Paris

Guest Blog by Erin

We drove on Friday night to Bilbao for our Saturday morning flight to Paris. There are lots of pretty views from the highway en route to Bilbao, as this road travels across the northern coast of Spain. It’s very green and hilly, with villages in ravines and along the coast. I wish we’d take a clue in the U.S. from Spain and let some things be. The coast line in northern Spain is not cluttered with cookie cutter, Miami Vice-looking mansions. It was a lovely drive.

Our flight to Paris Saturday was quick, and we were greeted immediately with weather quite different from La Coruña. It was hot and humid, especially in the subway! June and Blake were waiting for us at Notre Dame, so Juan and I checked in to the hotel while Kim met the crew.

Notre Dame was spectacular and a wonderful first stop. June was an art history major – a great asset for the rest of the group! – and shared with us some background on the cathedral. Did you know gargoyles are only really gargoyles if water runs through them and out their mouths during a rain storm? I didn’t! The building’s famous flying buttresses and rose windows (with their original stained glass) are beautiful.

Next up was Saint-Sulpice, the second-largest church in Paris. The fountain outside was a nice resting and people-watching spot, as we cooled down and read up on this cathedral. Signs inside reminded us that The DaVinci Code is, indeed, fiction, hinting that digging up the cathedral’s floor is a no-no. Many people gathered around the brass gnomon (Rose Line in DaVinci Code) for pictures, I think just because it is referenced in that book. The reality is more interesting, I think – this brass line was built into the church’s floor and up a wall to indicate the time of the equinoxes and, hence, Easter. Light shines through different windows in the chapel at different times – it travels through a system of windows and onto the brass line at the equinox.

Anyway, we were also impressed with the pipe organ and beautiful stained glass in this cathedral.

After Saint-Sulpice, we walked through the Luxembourg area and then stopped for refreshments. Some nice French wine and people-watching were definitely in order. The city’s zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to only a few stories, so I never felt overwhelmed by the city as I sometimes do in, say, New York. Paris is an active city with life going on in the street, just like New York, but you can still see the sky.

We decided to head toward the Eiffel Tower next, but couldn’t help letting some excitement escape for the next day’s Tour de France-watching plans and just had to practice taking pictures of Parisian cyclists!

The Eiffel Tower was more than I expected. The crowds, size, lines, beautiful structure…everything. We were all in good spirits after our break, and had fun in line for the elevator…after briefly contemplating taking the stairs up. It’s 75 stories. We could’ve only walked up to the second platform, though.

Erin kissing Mr. Eiffel

The Tower originally was constructed for a World’s Fair in the late 1800s, marking the centennial of the French Revolution, and was/is used for radio transmission. The lines were unthinkable to get to the very top, but we enjoyed lovely views from the first and second platforms, and also across the street from Chaillot Quarter.

We enjoyed a healthy dinner of chocolate crepes and orange Fanta before calling it a night. (Juan had a ham and cheese crepe - a little more nutritional value than chocolate, but not as yummy!)

Sunday was Tour de France day! We met June and Blake for breakfast and to stake our Tour-watching spot, where we spent the next six (or so) hours. We walked the next day along Champs Elysees, and I appreciated then the novelty of standing in the middle of the road to photograph the Arc de Triomphe.

It was a clear, blue day and a beautiful one for (more) people watching, chatting and random observations. (note from Kim: We were standing across the street from a huge billboard of Zidane, the French headbutter from the final world cup game. We each took turns taking pictures kissing Zidane's cheek, biting him, poking him, smooshing his head, and, of course, headbutting him! It helped pass the time.

Also, while we were waiting, a few sheep passed by us with vests that read "Tour de Sheep". It was pretty random, but also entertaining.)

After hours of waiting, we quickly were roused by the start of the Tour parade. What a tease! We thought the cyclists were close behind and got excited by the crazy-driving Tour sponsors in their modified cars and swerving cargo trucks.

When the cyclists finally arrived, though, all the waiting was worth it. We had front row seats and got to cheer on Floyd Landis and company as they sped past – really, they were very, very fast! Since our seats were in the middle of the Champs Elysees, we saw all of the riders 16 times as they made their 8 loops around the street.

Kim got some great pictures following the race of the award podium, too.

We were pooped after watching all that hard work, so we walked just for a bit (taking photos of fantastic views along the way) before taking the Metro across town for dinner.

Blake found a place in his guide book that offered set menus for 12 euro, and since it was supposed to be (according to the book) tourist-free, we were in. We played duck, duck, duck, lamb, salmon for dinner (the duck was nice) and noticed a number of people walking in with the same tour book as Blake.

