and the ticket guy was super cool (and apparently likes Alberta).

... Foucault's Pendulum. In a nutshell, the pendulum swings in the same way constantly because of some kind of trigonometry genius-ness and it tells time because the earth/clock beneath (NOT the pendulum) is rotating some 15 degrees an hour. Pretty freakin' cool way to demonstrate that the earth is on an axis. 

So, mind's sufficiently blown, we made our way to the island where Notre Dame is. The bridge we ended up crossing had ribbons locks with lovers' names on them all over it. It was a super cool little surprise to stumble upon. Apparently (according to Bradon) they have bridges like this in other parts of Europe. I'm excited to see more! So cute!

So we walk up to the Notre Came Cathedral and gawk for a bit before heading around the side to a line-up we assume is to see the inside of the cathedral.

The weather was getting a bit chilly by then, and the lineup wasn't the fastest, so Bradon grabbed some hot wine. Which, by the way, is AMAZING. The lineup felt like it started moving a lot faster as soon as we had a hot beverage, so we had to down the wine so we wouldn't have to throw it out before heading in. Turns out, as we get to the front of the line, that the lineup is for the TOWERS not the cathedral! We got in for cheap because we are considered youths, and climbed the 400-something steps to the pretty incredible panoramic views up top.

My head takes up too much of this photo, but you get the idea. 

After the tour of the towers we made it into the cathedral in under five minutes and that was pretty epic too. The stained glass windows were amazing, but we weren't about to take flash photos so... no photos! Sorry! One of the cool things was there were these 'confession booths' that were almost like offices with glass walls. There were confession places for different languages with waiting rooms! Really intense, and strangely modern for inside such an old building. 

After we went on down for a really quick look at Montmartre (it was getting super chilly and drizzly by now). We basically ran around avoiding everyone cause we were afraid of dying (Even though, I guess it is quite safe. But coming from boring Calgary to a district with people yelling in an unfamiliar language and sex shops everywhere as it's getting late and dark = scary!). We (Bradon) snapped these photos despite our rush. 

Sacre Coeur! It was cloudy so the view wasn't so great, but the basilica was beautiful! We left pretty quick because there were soooo many people trying to sell stuff.

The Moulin Rouge! Serious Baz Luhrmann moment. Ah...

We giggled while walking down this street. We are children.

We then hopped into the nearest metro station and made our way back to the Arc de Triomphe (again just checking it out from afar) and hopped a bus back home. 

We dropped by the boulangerie across the street from me to grab a baguette. The first thing I say is, "Bonjour Madam!" Which would have been great, had it been daytime. She poked her head up from the counter and said, "Bonsoir Mademoiselle?" I giggled like a moron and said, "Oui! Bonsoir!" Then she said something in french and I panicked. I basically made a complete ass of myself during this exchange, making her repeat, slower, etc. for a good minute or two. Finally I asked for a baguette and then she asked me which one I would like, we grabbed it, paid, and practically booked it out. My first bite of bread in six years was pretty magical, and I didn't get sick! I can't make a habit of it, but oh man, gluten is good. 

And so concluded our crash course in touristy-ness! Within those days, we also managed to do a trip to the local Carrefour which feels like a Costco cause it's so huge and cheap. It took us forever to find it cause I was determined to just keep walking until we found it (I didn't bring the map...). We managed to walk by the botanical gardens and the major Tennis stadium/museum where the French Open takes place. Neat! (Fun fact: Earlier in that day we went to grab an air mattress and we went to a sporting goods store located in Aquaboulevard which is a massive wave pool/fitness centre a la West Edmonton Mall. So random.) So in Carrefour I finally got a pay-as-you-go cellphone (HURRAY!) with Bradon's help. It was only like 30 Euro so I hope I filled out the (french) registration card correctly. After 15 days if they don't receive the little form they cancel your phone, so it's kind of crucial. I also got a little iron (10 Euro!) and an umbrella -- both of which seem to be pretty crucial to Parisien life! Today I dropped in there again and bought a hair straightener, which is pretty crucial to my life. 

Sunday Bradon had to catch a train at the Gard du Nord so we made our way down via Metro and JUST missed his train (literally saw it pull away as we figured out the right gate). Panic ensues, and then a lady exchanges Bradon's ticket for one an hour later without charge! So nice! So we hung out around the train station for a while, basically dodging people asking for 'just a signature' (*cough* addressdonationphonenumber *cough*). Bradon caught his new train, and I headed home, alone boo. 

I did some ironing for the first time. I admit I was tentative, so the stuff that actually needed ironing still needs ironing. The t-shirt I 'practiced' on, now needs to be ironed because I creased it. Merde. 

I then met up with a friend-of-a-friend (now, just a friend) named Laurence in Montmartre. I was excited to see Montmartre in daylight, and on a Sunday ... No one would kill you on a Sunday, right? Montmartre was super charming in daylight and Laurence gave me a mini tour, showing me the cafe that Amelie worked at in the movie, and the windmills. I didn't bring my camera, but even if I had, I was enjoying my company too much to whip it out and go all 'tourist' on her. 

Laurence then took me into my first cafe! AH! I couldn't keep up with all the french going on and then Laurence and the waiter were both looking at me. I looked at Laurence. She said, "Go ahead". I looked at the waiter, he said something in french. I looked back at Laurence, she said, "Order whatever you want". I panicked because I couldn't just point at something on the absent menu and smile, so I frantically mumbled (yes, you can frantically mumble) "Un Cafe Creme, s'il vout plai" (which, for all I know, could be the wrong way to say that), nearly saying "Por Favor", which would have been AWFUL. The coffee came and it was amazing. It came with cute little paper-wrapped sugar cubes, which I didn't use (but I should have kept... dammit) because they were too cute. After the cafe stop, we walked around a little more and parted ways. 

I got super lost somehow on the way home, but it was easy to get back on track once I figured out where I was. Do not blindly get on a subway because the station happens to have the train you want! I was too excited about my cafe experience to notice before I'd gone a good 8 stops in the wrong direction. I ended up at the end of the line on another train, waiting at the deserted station awkwardly for a few minutes, before I realised the train I wanted to be on was the one I'd just gotten off of (as it headed back where it came from). Super annoying, but it's not like I had somewhere I had to be right away! I walked home from the station in the random down-pour of rain that lasted only five minutes before returning to the drizzle (how very... Calgary!). I made crepes, ate half a jar of Nutella and skyped all night with the family. Very nice! 

Today, I did laundry for the first time, which is now hanging in my window. My window was open, but today is exceptionally chilly and windy, so I had to close it and opt to hang my wash... inside. I have underwear in my kitchen. I would post a picture, but it's my underwear. I have some dignity, despite having to dodge my panties while cooking dinner tonight. 

Today, being so miserable, I am just bumming around home writing and drinking wine. It is pretty awesome. I did that little bit of shopping, but the shelves at the grocery store were eerily empty. It must be a Monday thing, I guess we will see if that stays consistent! I did manage to get a huge chunk of blue cheese for only 2 Euro. I am super super stoked on that, considering how much it would have cost in Calgary. I bought carrots and cheese... dinner will have to be inventive. 

That's all for now! Au revoir!