Today was pretty awesome! I got to sleep in, which was obviously fabulous, watched a little CNN...because that's like the only channel that Renee gets in English, and I'm really tired of watching music videos and Lassie. There was some weird show on about people who should have been dead, but they survived. It was crazy. I took a shower and then headed to Notre Dame. I've been there before, but it was in high school, and it was nice not having to be on a schedule. I took tons of pictures obviously, but it is such a pain to put a bunch on here so I'll put up a few. The rest are on my facebook. The first picture is of the front of Notre Dame
. You come out of the metro and are greeted with this beautiful site. Speaking of the metro, it took FOREVER to get on the RER today. I'm not sure if the strike is still going on, but 3 trains on the other side of the platform passed while everyone waited for the one train. So that was kind of a pain but whatever. So I walked out of the metro and was greeted with this amazing view. It was really nice out today. It was warm actually, which I think is throwing me off a bit. I took so many pictures of the outside of the cathedral it's insane. I know a lot of them are pictures of the same things when I was here in high school but I think I have a different perspective of things now, obviously because I'm a lot older. As I was walking around the grounds of the cathedral, the same gypsies kept coming up to me and asking if I spoke English. The first one asks me, I said yes, because I'm dumb, and then she gives me this whole speech abut how poor she is and how she has like a million kids and she can't feed them because she doesn't have and money. I told her no and walked away. She had Crocs on so she couldn't have been that poor. I don't even have Crocs. The gypsies reminded me of our trip to Paris in high school. We got off the plane and after getting out luggage we got on this coach bus that took us into the city. There was a tour guide and he was talking about the city and how to be
safe. He said this about the gypsies..."if they come up to you say, 'go away or I will destroy your face!!!!!' seriously, those were his exact words. And, he had this crazy British accent so it was even funnier. Kelsey and I were of course sitting at the very front of the bus, right in front of this crazy Brit and had to put our hands over our mouths so he wouldn't hear us laughing so hard. It was seriously so funny! So after taking some more pictures I decided to walk around to the side of the cathedral to get in line to go up the bell tower because there is an observation deck up at the top and it's supposed to be pretty sweet. It was almost 1pm by the time I got to the line and it was halfway down the road. They only let 10 people up to the top of the bell tower at a time so it really holds up the line. Plus, you obviously had to pay, and I didn't feeling like waiting in that long line, because I had a feeling I would have been waiting in it forever. Maybe I'll go up there another day, I'll have to get there much earlier though. So I went back to the front of the cathedral and asked this American woman if she would take my picture. Her husband asked where I was from and I told him Chicago. Their daughter is getting her masters at DePaul. They were from Florida and she went to Florida State...I think, and now is in Chicago. They asked if I went to school in the city and I told them no, I go to U of I and they actually knew what and where it was. They were really nice. They wished me good luck at my year in Paris and I told them that they should visit the Luxembourg Gardens because they are so beautiful and of course wished them a great vacation. The picture of me in front of a gate is the one the woman took. My jeans look really funny because they are too big. All of my jeans are too big. I think it's because I've been doing a lot of walking and I can't dry my jeans so they get really stretched out after a day. I only have 4 pairs of jeans so I have to wear them more than once obvs.
