Paris Tour Guide

Today started off with us gals just hanging out and relaxing. We talked about what we would like to do over breakfast - Melissa and Sam had granola bars; I had Honey Nut Cheerios. We left my place around noon. We had to pass by the Assemblee Nationale in order to get across the river. It is heavily guarded and in a very quiet area about a block from my building.
We crossed over the Pont de la Concorde to take some pictures of the Seine River. It was so amazing, but I can't imagine sunrise. It must be unreal. This is a view looking west towards the Eiffel Tower and Pont Alexandre III.I had to take them to the Place de la Concorde where Marie Antoinette was killed as well as many others. You can also see the Champs Elysses as well as Tuileries from the center. Here is a picture of one of the fountains which happens to be the one from Devil Wears Prada for all of you girly movie buffs.Afterwards we headed north to see Madeleine. It is under construction right now, but still just as beautiful. We reminesced about our times as La Madeleine in Dallas and if we were there today, we would eat...Mmmmm. On to see the Moulin Rouge. We walked quite a way and passed some markets and passed an ironic sculpture/statue at Saint Lazare. Ironic because we all know how the French are; not the most prompt people. I am not sure if this is a statement of their refusal to be ruled by the clock or that time is of the essence and we should always take out time and enjoy life. Hmmm. The Moulin Rouge was just a few blocks away. I love the movie, I must admit. The soundtracks sends chills up my spine and I sing it wholeheartedly alone. It's not the nicest area by any means, but it does offer some great eateries and souvenir shops.We were walking towards the crosswalk and I couldn't help but notice this beautiful and very French elderly woman. Oh she was so chic. Brightly dressed, for sure, but chic. Just check out her shoes!By this time, our tummies were hungry. We looked around for a while and stumbled upon this creperie. We took our seats and checked out the menu. I helped the gals say "poulet" and "fromage" so that they could order their own meals. We were fully French and ordered them, but the guy still had to say "quoi" a few times. There was no way we looked American, come on! Sam and Melissa got the Poulet et Fromage Crepe and I ordered the Jambon et Fromage Crepe. It was quite a bit of food, but very appetizing. We questioned for a while how we should pay..."Does he bring us the ticket?" or "Do we walk up there and pay?"...so we just sat for a good 20 minutes because we had no idea what the protocol was. The waiter finally brought the ticket and we were out of there.

We walked across the street to Monoprix so that I could grab a new plan since mine disappeared. It's a life line to a new resident of Paris. I have felt lost without one for these last few days. I asked Melissa if she had any pregnant friends because the baby clothes there were cheap and very French. She was quite excited. I wanted to buy some too, but I don't really have a reason. I just like really small miniature things. Like small dogs, small apartments, but I like big sofas. I think I am off track...sorry.

The markets in this area are very unique. Each one is different and about every country in the world is represented. This is where I have found the cheapest fabric and most likely place you will lose your purse. Over the rooftops we saw Sacre Coeur and headed that way. It's amazing. Through all the dirtiness, you see this pristine structure. A carousel was at the bottom along with a store a cafe. People were everywhere, just hanging out on the lawn, just soaking up the day and the Paris atmosphere. We climbed stairs for days. Once we got to the top, we had the most tremendous view of the city. It was breathtaking.The entrance of the chapel was so detailed. I wish I knew all of the stories behind it, but hope to learn it all soon. Sam and Melissa went inside. I stayed to take pictures, knowing that I will be able to go inside later.On our way down people were approaching us to buy souvenirs or for money or any other random thing you can think of. Well I kind of lost it at one point. This man walked towards us and I said "Non merci" and I said it nicely. Well, Sam being a sweet soul and a sucker, he probably saw her potential. I heard him say something to her and I looked back and noticed he was holding her hand and trying to tie some sort of string on her finger. I flipped out because we said "Non, merci", just respect us buddy! So I went up to him and yelled "Excuse moi!" and grabbed his hand and threw it off of hers. He looked at me and said "Hey, take it easy..." The three of us girls preceded to laugh without ceasing for the next five minutes because of my rage.

