Monmartre Str.
Sacre-Coeur Church
Place du Tertre
Moulin Rouge
Opéra National de Paris
Tuileries Gardens
Avenue des Champs-Elysees
Arc de Triomphe
Tour Eiffel
Les Invalides
Musée du Louvre
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Rue de Rivoli
La Défense
Du Château de Versailles
Fragonard Parfume Museum
Choosing my favorite is not an option. Each place brought different emotions and and different memories. I took a trip to Paris on a Russian tour bus. So yes, that most certainly brought a spark of excitement and oddity to the already wondrous prospect of traveling to Paris, France! My first hour in the city, I didn't even catch one glance of the Eiffel Tower and I began to get irritated thinking that it should be more obvious to see. But as I was walking down from Sacre-Coeur I glanced through a gate and there it was! Off in the distance, and hard to see through the mist from the rain but nevertheless, still in sight. Unfortunately, the woman in me came out and I began to cry. Such times are when I wish I had less emotion. Crying on the street because of some man made building is extremely pitiful. After recovering my sanity, I continued walking and basking in the art displayed through every corner of my vision. Gold. So much gold. Gold intermixed with dark and light stones, making it shine all the brighter in comparison. The whole time I walked through the streets, whether fighting the urge to say yes to the Frenchmen in berets asking to paint my portrait, studying the detail of the architecture, or taking in the smell of the rain and the sound of the city, I thought in my head, "Katie. Mom. I want them here with me."
Later in the evening, Olga and I bought a bottle of champagne and took a train down to the Eiffel Tower. It was around 11pm and the lights of the city were sparkly and magical. Every so often, the Eiffel Tower would begin to blink and glitter. We found a lovely viewing spot, popped open the champagne bottle and enjoyed a glorious moment together! I truly will not forget that 30 seconds of my life. When we were getting close to finishing our champagne, some Frenchmen came up and asked us for drugs. Telling people to leave you alone in France doesn't seem to have much of an effect. After talking with them for a few moments (at least trying) we managed to escape. I actually found it very exciting because my mom always talked about her crazy Frenchmen stories and I was glad to experience it! Unfortunately, it only got crazier from then on. We walked around the city for quite some time, taking photos, being silly and wandering through the Christmas market buying cheese and chocolate and those sorts of goodies. There was an entire stand filled with cheese and they would shove slices of cheese into your welcoming hands to sample. I definitely sampled almost every kind so I was too full to pay for any. It's quite a convenient shopping method. Eventually, we decided to head to the Metro since our tour guide told us it closed at 1am. Under the city in the metro, there are those spinning security wheels (I don't know the name!) and you could not push through them unless you inserted a ticket. Well, I took a glance around, looked at Olga and said, "just do it." Her eyes got a bit wider, but then she obliged me and crawled under the security. I followed suit, then we looked at each other and began to laugh. No one even noticed us! We continued through the passageways and found the name of the area we needed to get to. The problem was, there was a giant gate shutting us out from the corridor. I looked it up and down for a moment (it looked exactly like the gates in Titanic!) then walked over and pressed a button on the wall. Yes, that was very stupid of me. The gate opened and we walked through to the other side. Then the gate closed on it's own. We walked to our railway track and waiting for a few minutes. We started to get nervous because no one else was waiting for this train. It was dark and quiet and a little bit frightening to be honest. A woman's voice came over the speakers and announced something in French. We almost freaked out but then she began to translate in English. Once we realized what she said we decided it was good to freak out. The trains had been shut down for the evening and we were officially stuck in the middle of Paris with no way of getting to our hotel, miles away. Thinking it couldn't get worse, we decided to get out of the Metro and into the city to consider our options. Walking back to the gate, I realized there was no button on this side of the wall. I stood there for a moment, then grabbed the gate and shook it for a few moments to calm myself. This seemed to make things worse though. We searched for exits to no avail. As we walked up some stairs I saw a sleeping bag with a man curled up inside it. I actually laughed because it fit so perfectly into our scenario. Trapped under the city of Paris in an empty, creepy and silent metro with dark passages and a homeless man in a sleeping bag. Honestly. Finally we found a glass door and began banging and yelling for help. A few guys sauntered over and leered at us for a few moments before opening the door for us. Breathing in the fresh air everything felt better. We still had not solved the problem of getting to our hotel at 2 in the morning. The Lord blessed us with a kind older couple who spoke a little English, and the managed to find us a taxi amidst the endless honking of car horns and people shouting to keep moving. it was insane! Despite the money needed to pay for the taxi, we were so thankful to be safe and after the initial shock of the evening, we smiled about the Parisian memory we had just made together. Nothing will stick in your mind like creepy, locked Paris metros. All day on Sunday we walked through museums and my feel almost fell off. I saw so much breathtaking art that captured so much emotion, despite the stillness of the painting. After looking at the Mona Lisa for about a minute, I gave her a smirk and walked away to enjoy the many other pieces of art.
I came home from my weekend in Paris and caught up on sleep for an entire week. It truly wore me out but in the best of ways. Now I am continuing my studies, working, and preparing for Christmas. I have had more glum moments in this past week then usual, but where are the swell times without some sad ones? At this moment, the wind is howling and the rain is pouring. I happen to love it. The sound of it on the windows lasted all through the night. It makes me feel extra snuggly in my bed. Then I start to miss Boogie because she would let me snuggle with her! I baked some cookies this morning and thought about how soon Devan will be here and how much culture she will be a part of. I am so excited for her. I miss a few things from the states and I will state them now, just for fun. I miss real brown sugar, good peanut butter, pumpkin pie, free bathroom usage, tap water, and almond milk. I realize that most of that is food related, but then again, what isn't food related? Food is just so great.
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