The next morning, we were geared up to get going and met at Sacre-Coeur in Montmarte, the highest spot in the city. We somehow missed the funicular at the Metro, and ended up walking up lots of stairs (good thing we saved our legs at the Eiffel Tower!).

Sacre-Coeur’s history is still a bit confusing to me, but I do know it is less than 100 years old and is stunning both in structure and views. The crypt at Sacre-Coeur contains some artifacts thought to be sacred, hence the basilica’s name. Those artifacts are what’re confusing. Some sources say a relic some believe to be Jesus’ sacred heart resides there. Others say that a chapel in the basilica's crypt contains the heart of one of the men responsible for building the church.

We spent some time meandering through Montmarte’s street art and admiring the lovely neighborhood before hopping the Metro to Luxembourg Garden, the largest public garden in the city and the garden of the French Senate.

It has a fountain/pond in the middle where kids play with miniature boats and lots of shade to sit under. We rested here for a bit, admired the views and the landscaping, and then walked through the surrounding neighborhood.

From there, we decided to head over to an area called The Marais, which was where the royals lived in the 17^th century and where the Opera de Paris Bastille is located. What a building – imposing. It seemed strange to see such a modern building in the middle of an otherwise historic-seeming area.

Anyway, we lunched at a café across the street from the Opera house and then walked over to Place des Vosges, Paris’ first square. There are nine symmetrical houses built in a square here, with a passage in the middle of each to the center square. To think, duels were once fought here so, of course, Kim and June took a picture. (note from Kim: Erin was referring to the fact that June and I beat up a little boy when we were like 3… not that June and I fought often with each other.)

Next, we headed to the Louvre. There was talk of trying to find a bathroom close to the Mona Lisa with an outward-facing window large enough for Tom Hanks to jump out of, but we never found one. We didn’t spend too much time in the museum because it closed earlier than we thought…and our tootsies were growing tired. We managed to make it back to the Mona Lisa (it’s small), and see the Venus De Milo and Michelangelo’s Dying Slave. There were a few other paintings that were interesting (to someone who knows nothing about art) along the way. One in particular called Italian Wedding Contract caught my eye.

We exited the museum through the glass pyramid and had to stop for more pictures, we were right in the middle of everything.

We stopped briefly to refill our water bottles before finding a gelato stand. Immediately after downing the gelato, we agreed a bottle of wine at a café would hit the spot. So, off we went!

This restaurant is called "Les Bonnes Soeurs" or "The Good Sisters" :) Perfect spot for a picture of the seesters!!

We decided to stop at a corner café close-by, and scouted a table while crossing the street. We walked up to it just as an American woman stepped outside and said she was just about to move there with her family and nabbed it from under our noses. She was a bit self-important about it, so we shrugged it off and sat at the perfectly good table right next to the original. Our perfectly good table had an umbrella, though, so we got our just desserts when the sun started beating on them and their dinners. Perhaps this weekend was an anomaly, what with the Tour going on and the fact that July is a tourist-heavy month in Paris. But I think we heard more English than French on this trip!

After that, we ambled all the way back up Champs Elysees for dinner. It turned out to be a longer walk than expected, but we weren’t short on pretty sights. The Tour gear – seating, railings, etc – hadn’t been cleaned up completely, which made being back in the same spot where we watched the Tour 24 hours later seem strange. It felt like we’d lived – or, at least walked – three days worth since watching those cyclists!

After a short dinner on Champs Elysees, we headed over to a bar/café for various goodies. I ordered a Crepe Surprise, which was supposed to have ice cream and chocolate sauce on it. The surprise is what flavor ice cream you get. My surprise was that my crepe was ice cream and chocolate sauce-free. It was as plain as plain can get. Juan suggested that the ice cream was cooked inside the crepe, so I took a bite and…nope! (note from Kim: We did finally convince the waitress to bring out some chocolate sauce. The waitress was all confused about why Erin would want chocolate. Then, to make things even better, the guy at the table next to us was delivered a huge bowl of ice cream!) June ordered a special drink, though, with a surprise all its own. Strange little marshmallows accompanied the Junebug drink – that’s right, her drink was called the Junebug!

That was about all the excitement we could take, so we called it a night after that and headed to our respective hotels. We were up and at ‘em early the next morning to get to the airport, and got back to La Coruña yesterday evening. Kim and I had a nice day today, relaxing at the apartment and the beach. We’ll do more of that in the next couple of days, I’m sure!