Well, we
were planning to be on time but with Harper that's pretty much impossible. (Harper:
Hey this time it wasn't my fault!!!!) We
got to Temple Meads Train Station with only minutes until our train was
supposed to leave. We ran to the Platform only to hear the whistle blow
signaling no more passengers were to board. The next train to London wasn't for
another hour but we asked the platform attendant the fastest way and he had us
board a train that went a few miles to Bristol Parkway where we could board
another train to London. So we ended up leaving in 30 minutes instead of an
hour, which was good because we arrived at Victoria Coach Station and were the
last people to be checked in for our bus to Paris that was already running late!
Our
overnight bus ride proved to not be particularly restful. We ended up on a
coach that was full of Russians (in there 20's) who were very loud, laughing
their way to Dover. It was a relief to get onto the ferry from Dover to Calais
because we got a brief break from the loud Russians. The ferry however rocked
more than any seagoing vessel I have ever been on, which was surprising since
it was so large and the water didn't look particularly choppy. So we had
restless sleep on the Ferry until Calais where we got back on the bus, luckily
most of the Russians had quieted down some and we did get some sleep between
Calais and Paris.
|
Looking at part of the line from the top |
It took us
a few minutes to get oriented upon our arrival at the coach station but we soon
found a Metro and headed straight for Le Tour Eiffel. The Eiffel Tower isn't
quite as tall as we imagined it but it was still incredible just to be there.
We waited in line for about an hour and half -which was pretty good considering
the tower hadn't even opened yet for the first half hour of our wait- and
finally reached the ticket window. Much to our disappointment the top of the
tower was closed! We were baffled; apparently due to some technical issues only
a
few people who had pre-purchased tickets were allowed to go to the top. So we
bought tickets for the second floor of the tower, which saved us quite a bit of
money, and we still got the feel of being at the Eiffel Tower (not to mention
that we rode a double-decker elevator!) The best part of the Eiffel Tower was
probably taking the stairs back down to the bottom though, you feel so
vulnerable climbing down stairs from so high up in the open air. After that
many steps you get a weird condition that we have now named TMSS (Too Many
Stairs Syndrome) which gives you shaky legs for hours afterwards. We have
definitely climbed enough stairs in the past few months to know for sure that
this affliction is real!
From the
Eiffel Tower we got on the Metro and made a quick trip to L'Arc Du Triumphe on
Les Champs Elysèes. It was quite a regal monument but we decided to save our
money and not climb it since we had just gone up the Eiffel Tower (and there
was a very long line to climb it). So after claiming that we had 'Been There'
we got back on the Metro and went to the Louvre.
The Louvre
was enormous! We had no idea where to start so we randomly progressed through
hallway after hallway of famous artwork. Eventually we came upon the Mona Lisa,
which we both agreed was not very impressive and should not be as famous as it
is, there are hundreds and hundreds of better paintings from the same time
period in the Louvre. We moved from Italian artists towards French painters and
came across
La Libertè guidant le peuple (Liberty
guiding the people) which appears on the cover of Coldplay's Viva La Vida (and
happens to be one of my [Dakota's] favorite paintings). After looking at room
after room of paintings we progressed towards the Venus de Milo which like the
Mona Lisa was no better than any other statue in our opinion. But now we can
say we saw it! The Louvre was so enormous that there were thousands of people
in it but it was easy to be the only person looking at a picture, often times there
were no more than 15 people in a room. After seeing about as much artwork as we
could handle we made our way to Napoleon III's Apartments, which were more
lavish than anything we have ever seen. There were crystal chandeliers hanging
in every room and numerous velvet lounges, we were quite impressed. After
another hour or so wandering aimlessly about the Louvre admiring artwork we
made our way back out and headed to Notre Dame.
|
The creepiest gargoyle |
|
Coming out of the bellfry |
After seeing
as many churches as we have this semester, the inside of Notre Dame was not particularly
special. The greatest things were probably that the ceiling was taller and the
stained glass was very elaborate. Climbing the towers of Notre Dame was much
more impressive than anything inside. After hundreds of steps we came up on a
balcony and stood amongst the famous Gargoyles, many of which are very creepy
looking while others aren't so much, such as an elephant and a stork. We moved
on through a very short and narrow entrance in to the belfry and stood next to
an absolutely enormous bell and then went back out and descended the tower,
after which we got TMSS again. From Notre Dame we walked further down the
island and made a special point to cross Pont Neuf since it is such a famous
bridge (and was of extra interest to me since I just read The Three Musketeers
in which it is a very important landmark).
|
Yummy sausages for lunch! |
|
Dakota by Pont Neuf |
From there
we took the Metro and found our way to our hotel. After checking in we went to
a grocery store and bought some bread and cheese for dinner. The cheese was
spectacular! It was called pié d'Angloy which was a soft cheese with a flavour
best described as yum! We wrapped up the evening amusing ourselves watching an
episode of Monk in French.