. You come out of the metro and are greeted with this beautiful site. Speaking of the metro, it took FOREVER to get on the RER today. I'm not sure if the strike is still going on, but 3 trains on the other side of the platform passed while everyone waited for the one train. So that was kind of a pain but whatever. So I walked out of the metro and was greeted with this amazing view. It was really nice out today. It was warm actually, which I think is throwing me off a bit. I took so many pictures of the outside of the cathedral it's insane. I know a lot of them are pictures of the same things when I was here in high school but I think I have a different perspective of things now, obviously because I'm a lot older. As I was walking around the grounds of the cathedral, the same gypsies kept coming up to me and asking if I spoke English. The first one asks me, I said yes, because I'm dumb, and then she gives me this whole speech abut how poor she is and how she has like a million kids and she can't feed them because she doesn't have and money. I told her no and walked away. She had Crocs on so she couldn't have been that poor. I don't even have Crocs. The gypsies reminded me of our trip to Paris in high school. We got off the plane and after getting out luggage we got on this coach bus that took us into the city. There was a tour guide and he was talking about the city and how to be
safe. He said this about the gypsies..."if they come up to you say, 'go away or I will destroy your face!!!!!' seriously, those were his exact words. And, he had this crazy British accent so it was even funnier. Kelsey and I were of course sitting at the very front of the bus, right in front of this crazy Brit and had to put our hands over our mouths so he wouldn't hear us laughing so hard. It was seriously so funny! So after taking some more pictures I decided to walk around to the side of the cathedral to get in line to go up the bell tower because there is an observation deck up at the top and it's supposed to be pretty sweet. It was almost 1pm by the time I got to the line and it was halfway down the road. They only let 10 people up to the top of the bell tower at a time so it really holds up the line. Plus, you obviously had to pay, and I didn't feeling like waiting in that long line, because I had a feeling I would have been waiting in it forever. Maybe I'll go up there another day, I'll have to get there much earlier though. So I went back to the front of the cathedral and asked this American woman if she would take my picture. Her husband asked where I was from and I told him Chicago. Their daughter is getting her masters at DePaul. They were from Florida and she went to Florida State...I think, and now is in Chicago. They asked if I went to school in the city and I told them no, I go to U of I and they actually knew what and where it was. They were really nice. They wished me good luck at my year in Paris and I told them that they should visit the Luxembourg Gardens because they are so beautiful and of course wished them a great vacation. The picture of me in front of a gate is the one the woman took. My jeans look really funny because they are too big. All of my jeans are too big. I think it's because I've been doing a lot of walking and I can't dry my jeans so they get really stretched out after a day. I only have 4 pairs of jeans so I have to wear them more than once obvs.I went inside the cathedral and of course it is just gorgeous. I think I went on the self guided tour the wrong way. Everyone was walking at me and I was walking the different direction. I really didn't care. The next picture is of one of 
the many stained glass windows inside the cathedral. I'm not sure if this is what they call the rose window or not. There are two really big ones and to me they both look the same. I grabbed one of the left over booklets that has all of the songs and the schedule for the service on Sundays. It's in like 3 different languages. It's pretty cool. I couldn't imagine attending a service here. People probably start standing in line the night before and it's like a 3 hour service....crazy! There were flat scree tvs on one side of the church. They looked so out of place but I guess they are there so those people who got stuck with the cheap seats can see what's going on. I took my time walking around the cathedral, even sitting down sometimes. I've never really been a religious person, but it was nice to just sit there and reflect. Notre Dame gets over 2 million visitors a year, more than the Eiffel Tower. There were a ton of people there. After the tour I sat and people watched for a while. There was this guy singing and this crazy tour guide who walked around with a foam flowers and shook it to get her group's attention. It was pretty funny. I bought some pretty scarves and finally got to exchange my American money. I knew it was going to be a total rip off because of the crappy exchange rate, and the commission they make off of the exchange, but I was just really tired of carrying around this money I couldn't use here. I exchanged $69 USD and only got 35.04 Euro in return. It sucked. After being cheated I took a walk around
Notre Dame. It's a really cute neighborhood in the heart of the Latin Quarter. I really liked it. I walked to the other side of the cathedral and found a little park. There were a lot less people in this area. Maybe they didn't know it was even there. But it was really nice. The next picture is the view of Notre Dame from the park. This side is the side of Notre Dame that faces the Seine. I left the park and then walked down the Seine where there are little stalls that sell old books. Some of them are a real rip off but they were really cool to look at. There are a lot of leather bound books. One that I saw was published in the late 1800's and it was 183 Euros. I put it down right away. I walked past all of the book sellers and then crossed to the other side of the street to look for Shakespeare and Company.