On our way to the cemetary, I knew of the Abbessess Metro. It has an ornate entrance that is definitely photo worthy. However, just to keep you on your toes, I am not going to post a picture of it. There was, however, another carousel next to it and it made me think of Penny Whistle Park that I always got to go to if I got good grades in elementary school. It's now an autoparts store. And also just the most quiet, typical Parisian buildings and alleyways.We continued on and passed one of my favorite quaint shops. There was nothing in there that I wanted, but I liked it all. The Montmartre Cemetary was our next stop. It's really neat because it is actually under a bridge and continues on up hills. I have never seen sepulchers...ones with doors that you walk in with alters. We even saw one from a person, named Constance (not my birth name but I bet they called her Connie), that had died in the late 1800s. There were fresh flowers and candles in there. Someone still loves here, and it has to be someone that never met her. Amazing. By this time, we were pretty pooped. It was about 5:15 and a break and some H2O sounded good to our systems. We took the metro back to my place and rest. Dinner plans were in the air, but I remembered this great falafel place and wanted the girls to try it. Back on the metro, we take a few trains and finally land at Saint-Michel. I take a few wrong turns, but we get to see the coolest parts of Paris at night. The restaurants that range from Chinese, to Greek, to French, to gross stuff. Each place has a person standing outside trying to get potential customers to come try their food. It's like this big competition to see who has the best line to get people in. At one point this woman said to me, "Come on in, we have snails." Melissa cracked up and said that I missed the woman's hand motions of putting both hands near the top her head holding up two fingers...actually immitating a snail. Nice. After about twenty minutes of walking, I finally found the falafel stop. We order and I am pretty sure the lady didn't like me. I didn't do anything to make her not like me, so I am kind of clueless. We each get the same thing and take our food to Notre Dame just across the river. It was the first time for both Sam and Melissa to eat falafel. We found a seat, which I would like to say was the best seat in the house.We sat for a while after finishing our food, just to soak it all in. Sammies got a little antzy and wanted to move on to the next thing. There happened to be this really funny guy behind us that kept making the oddest noises. One resembled a Muppet, another was like the spanish tongue roll, and the third was a crow that goes "CAH CAH CAH!" We have no idea what he was doing but he looked very normal. We walk back down the busy streets and found a patisserie to buy some desserts. The chocolate eclairs were calling our names. We grabbed them and hopped on the metro to Ecole Militaire. It's not too far from my place and just across from the Eiffel Tower. We walked through Champ de Mars and overhead a couple guys speaking English so we stopped them to ask if they could take a picture of the three of us. They were from Los Angeles and very kind and almost conversational. It was actually the first picture we have taken all together. We walked further to get a little closer to the Eiffel Tower before we sat down to eat our eclairs. We took a few more pictures and I just hoped that we would see the Eiffel sparkle before we left. Right when I wished it for the 17th time, it happened! The first picture is it when it's regularly lit, and the second is showing it when it is sparkling. It is somewhat like a Christmas tree with lights that blink. The picture was actually taken from where we were sitting down eating our dessert, so that was our view while we just relaxed in the Paris atmosphere.I will say that I have never been so annoyed in my time in Paris than when these men with champagne, wine, beer, and glowing Eiffel Tower statues walked around to us asking if we would like to buy some. It was about every 45 seconds. This is absolutely no exaggeration. I was really rude, I must admit, but they wouldn't let us have peace. The guy in a lime green Polo shirt came over three times...I loudly said no. Melissa said that I don't have to become French in this respect, I could still be nice. I don't agree, they were really annoying.

Cafe de Champ de MarsAfter a bit, we walked back to my place. It was a gorgeous night with amazing weather. The breeze was perfect as well. We had to pass by Invalides to get back. Here are some of my first pictures of my next door neighbor. I couldn't fit it all into one picture, so I got the highlights. You can't see the cannons, which are the coolest part, but these are still better than something that you would take in Downtown Dallas or Stillwater, Oklahoma. We arrived back and discussed more of our week. We were exhausted so postponed the talk till tomorrow morning. Normandy plans are getting more difficult, but we are really going to try and make it happen.