TravLog 01-11-05

Summit closed
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

Travlog 1/11/05
Paris: CLOSED
Awoke early, had a spongebath in the sink in attempt to conserve hot water for Vivi. Unfortunately, the method did not conserve time, so we started out a little behind schedule. Took all my tonnage (why, oh why so much champagne!!) to the train station with a major assist from Vivi. Got to Paris around 9:45 a.m. On the map, it didn't look that far to the hostel. The metros would take us there with not a lot of traveling above ground. In reality, we had to go up and down more sets of steps than I could count, dragging my big suitcase, 2 carry-on sized bags, my backpack, and both our purses. Bulky coats and scarves completed the ensembles.
At the hostel, we couldn't get into our room yet, so we had to put the bags in the luggage room. Down in the cellar. Again with the steps! We simply trusted that karma would see to it that nothing was stolen from our bags in the communal luggage room. That, plus the fact that I knew something a would-be thief didn't: once my suitcase got opened, it'd take several large people to close it again.
Walking out of the hostel, carrying just my purse, I felt like a new woman, but one with a sore back. We headed out in the directions to see something I'd been psyched for MONTHS to see: Les Catacombes. When we got there, there was a sign on the door saying they were closed until May. I was SO upset. There was just a small paper sign on the little door. There should have been billboards, or notification upon arrival at CDG airport, or at least some guy there handing out Kir Royales to all of the upset touristes who travelled all this way ("Nous pardonnez, mesdames. Nous sommes fermes pour une tres long time. Ici est l'alcool pour to drown votre sorrows in."). Instead, we sampled the Royale with Cheese at the MickeyD's across from the Cluny Museum. I have never seen a McDonald's so packed.
After lunch, we headed to the Cluny, or the National Museum of the Middle Ages. It. Was. Closed. while I stood there, staring at the sign with my mouth agape, watching my entire trip to France fade away into dust, Vivi exclaimed defiantly: "Let's go to the damn top of the Eiffel Tower!!!"
What an absolutely lovely thing to say.
So off we went, determined to find something in Paris that wasn't closed. And then, the top of the Eiffel Tower...was closed. At this point we just had to laugh. Kinda like Tom Hanks in The Money Pit when he falls through the floor and gets stuck in the carpet. click it. you know you want to. Fortunately, the first and second stages were open, so we went up to see what we could. I sent possibly the cheesiest email ever from the 2nd level (Eiffel has i-net access. who'da thunk?), bought very silly souvenirs at the gift shop (I think I was just giddy over finding something that wasn't closed), saw the tower exhibits and a temporary ice-skating rink on the first level. I think if our shins and knees weren't shot from all the lugging of the suitcases (so THAT's why they call it LUGgage), we would have attempted the ice-skating, just to say we did, but as it was, just looking at the skaters made my legs ache. Well, that plus walking down all the steps because the elevators were so full.
Came back to the hostel, wrestled our bags up to our room, and bemoaned our increasing age and infirmity. The other people here have bags at least as big as mine, and I haven't heard one complaint from them. When did I get so old? A quick freshen up, and then we headed out to get some dinner and some books in English from Shakespeare and Co. We decided to dine in the Latin Quarter at a place called Mythos. That is a story unto itself (for Vivi's impressions, click here).

We wandered around Notre Dame, all lit up at night, and we noticed that there is a crypte underneath the square in front of Notre Dame where they've excavated and found the remains of several civilizations all on top of each other. Of course, it was CLOSED, but we expected that, because it was late at night by that point. We'll head there tomorow, though.

By this point, we were pretty knackered, so we headed back to the hostel, where we hung out for a bit, met travelers from Boston, New Zealand, Australia, London, Taiwan, and Argentina. Not a bad way to end the day.