If you have been reading my blog from the time of its inception, then you are aware that Wednesdays are my longest working day of the week, 12:00-8:00pm. I will give you time to roll your eyes. Alright, well I feel like Winter had us holed up inside preventing us from exploring Paris. I wanted the first Wednesday of Spring to be a good one.
I told Zac last night that I would take him out for lunch instead of making something at the house. He asked where. I told him about the wonder of Subway, the glorious magnificence of it, in all its perfection. He seemed skeptical, but willing. I remembered that there was one across the street from Notre Dame and asked if he would want to go to that one. He gasped. Loudly, he exclaimed that he had never seen it before. I had a hard time believing that a little Parisian boy had never seen Notre Dame in all his seven year of life. Well friends, it's true.
I picked up the overenthusiastic lad at noon, raced him through the metro on line 10, all the way to Cluny/La Sorbonne. We walked up the stairs on Saint Michel and took a little leisurely walk through my favorite part of town, especially at night. We walked through the narrow streets that smelled of paninis, gyros, pastries, crepes, falafel, ice cream, and cigarette smoke. Once we emerged onto a main road, Notre Dame was in view. He saw it and remembered that he did know what it looked like. He had seen it in pictures.
We made it to Subway only to find a long line which gave us some extra time to decide on our order. I gave Zac a menu and he seemed extremely overwhelmed with all the choices. Once we made it to the front he said he wanted white bread with saucisson. The man told him hurriedly that he would need to choose an exact sandwich. Poor Zac. He just said "Ok, meatball". You know what I was thinking, right? This is the child that should be the poster child for color safe bleach. We finally made it through the line with our sandwiches, cookies, and Coca Light. No chips, only cookies. Seriously, how does Subway run out of chips?
We found a little table and had a good ole time. I tucked two napkins in his shirt some that a meatball might see that it wouldn't have any luck in destroying his shirt. Zac lifted the six-inch sub very slowly and went in for the kill. I could tell from that first bite that he found a new love in Subway. He ate his faster than I did. He said "Connie, it is sooo good, so good!" around 27 times. Miraculously he did not get any on himself, just his hands and cheeks (which I didn't wash off as you can see in the pictures). While he was eating I noticed that he kept belching quite frequently. He isn't used to much soda, especially the half liter he was gulping down. That, combined with a meatball sub, gave the little kid a bit of indigestion. He thought it was funny. As we were heading over to Notre Dame he said, "Connie, we should go up to the top and do some burps!" He laughed for a solid thirty seconds at that. I laughed as well because what child says "...do some burps"?
He saw the Seine and asked why it wasn't blue. I had the whole fresh water/salt water lesson for him. He said he hadn't seen the Seine before either. I had to call his bluff. He laughed and told me he was kidding. Still happy to be by it, he wanted a picture.
We made it into Notre Dame in quicker time than I expected. Two euros later, Zac had a little booklet telling all about it. He was captured by it all, just loved it. He stared at the candles as if he'd never seen any before. We walked by a carved wood paintings of the life of Christ. I explained each step to Zac. When he saw the Nativity he told me how Mary was so tired and needed to find somewhere to "have Jesus taken out" and someone said she could use their barn which is why there were sheep and chickens around. Good Zac, good. After all of that, I had to tell him the difference between Protestants and Catholics. He actually listened and seemed quite interested. We looked at the mini-models of the church, including the one that shows how it was built (all of which are in pictures in a blog from the beginning of February).
This was taken while waiting in line. It makes me laugh because he looks so scared. A person carrying a baguette also made it into the pictures. It's not too rare though. People are always walking around with baguettes.
The top of the Notre Dame is accessible so we asked a volunteer where to find the entrance. She told us it was on the right side of the building. I took that as the right side of the church if you are looking at it from the front, not if you are standing in it looking outside. We found a turnstile and went thought it. We found the stairs, no line, score! We went up the TINY staircase, dodging all the people coming down. It was in spiral-fashion which gave me the dizzies, but we trekked on. Throughout the trip were little windows with fantastic views. After hundreds of steps, we made it only to find a fold-out chair blocking the entrance. A woman looked puzzled and asked where our tickets were. "Tickets? What tickets?" I asked. "Ma'am, the entrance is at the opposite tower." Back down hundreds of stairs with shaky legs. Zac and I have had these kinds of experiences before. We've just learned to say "It was a memory."
The pictures taken from the wrong stairwell
Notice the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine
We walked north toward Hotel de Ville to catch the 69 bus to the house. I figured I might as well show the kids another amazing piece of history. We walked across the Seine again and stopped to see a puppetiere. Zac was impressed and gave him some money in his hat.
Hotel de Ville stood beautifully in front of us. Zac's first time. He ran around in the openness. I saw the caroussel and led him towards it. He bought his ticket and ran to the top. He found a race car up there only to look down at the bottom to see a twirly seat. He jumped out of his seat and raced back to the bottom and made it in the seat just before it took off.
Once it finished, we walked across the street to the bus stop. We had a ten minutes wait, so we just people-watched. Now I am not normally the person to mock people on my blog, but you guys, I couldn't help it. My camera could not stop itself from taking these pictures. This woman was just too colorful and she was dressed to impressed. It is my honor give her some recognition (you may click on pictures to enlarge).
We took the most beautiful trip back home. I absolutely love the bus ride on 69 back to my house. It hits all the high points. Upon our arrival, the kitchen called my name. I made my apple curry chicken with couscous specialty. I actually ate it for the first time tonight. Not too shabby.
We realized we still had a lot of time so we wheeled around for a bit before deciding on spending some time at a nearby cafe. The waitresses were the usual French waitresses. Rude. We were lucky enough to get a sweet guy that worked with his best English and corrected our poor French. Just next to us were birds eating off of tables and the floor. Only in France.
The time came for us to load all of her bags onto the train. Not an easy task. We had a gentleman offer to help and boy did we need it. Then it was time to bisous goodbye. I said I wouldn't cry, but I did. I will see my sweet friend April 18th when she comes back for a week and a half, but then it will be a long time. I missed her as soon as we said goodbye. It probably won't change. I don't know if we will ever live in the same country or where all of our travels with take us, but we will always be joined together by Paris.