the many stained glass windows inside the cathedral. I'm not sure if this is what they call the rose window or not. There are two really big ones and to me they both look the same. I grabbed one of the left over booklets that has all of the songs and the schedule for the service on Sundays. It's in like 3 different languages. It's pretty cool. I couldn't imagine attending a service here. People probably start standing in line the night before and it's like a 3 hour service....crazy! There were flat scree tvs on one side of the church. They looked so out of place but I guess they are there so those people who got stuck with the cheap seats can see what's going on. I took my time walking around the cathedral, even sitting down sometimes. I've never really been a religious person, but it was nice to just sit there and reflect. Notre Dame gets over 2 million visitors a year, more than the Eiffel Tower. There were a ton of people there. After the tour I sat and people watched for a while. There was this guy singing and this crazy tour guide who walked around with a foam flowers and shook it to get her group's attention. It was pretty funny. I bought some pretty scarves and finally got to exchange my American money. I knew it was going to be a total rip off because of the crappy exchange rate, and the commission they make off of the exchange, but I was just really tired of carrying around this money I couldn't use here. I exchanged $69 USD and only got 35.04 Euro in return. It sucked. After being cheated I took a walk around
Notre Dame. It's a really cute neighborhood in the heart of the Latin Quarter. I really liked it. I walked to the other side of the cathedral and found a little park. There were a lot less people in this area. Maybe they didn't know it was even there. But it was really nice. The next picture is the view of Notre Dame from the park. This side is the side of Notre Dame that faces the Seine. I left the park and then walked down the Seine where there are little stalls that sell old books. Some of them are a real rip off but they were really cool to look at. There are a lot of leather bound books. One that I saw was published in the late 1800's and it was 183 Euros. I put it down right away. I walked past all of the book sellers and then crossed to the other side of the street to look for Shakespeare and Company.
Shakespeare and Company is seriously one of the coolest bookstores on the face of the Earth....no lie. It is a very small, independent store that sells new and used books. Many of the books are in English, but you can find some that are in French. I first visited Shakespeare and Company during our trip in high school and I was just in awe. Coming back, I felt the same. I stayed there for over an hour just looking at books. I never knew there was an upstairs to the store. I went up there and they have couches and benches where people just sit and read. It literally is books on top of books on top of books. I could have spent hours in the store. I felt like Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls....I love books and looking at books as much as she does. It was amazing. I wandered around and settled on 3 books. Hopefully there will be room in my suitcase for them when I come home. I got "The Food of France" by Waverly Root. I thought about giving it to my brother, but I might keep it for myself and just let him borrow it. I also got "So Long, See You Tomorrow" by William Maxwell and "Intruder in the Dust" by 
William Faulkner. I can't wait to read them. After leaving Shakespeare and Company, (I'll definitely have to come back this year) I walked around in the Latin Quarter. I was starving because I didn't have lunch and decided to buy a pita because I knew that I wouldn't be eating dinner until much later because Renee was making me dinner. The pita kinda sucked, not gonna lie. I ate at le Fontaine de Saint Michel, people watched for a bit and then got on the metro and headed back to the apartment. For dinner, Renee made some sort or vegetable soup and this horrible chicken. It was really dry and there was some sort of cheese in the rice. It was just a really weird combination. I really choked it down. I had like 3 glasses of water with dinner. We had ice cream for dessert. YUM! Renee told me that her niece named Mathilde (like Matilda in English) is coming Thursday. She's 19. She said she wasn't sure if she was going to be around a lot because she has a lot of friends who live in this area but I'm sure she'll be really nice. Renee said she talks a lot. Great...at least it will be better than Jean-Francois. After dinner Renee showed me some pictures of her family on her computer and I did the same. It was nice.
I'm pretty tired, it's been a long day. After talking to my dad a bit on Skype and watching The Amazing Race, I'm going to bed.
A bientot!
ok, you need to make a cliffnotes version of these..
ReplyDeleteseriously lol im not reading all that haha. but the metro story was good!