With the subject line, I thought of Chevy Chase a number of times, throughout France, and the overnight train, etc. Just had to write that. We arrived at 7am in Paris, which was 1am East Coast, so we were pretty exhausted, but running on adrenoline. We checked into our hotel, then took off to see the Musee d'Orsay museum, which is inside of an old train station, built in 1900, but closed down 2 years later when the trains were changed. So it was turned into a museum. Victoria put a picture of the Musee d'Orsay on her facebook and called it: "The most boring museum ever". I had to laugh when I read that, because.....it was.... Later that day, we took the subway all over the place, and had dinner at Le Bistrot 30. They served red wine w/ the dinner. We had seconds or thirds.... As we walked around the city, we crossed the River Seine, looked at the gorgeous architecture, and I fell inlove with Paris.
The next day, we took a bus to Versailles, the beautiful chateau where Marie Antoinette & King Louis XVI lived (amongst other royalties), where she told the people that they could eat cake. We were told that wasn't really what she said, but it was taken that way. Anyways, it was over the top. Marble walls in different colors, beautiful frescas in every single rooms ceilings, beautifully carved stone statues and just more beauty than any person, king or queen should ever need want, etc. It was so over done, so over the top, so extremely rich, etc. I really could see why the people tore in and killed them for their selfish spoiled lifestyle, while the French were starving in the streets. It was so amazing though. Then we took a tour out in the never-ending gadens at Versailles. It was so amazing to be there, to look back and see how extremely huge the gardens were, and even moreso, in the distance I could see how immense the Versaille Chateau was.
After that, we took the bus to Normandy - Giverny where Claude Monet lived. We toured his house and his gardens, and I felt like I was inside a Claude Monet painting. I think THIS was my most favorite site in France. I loved Monet's home, it was so down to earth, so simple, yet so exquisite. I just fell inlove. And, we were so lucky to be there on that specific day. His beautiful flowers were all in bloom, his garden was magical. Monet's house was my most favorite of all the French visits. We headed back to Paris and had dinner at Restaurant Chez Clement Bastille, where I got to have more red wine, and real French Creme Broulle!!! (sp)
The third day in Paris, we headed out to mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. To say it was beautiful is an understatment. To be there, where so much history, so many stories, so OLD!! They started construction in the 1100s and it was completed in the 1200s. A 900 year old building. I've never seen such old architectural buildings ever here in the U.S. since we really are a "young" country. I can't get over the magnitude of the architectural details, the artistic carvings, so perfect, so symetrical, so gorgeous. I took pictures inside and out. I am Catholic and both Victoria & I and only one other student went up and accepted communion in Notre Dame. Believe it or not, but while mass was being conducted, tourists were allowed to walk around the inside of the church. There were even vendors selling items inside the cathedral, while mass was taking place! Blasphamy!! After mass, we all went outside the cathedral to take the steps up the tower to the top of Notre Dame. The steps were made of stone, but you could see how they were worn in the same stepping area from all those who have taken the trek up to the top. Once at the top, we then took some wooden steps up to the bell tower, where I got to touch the famous bell. I even saw Quasimoto (just kidding!) The view from Notre Dame was breath-taking. I told one of Victoria's friends, Katii, that I wish Steve was there with me to see this. She then told me, "I wish I had a boyfriend, and I wish he were here too." Cute kid. After Notre Dame, we had lunch at a cute little French cafe, and I ordered Escargot!! It was served inside the shells!! Here in the U.S. whenever I order Escargo, it's been removed from the shells. Pretty cool. Oh and red wine!! What would the French do without their red wine!!Then we headed across town to the Arc De Triomphe, which is located on Les Champs-Elysees, Champs De Mars, basically the Parisian version of Rodeo Drive, or really vice versa. Victoria got to check out all the cool French stores ($$$$$$$) and yes, we spent a little. We then went into thise AWESOME bakery, which was featured on the travel chanel w/ that lady. I forget the name of the bakery, it began w/ a "D". But the people were really nice, we start w/ "Bon Jour" then we tried to ask them something in our aweful French, and the lady responded with, "I speak English" and we ofcoruse gave that embarrassed and thankful look, etc. Pretty cool. They were that way everywhere. Everyone speaks English there. When we got back to our meeting w/ the group, some drunk guy was approaching one of our girls, and the two men and all the boys that were in our group almost formed a wall around the girls. The man looked pissed off about it too and eventually went away. Another tourist came up to one of our chaperones and asked what the drunk man said. Apparently there were alot of people watching the situation, ready to help us if we needed it.
