We spoke last night to discuss how we would meet up. Chatelet was the final destination. Not a good idea. Chatelet is never a good idea. Wherever the original Bermuda Triangle is said to be, they are wrong. It is actually in Chatelet Station in Paris, France. Needless to say, we did not meet up there. I walked around for a long time looking for "tall male brown hair jeans white shirt" and he was looking for "short girl brown hair beige sweater set and jeans". Yes, I am wearing sweater sets these days. Don't laugh, I am just rolling with the local fashion.
After about an hour, I get a call from him saying he's hopped on the metro towards his hostel to check in. Score. In less than twenty minutes we finally meet up at Gare de Lyon. Then we took bus 63 to Odeon and on line 10, all the way to Porte d'Auteuil. On our way, we eat up the sandwiches and chips and drinks that I brought for the trip. When we arrived, I took us in about three wrong directions before I asked some police for directions. I must say that I spoke more French today (to adults) than I ever have. I was quite pleased that every person I spoke to understood me. Quite an accomplishment, I'd say!
After a bit of walking we finally made it in to the French Open. We walked around and watched different matches - women's doubles (boring) and tried our hardest to find some men playing, to no avail. The sun was brutal. Jeans.not.a.good.idea. I felt like they were painted on me through most of the day. We laughed most of the time talking about our mutual friend John Walker who played tennis in college at OU and Texas Tech. Justin mentioned that he was so jealous that we were able to come. At one point I said, "Awe Justin, you should get some Roland Garros tennis balls for John!" to which Justin responded quicker than immediately with a "Heck no, I'm not getting him anything." Boys.
We saw some great stuff and had lots of laughs. During one of the matches, two couples were pouring wine into glasses and sipping throughout the match. Only in France. Something that fascinated me was the video camera. It was suspended in the air by a wire and it zoomed up and down like it was on a zip line. It went up and down capturing what was going on at each court.
Quite a bit of walking happened too. We heard that some of the players would be exiting through this tunnel, so we waited hoping to get a great photo to rub in John's face and make him really sick of jealousy. But all we got was an odd conversation from a middle (late) aged man from Sacramento. We aren't sure why he is in France. He told us that tennis was his old passion and now it's bands, so he's been traveling to hear back. His next stop is in Nashville to some other festival to hear his favorite punk band. This guy happened to look like your average financial advisor. It was good conversation but we both left saying, "That was strange."I was so convinced that this guy was not a tennis player. Not one thing about him was convincing, except for his talent, but he looked more like a Greek cricket player, rather than a French tennis player in the French Open.
Justin had heard that after 5:00pm tickets to the big stadiums would go on sale for three euros. At that time, we hauled over to the line to get these tickets. We waited a LONG time. It paid off. Justin got us some really good seats in the red zone in Chartier. The excitement about this stadium was that Venus Williams would be playing. We arrived to find a French guy (Mathieu) and an Argentinian (Schwank) playing. We thought it would be over soon, but we were mistaken. It happened to be the biggest nail-biter of a match I've ever seen. I was screaming clapping and hooping and hollaring like a man woman. I was so stoked. Now I was cheering for both of them. I had to root for the French, but I had a little place in my heart for E.Schwank. He seemed like a nice guy and he was the underdog. Towards the end though, I was going for Mathieu because my tummy needed fuel. I predicted most of the game to Justin's surprise. It was then that I made him aware of my gift of prophesy in the area of sporting events. This, he did not know. Our Frenchie won, which I predicted, of course.
I really liked this guy's beard. I thought he was a leprechaun.
The moment when Mathieu won!
I got him just as he was getting up, so that's why he looks like a little turtle.
We left to begin our site seeing of Paris. We took bus 32 to Trocadero. I knew that it would be sunset and seeing the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero at this time would be breathtaking. We stepped off the bus and Justin was shocked. I think that's when he realized that he was really in Paris. We went to take some pictures and to take in all the beauty. We hopped on the metro which took us over the river to see a fantastic view, then back to Odeon for dinner. We walked to Saint-Michel. The street performers were out, so we stopped to watch a couple before looking for food. These guys are so talented and their talent is so unique. I love this part of Paris. I am always too short to get decent photos, so these were all taken with the camera suspended in the air.
Saint-Michel
I told Justin that we could either eat in a little cafe type restaurant on the strip, or grab a bit and walk to Notre Dame and eat. He wasn't sure until I took him to the end of the street which has an amazing view of the famous cathedral. Without hesistation he decided on the latter. We walked back down to grab Gyros with fries. We made it to Notre Dame just in time for some good photos. The sun went down as we ate and allowed the fire twirlers the darkness to perform. Once we finished eating, we walked over to watch them. Yet, another unique talent.
We hopped back on the metro towards La Motte Piquet-Grenelle. We walked a little bit to Ecole Militaire and finally the Eiffel Tower. I just wanted him to see the tower at night. I will always suggest it at night and not during the day. We arrived to find thousands of people picnicking and drinking at the Champ de Mars. It's more people than I have ever seen before, but it was the perfect example of French culture. Nothing could have captured it more adequately. We walked a little bit before I told Justin that we had to take our shoes off and walk in the grass.
Earlier in the night I told him about a message by Matt Chandler. I can remember he was talking a list that he made a while back that's called "Don't Cry For Me...". It's a list that he wants his wife to read at his funeral. It's of all the amazing things that he's experienced in his life. So I told Justin that I have a list like this in my head, but not yet on paper. I am also trying to experience things to add to my list. "Don't cry for me I've walked barefoot at the Eiffel Tower." These things are priceless. That's why I love to show people Paris. It's such a breathtaking city and I want to show it all, in all of it's splendor. I want to help create some memories that will always be remembered. It's the most amazing place and I want people to know the best parts of it, to do it justice.
The view from where we were sitting.
We sat on the wet grass for a while and talked before some Canadian gals came up to join us. They bought a bottle of champagne from one of the gypsies and were chugging it after each other. Conversation revolved around pretty not interesting topics like partying and visiting their native Canada, eh? About twenty minutes later we excused ourselves and got on our way. I took him down Rue Saint Dominique which ends up at Les Invalides. It's one of his top places to visit on his list. He almost didn't believe me when I said I lived next door. We walked up north towards the river and couldn't believe the beauty from the most fantastic bridge. I'm so honored that it's the bridge that leads to my home, Pont Alexandre III. A little bit further north of a walk and we came to the Champs Elysees, Arch de Triomphe, and the Luxor. That was just a little taste for him because we will go back tomorrow. He hopped on the metro towards his hostel, then I walked home.
I haven't been this exhausted in a long time, but I'm back in love with Paris. I love this place so much. We have plans for breakfast tomorrow, then another full day of sight seeing. Be prepared for another big blog!
1 comment:
Your face looks thin.
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