A meeting in Paris

When a friend from home told me she was going to Paris, I figured it was the perfect excuse for buying a ticket to go myself. Plus, how fun would it be to meet a friend in Paris of all places?

As it turns out, it was a lot of fun.

On the Champs-Élysées with the Arc de Triomphe in clear sight, we met Stacy and her sister Susie for dinner at an outdoor café along the street. There we had good food, interesting conversation, and great company.

Stacy said she got by on one semester of middle school French. As you can see, that didn’t get us too far as she was tempted to through a wafer at our waiter to get his attention when the wine ran out.

After our meal we went around to see the sights at night. Being harassed by the local vendors trying to sell Eiffel Tower key chains or those who wanted to take our pictures with their Polaroids only added to the culture of it all.

It was so nice to see someone from home. Stacy brought me all the good gossip from my Richmond folks who I miss even if I get to talk to them on IM almost daily, and even offered to force them to send me handwritten notes which I anxiously await.

I think all reunions/dinner dates should take place in Paris. If anyone is interested, let me know!

 

Shiny Happy People

One of the more intriguing parts of Paris was the people of the city. People watching is great in this city and with parks and squares, opportunities are limitless to sit back and enjoy observing the Parisian lifestyle.

One of our first stops was Notre Dame. The square in front of this cathedral was packed full of tourists and gypsies. While both of these can be found here in Prague, the tourists seemed to be more varied from places around the world and the gypsies more aggressive.

This man was teaching children how to hold bread just so to attract birds to eat right out of their palms.

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The long grassy area beneath the Eiffel Tower was an ideal place to spend an afternoon. What better place to sit in the sun and gaze up at one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks? Everyone from kids playing soccer, to grandparents walking with grandkids, to newlyweds could be found taking in this breath taking site.

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The opposite direction of this pic is the Eiffel Tower. This, I heard, is some sort of military building?

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This was the cutest site as the little guy would run around kicking his ball, grandpa would try to chase him, and grandma would try to capture it all with a picture. I was nervous that grandpa was going to keel over and grandma almost tripped to the ground as she tried to follow the movement by peering through her camera viewer as she spun around to get the perfect shot.

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Some newlyweds took what must only be some of the coolest wedding pictures ever between dodging soccer balls and cropping the little girls admiring her dress out of the shot.

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My favorite place, by far, was Luxembourg Gardens. It was a huge park in the middle of the city that was set up with chairs for everyone’s use. The French made a lovely afternoon by gathering with their friends, eating, and drinking and enjoying the atmosphere. After snagging some of the much sought after lounging chairs, Anna and I joined in–when in Paris…

Oh to be a Queen and have this be your backyard! On this day I caught a group of guys asking to measure the chests of the woman in this group- perhaps a bachelor party? Also, popular, kids pushing their boats around the pond, a centuries old tradition.

 

Heaven in France

Sorry for the delay. Been in kind of a mind meld this week.  Guess Paris was just too serene and I haven’t quite snapped out of it yet.

I have stories, but tonight I will leave you with pictures since I still can’t pull myself together to write anything proper.  Pictures of beautiful, lovely, clean, peaceful Paris:

Notre Dame was a beautiful building with a courtyard full of tourists and begging gypsies– I pretended to speak Czech in order to avoid being harassed by the latter.

The inside of the Notre Dame Cathedral was amazing. Hundreds of people walking through didn’t distract from the beautiful voices of the teenaged choir singing to what I assume were family members, but which resonated throughout the church.

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Walking along the River Seine with stands selling everything from paintings, to vintage records, to postcards.

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The buildings and architecture everywhere were a sight to seem, even if we didn’t make it inside them.

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My first glimpse at the Eiffel Tower gave me chills.  This is a landmark that is world known, seen in movies and read about in stories…it was surreal to be standing right in front of it!

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Arc de Triomphe at the top of Champs-Élysées.  Biggest flag I have ever seen.  Best viewed right around sunset.

The Louvre.  A beautiful square, but sadly I can’t tell you what is inside as we didn’t go!

More pics and stories to come.  I promise!!

 

Oh, why does it have to be Monday?

Bonjour!

Mondays are bad. But, Mondays after a way-too-fast-weekend in Paris are the worst!

Paris was absolutely wonderful.

I can’t even get creative to tell you about it now. I knew it was going to be good, but really, I had no idea how good.

I have lots of stories to share (and as you know I will) but for now, I will leave you with the sparkling Eiffel to help you get through your Monday.

Au revoir!

(Wow! That was difficult and I can’t even get it right side up. Sorry, but to add to the stress of Monday you are going to have to tilt your head to see 19 seconds of the Eiffel sparkling like a diamond! Yeah, that is all there is.  Feel free to stop after about 5 seconds of it…)

 

Guess where I will be…

…in 2 days?!?!?!?!?

No, not dead.

But, instead, visiting the grave site of a man I was obsessed with in my teens:

Is it wrong that this is what I am looking forward to seeing most in the lovely city of Paris??