Then we headed off to see the Eifel Tower. Wow wow wow. We took one elevator that slants up to the mid-section. Then we got off that elevator and took a different one all the way to the top. Paris is beautiful. From the top you can see how the streets are geometrically designed, and the buildings are all in the same stone-washed-colors. No buildings in Paris are painted. It's law.
After the Eifel Tower, we went to Quartier du Montmartre, where we saw the church that can be seen anywhere from Paris, up on a hill - Sacre Coeur Basilica, (Sacred Heart). We took a tram up the steps, because most of us were wiped out by then. I was standing in the back, infront of me was a girl named Nicole = 17 yrs old. We always had one chaperone in the back of our group, usually there were more, but this time, it was just me, behind Nicole. Some perverted French man, stood a little too close to Nicole, so I made sure to squeaze inbetween them. The french guy would not back off. I know the French, really Europeans in general, have a different sense of "space" then we Americans do. I don't think this pervert was concerned about Space. I wanted to press up against Nicole, and he would not lay off. As luck would have it, we were all about to enter the tram, when it reached capacity - guess where? Right as Nicole was about to enter. So there were are, me and Nicole and some freaky French guy pressed against us. I looked behind him and the next person was very spaced away. I looked in the line next to me to see lots of room and lots of spaceto the next person. I eye-balled one of the girls in our group - Julie, to get the male Spanish teacher to stay behind. She did and he stayed behind, but the French guy would not let up. Eventually when the tram got back and we were able to go inside, the Spanish Teacher stood inbetween me and the sleezy French guy, and suddenly, the French guy stood at a good distance away. Pervert. Anyways, we had dinner at a cute little outdoorsy place: Restaurant La Cremaillere. Afterwards, we walked over to see Moulin Rouge - the real deal.
Our day was NOT yet over. We then had a later cruise on the River Seine. We boarded the cruise infront of the Eifel Tower, which was lit up in bright gold, and at 15 minute intervals, would flicker it's lights, which was just awe-inspiring. On the cruise, It was really nice to see all of the old buildings, including Notre Dame, lit up at night. We could see the Louvre, which stretches for miles it seems.
Next morning, we went to visit the Louvre. We took a group picture of the kids outside infront of the pyramid, and the guide kept telling us to stop bringing up the Da Vinci Code. She said that the French hated the movie, because she said some of the things in it were fabricated and not true, etc. Ok ok, no more Da Vinci Code comments!! My first place I wanted to stop inside was to see the beautiful painting by Leonardo Da Vinci - the Mona Lisa!! I posed for a photo infront of her, and I suddenly had her quaint little smile. The paintings, the history was just glorious.
We had lunch at Restaurant Pataques, RED WINE, headed back to the hotel, got our things and headed to the train station. There are green berets that walk through the train stations, holding machine guns, on the alert for terrorism. Inside our train, there were four persons per car and I couldn't help but think of Chevy Chase.....again. The train took off and we were on our way to Madrid Spain. This was when I'd finally hit my breaking point. All my life, I've wanted to go to Spain with my Grandmother. She is from Barcelona and she would tell me stories about her childhod. Her parents are both buried in Barcelona and my great-grandfather was a famous Opera Tenor there and a street is named after him - Hipolito Lazaro. I always wanted to go to Spain with my grandmother and have her show me around, interpret for me, and get to really know my roots. But. My Grandmother was not going to be with me on this life-changing journey. And the thought or the realization that she was not going to be there, when I took my first step in Spain, made me tear up and cry like a baby. I couldn't talk about it, and I know my eyes were puffy from crying, and I was an emmotional wreck. There infront of everyone. Well, we ended up having a nice dinner on the train, just four of us. Myself, Seniorita M., Senor P., Mr. A. (the dad chaperone) and myself. I talked a little about why I was upset, but ofcourse, more tears. More red wine and it was all better.
Sleeping on the train wasn't so easy. I'm a light sleeper and each change of pace on the train woke me up. At 2am, the train was about to enter Spain, and it had to stop and change Engines. Apparently, the new president of Spain, decided to try to stop the terrorism that was happening to the trains, by making the train tracks different in Spain then they are from France, so a terrorist can't just barge into their country. Smart guy. We arrived in Spain around 9:30am.
I'll write about my Spanish adventures in my next post.
