Paris , Day 1

Paris 12-31-04 121
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

Well, fasten your seatbelts, folks. This is gonna be a long post.

Starting with:

8am USA (2pm France) - wake up, shower, have coffee, get ready to leave.

10am USA (4pm France) - depart for airport. Kiss boyfriend at curb, then begin long wait for departure. Tried out new wireless card, and felt far too smug for my own good. Saw a friend at the gate that said the local paper had nice things to say about me. Ego became unmanageable.

1:40-ish USA (7:40-ish pm France) the 11:15 plane departs. woman beside me on the plane decides to gripe to me about her flight delays and inconvenience. Glad I'm relaxed and open to changes in travel plans - at least, for the moment.

3-ish pm USA ( 9pm-ish (France) - arrive Atlanta, no wireless. Drown sorrows in a plate of Popeye's popcorn shrimp. It is not lost on me that this could be my last Sprite for the next two weeks.

5:30-ish - ATL - switched to a window seat on the very last row on the plane. Sat next to a young Spanish (?) man. We didn't have much to say to each other. Watched the Bourne Supremacy while trying to get some sleep. Took one Tylenol PM, then a second. Eventually, it worked and I slept for about 3 hours on the plane. These three hours made all the difference.

2am USA ( 8am France) arrive Paris - claim baggage, meet Vivi & Steph, and head into the city. Took the Metro to Notre Dame, oo'd and aah'd at the big crowds, decided to eat instead of waiting two hours to get in. The rest is a bit of a blur, so here's what I remember in no particular order:

* Shakespeare & Co. - bookstore, books lining the walls floor to ceiling, mostly written in English so Vivi now has something to feed her book addiction
* the Louvre - we only had about an hour, so we couldn't see much. We went in the Denon section hoping to see at least the Mona Lisa, but they had closed the section by the time we got to her. Saw instead some medieval sculptures, Roman mosaics, Paintings by Fra Angelico and others, and theWinged Victory of Simothrace. So, not a wasted trip at all.
* Ile de la Cite and Ile St. Louis - the islands in the Seine. My favorite was Ile St Louis, for its - and this is going to sound stupid and cliched - charming and idiosychratic buildings and shops. I hope we get to go back there on the 12th so I can check out those shops a little more closely.
* La Marais - just north and on the other side of the Seine from Ile St Louis. Another really cool area, similar to Ile St Louis.
* Galaries Lafayette - I wanted to see the display of all the lights before they took them down on Jan 1. They put lights on the front of the building (like a big mall) in a beautiful pattern.
* Montmarte & Sacre Coeur - this is the mountain to the north end of Paris, and the Basilica that sits atop it. It's also an area of Paris that used to be popular with the "starving artists," but now is very expensive and chic to live in. If I were rich or chic, I think I would like to live there too.
* Quick - the only "fast food" chain in France other than McDonald's - since I know you're curious, I had the chicken curry sandwich. McD's could learn a thing or two.
* Champion - to buy champagne. We and everyone else in Paris waited to do this until the last minute.
* Then la Seine again, this time to stay. We staked out a spot just on the opposite side of the river from the Eiffel Tower, and waited the remaining hour and a half or so until the clock struck twelve. Only, there really wasn't a clock nearby, so we didn't hear it strike, and the Tower didn't do anything for the nine seconds leading up to 12:00:00. What it did do, and what it does every hour on the hour, is glitter and sparkle for the first ten minutes of the hour. It really is quite lovely, and I got several tiny movies of it with my camera. We drank our champagne from the bottle and exclaimed "Bonne Annee!" to anyone who was nearby. By that time the sky had cleared up, the moon was rising, and though cold, it was a beautiful night. I am glad that I was able to be here for the ringing in of the New Year, and that my friends were willing to do it (and brave a very crowded Paris) with me.
* On the way back to the car, we had to take the Metro, along with Everyone Else In Paris. The first stop had about 500 people waiting to catch the train, so we decided to walk to the next one. It was quite a bit better, but we still had to wait to catch the train, as every car that came by was so packed that not a single person else would fit on it. Finally, after about the 4th or 5th train came by, we found one that had enough room on it for the three of us. Then we were on the inside of the sardine can. In our car, just within about a two-foot radius of me, were 2 Italians, one Argentinians, and a Turk. The Frenchman and other American in my party were about 4 feet, or about 6 people away from me. Thankfully, everyone was in good spirits, and instead of fighting or complaining, just kept saying, "Bonne Anneeee!"

By the time we got back to the car, then drove back to Steph and Vivi's house, it was after 4 am. I had been awake for about 35 of the last 38 hours. Not a bad first day, if you ask me.



So anyway, there it is. My first day in France. For more pictures, just click on the one above. I'll write more about my trip when I can, and keep uploading pics as I can take them.