Paris Part 2

SO! This is the story from December the 31st and that night.

We woke up early that morning and headed towards the Underground station that was right next to our hotel. We rode the metro down to the middle of town and got off right near the Eiffel tower. It was about 8 A.M.

The plan was to get to the Eiffel tower as early as possible, so the lines to go up it would be minimal. Oh boy were we wrong.

We got down to the base of the tower at about quarter after, and it was packed. all the elevators were functioning, which meant that there were four different lines. Each was about a quarter mile long. Keep in mind, no one was allowed up yet, it was still closed. We finally (after about an hour of waiting) got our tickets, and rode the elevator up the levels to the very top. (There are three, the first being the mall and post office, the second being the restaurant, and the third being the viewing deck). It was a bit cloudy at the top, so we headed down to the second level, under the cloudcover.

Paris is a beautiful city to see from above. It is really helpful to be able to see all the monuments and buildings from the air and to recognize how they are oriented to eachother. You can see the Champs de Elysees, the Obelisk and the Louvre all in a perfect line. Tons and tons of houses all crammed into Paris, divided right down the middle by the Seine with its roiling blue and green waters. Sacre Cur was on the grey horizon.

Side note: The weather was complete shit the entire time we were there, pouring down rain and grey were the only choices we had. But that did not deter our spirits!

When we got down from the tour and back into the mass of humanity beneath it, we decided to go on a bus tour of Paris. We scrambled onto a waiting double decker London style bus (open top) and we were off! This tour was to take us to all the super touristy sites in Paris, without the bother of stinky, smelly, huge, ugly, painfully embarrassing tourists. There were so many Americans in Paris it was painfull. There was more English being spoken than French. Overall, it was a very cool and very informative little tour.

We were driven around the city to many different places, with each station the possibility to hop off the bus, check out whatever was there, then catch the next tour bus with your ticket. It was a pretty sweet idea. We rode around and saw the Louvre, the Champs de Elysees by light, and a bunch of different things. We got off at the Notre Dame station.

Ok, so this was the defining moment for me to begin my love of the real French cafe. We hustled through the packed crowd and got into the street and started looking for a place to eat. We got about 2 blocks away (Notre Dame is on an island, Google Map that stuff), where there were fewer tourists, and headed down a very small street. Aachim got us into this cafe with a big wooden door, and small curtained windows. The tables were heavy wood and the chairs were almost identical to the ones that are in my kitchen in the states. Mom, you know what I'm talking about.

It was cold outside, and we were all brought hot chocolate, no questions asked. There was no English being spoken in this cafe, and it was music to my ears. The menus were beat up old paper things with grease stains and food blotches all over them. There were only about 5 choices. This place was run by the right kind of people. As Bourdain would say, "they were playing for the home team."

I ordered a baguette sandwich (it didn't say what was on it), and the others had similar things. The waiter was back within 3 minutes (the place was pretty full) with our food. This was a full baguette ripped down the middle (by hand), with big fat hunks of camembert mashed in, smoked bacon stuff, bib lettuce, and FRESH tomatoes from Italy. A little olive oil drizzeled on top with some S&P. A Pellogrino. Some pommes. Heavvenn.

Notre Dame for me was unremarkable. Yes, it was a beautiful church, yes, it was extremely big, amazing art and history within it's walls, but yeah... I know that sounds extremely snooty and unemotional, but I'm not a big church guy. Especially churches that have people being led in and out a whole lot like cattle. We were there pretty early so the Sunday service was still going on, and there is literally a rink for the tourists to walk around the outside (around the pews) of the church and examine everything in the semi-darkness. It was more than a little disconcerting watching people take flash photography right behind sacred stuff, completely oblivious of what was going on around them. I dunno, thats my little rant about tourists. Bleh.

So we finished out the long tour after seeing many many sights of Paris. With the exact right time and explanation from a earpiece in your specified language. We headed on back to the hotel, crashed, and slept until about 9.


MORE NEW YEARS EVE ADVENTURES IN THE NEXT POST