Paris, dimanche et lundi

It's been almost a week since I've had Guinness. That makes me a sad panda. The weather was really nice today. A good thing, except that it made me want to go for a run.
I'm getting a little cabin fever :)

Back to Paris.

I woke up Sunday morning and enjoyed my free breakfast - cornflakes (no milk), bread, and orange juice. Yum. Since I wasn't meeting my first host until five o'clock that day, I signed up for a free walking tour starting outside the hostel. First thing we did on the walking tour was take the metro to St. Micheal's fountain. Apparently, the real tour would start here.

The tour was given in English, so it was pretty easy to meet people. I grabbed a sandwich with some Brazilians and another American. It was a sub sandwich, but with chevre (goat cheese) and chorizo. Quite good. After that, the tour started.


We walked from St. Micheal's Plaza across the Seine to the Ile de la Cite. We didn't see Notre Dame, but we did get a history lesosn on Paris. We crossed Pont Neuf to the other side of the Seine.

You might be able to make out the faces on the bridge above. Apparently, King Henry IV had a party on the bridge after it was completed. A sketch artist had drawn pictures of this. The king liked the pictures enough to commision sculptures of his friends to be placed on the bridge. It's kinda like a facebook for seventeenth-century royalty.

We walked along the Seine some more. It's one of my favorite parts of Paris - it's banks are lined with artists selling their pictures. Touristy? Very. Fun? You bet. After stopping for lunch, we walked around the outside of the Louvre.

The Louvre is absolutely huge - this is just a picture of the one of the walls of the square inner courtyard.

I might not have mentioned this yet, but it was absolutely beautiful weather in Paris almost the whole week. Living in Ireland for the past month, I had pretty much forgotten what sunshine feels like. That week should get me through until I get back :)

After the Louvre, we walked through Jardin de Tuilleries, a beautiful park. There wasn't much grass in the park, which was a tad strange. As were the statues.

It was an odd juxtaposition of classical sculpture right next to these weird alien heads. I liked it.

There was an awesome fountain / pond in the middle. Cymbols covered half the pond, and people (read: tourists) would toss rocks, change, or small children at them.

We next walked through the Place de la Concorde, filled with fountains and statues and the Obelisk. The Obelisk is a little unique among the Egyptian works in Paris. Most things from Egypt were "given" to Napolean after he conquered Egypt. ("This man has conquered our armies, killed our men and our leaders, and was shamed us all. Quick! Give him our national treasures, along with the last of our dignity!") The Obelisk actually was a gift from Egypt. If I remember correctly, it was for returning most of the treasure and artefacts taken from Egypt.

The Place de la Concorde leads directly into the Champs-Elysees. I was a little underwhelmed by this.
Yeah, it looks nice. Further along, there are shops where a jacket sells for more than I make in a year. Needless to say, I didn't do much shopping. The Champs-Elysees ends with the Arc de Triomphe (as did the tour).

Apparently, the roundabout around this is amoung the worst in Europe, with a car crash happening every half hour.

It was almost time to meet up with Christophe, my first host for the week. I hopped on the metro to Montparnasse. This district has Tour Montparnasse, the tallest and most hated building in Paris. After this fifty-story building was erected, laws were passed to stop any more skyscrapers from popping up in the city proper.

It turns out that Christophe was hosting two others for the nights I would be there. Philip and Maeve were a couple from Ireland backpacking their way towards a farm co-op in southern France, where they would spend two months working and practicing their French. We went out for food and drinks. I ordered the "Aussiette de viande froid." Although I knew what it meant (Plate of cold meat), I expected it to be much better than the translation suggested. I was disappointed.

Christophe lives in Saint Cyr, which is a suburb forty minutes away by train. We bought picnic supplies and had a typical French dinner when we got back (wine, bread, cheese, pate). Quite a day.

Monday morning, Philip, Maeve, and I went to a flea market on the East side of Paris. There were all manner stalls, tents, even people with goods on a towel on the ground. Although the market spanned several blocks and a park, I was still unable to find a good hat (the tragic story of my life).

We met up with Christophe for drinks while Philip went to a drumming class. I had a few good Belguim beers and good times. Afterwards, we did a little shopping and went back to Saint Cyr. Maeve and I made some potato / tomato stew along with red pepper and wilted spinach. We hung out with Christophe and his roommates again that night, listened to some music, and fell asleep once more.