8/31 1:30pm Paris, France:
I realize it's mid-afternoon (prime tourist time) but I wasn't feeling that great, so I came back to rest for an hour or two before I begin again.... not to say I haven't already been tourist-ing and don't plan on tourist-ing all later. The past few nights I haven't been sleeping well, probably still to do with the time change, but I'm hoping it will get better tonight.
This morning has already been filled with a lot. Another girl came in last night to our room of 12 and we talked for a few minutes and then this morning I ate breakfast with her. Her name is Rachelle and she's an aussie (everyone here is an aussie). She is backpacking for 4 months (everyone aussie is backpacking for extended amounts of time). I guess it's the thing to do! But a few of her friends were eating breakfast with us and I told them it was "Nice to meet y'all" and the canadian girl was like "Are you from Texas?"... I guess I don't realize how much I say y'all.
After breakfast I headed to the Basillica of the Sacred Heart. It was a nice little hike up to it from the metro station, but it was so worth it. Again, I just stood outside for awhile and admired it, and then I sat inside for awhile and admired it. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, but I got plenty outside. Then, when you think you have seen it all, you turn around to leave and you realize you can see all of Paris from the hill it is on. Well, most of Paris, but it's pretty neat.
After that, I headed to the Arc de Triomphe. I had also seen the outside yesterday, but I wanted to go to the top. I also stopped by the Memorial for the Unknown Soldier, but I realized while I was standing there, a bunch of tourist were just taking pictures of it, so I decided that I wouldn't take a picture, because I didn't want it to seem like I stopped by just because I was a tourist, but because I wanted to pay my respects. After that, I headed to the top... and dang, that spiral staircase gets ya. But I was so excited that I passed up all the Italians in from of me (an Italia Familia lol. Like the Mafia, cause it was a bunch of them). The view of the Champs de Elysee was great, as were the views of the rest of the city. While I got some good pictures of stuff up there, my favorite part was watching the drivers. The Arc is in the middle of a giant round-about, with 12 streets hitting it. My tour guide yesterday said they meant it to be a 12 point star, but now it is a giant traffic mess. I mean, in France, there are no lanes, and trucks, vans, cars, mopeds, and cyclist are all zooming in and out of each other... and while you would think they have it down by now, they don't, and it's kind of fun to watch. After spending about 30 minutes up there, I headed down to walk down the champs de elysee. I was already feeling a little down, but I decided I could hold off another hour or so, and I'm glad I did. When I was researching Paris, a tea shop, Laduree, came up as a place to go visit. And since it was on the champs de elysee, I thought I would stop by. The second I walked in, all I could think was that Caitlin Rice would live here if she had the chance.... and probably all of my other friends. And when she reads this, I know she will be jealous, but I wish she could have been there too. I couldn't take pictures inside, but the bakery alone was so cute. All the cupcakes and cookies and chocolates were decorated perfectly. I bought a box of 8 flavors of Macarons, which are little tea cookies that come in a bazillion flavors. I ate one about 10 minutes ago and it was delicious. I'm trying to figure out how to ship them to Mom and Dad, but I think it would cost me about 100 dollars and as much as I want them to try them, we may have to wait (although I heard they are opening one in NYC.... which is not Austin, Texas, but it's closer than Paris).
Now though, I'm going to rest for a little and then try and leave around 330 to go to the Lourve. All I planned this afternoon was time at the Lourve, and since they are opened until 10pm, I will get to spend about 6 hours there, which as much as I will want to see everything, I know it will take weeks to get to everything. I'm going to settle on the Greek and Italian Art, since that is what is the most interesting for me, and hopefully I'll have enough time to get through those two sections!!
