The croissant man and my last day
Trip Start
Apr 18, 2006
1
14
28
Trip End
Jun 02, 2006
Paris,
France
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Man: I'm supposed to bring the croissants
Me: OK
Man: There's no one here and I have to bring the croissants
Me: The hostel closes at 2
Man: But I have to drop of the croissants
Me: At 2:30 in the morning?
Man: Yes, everyday I bring the croissants
Me: OK, yes, I understand
Inside the church
.Man: Why are they not here?
Me: I don't know, but they're not and you are waking everyone up
Man: Let me in!
Me: Sir, I do not work here. I won't do that.
He then gets pissed off and drives away. Thanks to me, we had to have baguettes in the morning instead.
That night after a whole bunch of museums I mentioned before, I met up with Sarah Griebes (I hope I'm spelling that correctly), who is a girl that I know from home, and a good friend of Lauren's. We were supposed to go to a party at some random person's house in SW Paris. It turns out this party is in Muedon, which is about an hour away by train. Normally, this would be fine, but my hostel has a 2 am curfew and the metros stop running around 1. We were supposed to meet Sarah's friends at 9:15 in front of the St. Michel fountain, but we really didn't get going until 10:30. Then, after a missed tram, we didn't get to the party until about 11, so I knew I had to leave early. The party was at this gorgeous house (apparently this guy's parents were out of town, which sounds sort of high school if you ask me) with a built in BBQ, jacuzzi, waterfall, etc. I ended up leaving the party after an hour to make sure I had enough time to get home. I got to the tram fine, but the train station I had to get to closed before I arrived. The lady at the station told me to go down the stairs and turn left and go down a bit and I would find it. No such luck. I asked a lady at a bus stop where it was. She told me to go straight until I got to a pedestrian only street and then veer of to the left and it would be there
Sacre Couer
. She said it was about 8 minutes away. I do that, and end up asking another group of people, they told me to go straight until I get to a square with a fountain in the middle and it's right there. I did eventually find it (phew!), and made the train. Technically, after that I had two transfers to make to get to my metro stop. I made the first one, but the train closed before I could get to the second. Luckily that one was only and 5 minute walk and I knew where I was going. All in all the trip took about 1 hour 45 minutes. But at least I got to see more of suburban Paris.Next (and last day):
I got up quite early considering my night before and headed to Monmartre, a section of Paris that's famous for Amelie, sex shops, and the bohemian revolution. Also there is the Sacre Couer church, this fantastic structure built on a hill overlooking Paris. When I went into the church, I completely forgot that it was Sunday around 11:00. This is typical of me now as I have absolutely no sense of time or day when I don't have a regular routine.
So I went to church (never thought it would happen either, honestly). The organ and choir of nuns was beautiful, the sermon was in French and not part of my vocabulary, although I did recognize father, truth, and "le Christ." Knowing that a Catholic service could take all afternoon, I stayed about an hour. There were, of course, tourists walking through the church at the time, which is understandable, I was one of them. But at the same time, I was sitting quietly, being respectful, while others were talking, taking pictures with a flash, and generally being a disruption. I'm sure the congregation can block them out by now, but I was still mortified by their behavior.
After church, I wondered Monmartre a little, saw the cafe where Amelie worked and had a sushi lunch. If there's one thing I miss, it's Asian food. I have to make more of a point to eat it, seeing as how it consists of 80% of my diet at home. Plus, I have noticed a change in my stomach since coming to Paris and eating dessert at every meal, including breakfast.