|
Our boom boom bracelets |
The next
morning we made our way to Sacre Cœur (yet another church) situated high on a
hill. As we went to climb the steps to the church some street vendors took a
liking to us. We tried our best to avoid them, repeating no thank you and
trying to walk away but it was futile. They grabbed our hands and slipped a
string over one of each of our fingers and proceeded to make bracelets, we
tried to slip away but we were stuck, the only way out would have been to beat
them off! So we gave in and the men were from Senegal and told us that hakuna
mattata (which you may recognize from the lion king) was from their language
and that we would have good Juju and that I would have 3 kids and the guy
making Harper's bracelet said she would have 5! (a little concerned about this
discrepancy!) However they proceeded to bless us and told us that we 'will have
good boom boom, you know what I mean by boom boom?' Well after scraping by
paying the Africans 5 Euros we hurried up the mount avoiding other vendors at
all costs!
We did a
quick walk through of the church and then went to a separate entrance to view
the crypt and climb the basilica. The crypt was rather dull so we didn't spend
much time down there and progressed to the stairs up to the basilica. The climb
to the Basilica was neat because it was a combination of indoor and outdoor
stair climbing. We went up a spiral staircase inside, then went outside and
climbed stairs that followed the roof of the church and then went back inside
to another spiral staircase up to the cupola. It was neat climbing so many
monuments because you can see all of the other places you have been or are
going once you get up to the top.
After descending the stairs back to the
bottom (and another case of TMSS) we wandered down the surrounding streets
looking in shops and then headed back down the mount. At the bottom of the
stairs we were confronted once again by African street vendors but we came
prepared and had our hands clenched. One man grabbed me and was trying to get
me to buy a bracelet but I escaped by saying 'No, I already have one' and then
he changed completely and thanked me and shook my hand instead. They are very
persistent! From there we headed to the Moulin Rouge since it was so close. So
we walked over in front of it and said 'saw it' and headed back to the Metro
and took it to the Catacombes.
The
Catacombes were definitely a highlight of our adventure. We waited in line for
about an hour before we got the entrance, but it was well worth the wait. We
got in for half the price because we were between 14 and 26, which is always nice,
and then we descended a long spiral staircase deep into the earth. When we
reached the bottom (and recovered from TMSS again!) we reached a series of dark
narrow passageways. We walked for quite a ways and were pretty edgy because
there were dark side corridors with iron gates over them which were scary just
because they were in the unknown. After nearly half a mile of walking down
these old mine passages we came across a sign over a passage that said
Arrête!
C'est ici l'Empire de la Mort (Stop! This is the empire of the dead)
which made it even creepier. We entered and saw the walls of the tunnels lined
with femurs and skulls stacked up next to each other, the rest of the bones
were piled in a heap behind them. We walked for about a mile through collection
after collection of bones from throughout the city.
If it wasn't enough walking
through walls of dead people some of the skulls bore the marks of murder,
execution and torture, some had obvious bullet holes in them, others had knife
or sword cuts into the skull, and still others had holes that had been drilled
into them. An interesting study in anatomy and crime and punishment, but
certainly not a light hearted trek! There are supposed to be more than 6
million bodies that were removed from cemeteries around Paris because the
bodies were piling up so much they were causing health problems. (Oops, got a
strange disease from a dead body at church today!) Throughout the tunnels there
were also quotes from poetry and books that referred to death, which were
disturbing and certainly put one on edge (and made me feel that my courses in
French had finally paid off). After about an hour and a half in dark tunnels
deep under the city we climbed yet another spiral staircase to the exit, where
our bags were searched to be sure we weren't stealing bones! EWW!
Upon
exiting we realized we had just walked about two miles underground so we had no
clue where we were! (And it wasn't even on our map!) So we wandered down some
streets until we found a Metro, where we were able to navigate back to our
hotel. Then we went out to eat at a restaurant we found just down the street.
Our waiter thought it was quite amusing that we shared our meals and so he
laughed and joked to us every time he passed by. We ordered l'escargots (just
because we were in Paris) and a veal dish. It was by far some of the most
savoury dishes I have ever had! The escargots were actually really good, they
were broiled in garlic and tasted and had the same texture as mussels (meaning
Harper didn't like them too much). For dessert we had some very delectable
crème brûlée. We spent more than an hour
in the little French restaurant and enjoyed ourselves very much; the prices
were great except for the bottle of water which cost us 6 Euro! We ran back to
the hotel in pouring rain and watched the Simpsons in French, Marge sounds even
worse in French than in English!
The next
morning we took the metro to the bus station and boarded our bus, which only
had about 15 people this time and was much quieter! We bussed to Calais where
we got on a ferry to Dover. We were excited to see the white cliffs of Dover
and were quite surprised to see them from Calais! Of course they got bigger as
we sailed across the channel, but they are definitely visible from France, we
had no idea! From there we bussed into London and took our train back to
Bristol, where we made a delicious late dinner of burgers and French fries (I
guess I should say chips) at 11:30 at night!