Gay Pa-ree

  Paris, Île-de-France, France
Monday, June 23, 2008

After breakfast we grab a cab to head down to the EF office. When we arrive, Marci makes sure that everything is where it is supposed to be, and it is. This is good; no need to file a police report. The people at the office are a bit confused, because Matthias was told that I should come because someone there wanted to talk to us. But everyone there seemed out of the loop. Anyway, the property was returned and all was well. Marci and I hail a cab back to the hotel where we meet with the rest of the Oregon group to take the metro BACK into town.
 
We all decide that we would like to see Notre Dame, so that is our first stop.

01 Notre Dame

 Chris and I are both interested in climbing up to the towers, so we get in line while the rest of the group goes inside downstairs. We make a meeting time and place and are off.
 
The line for the tower is looooong, unfortunately, but not unexpectedly. While waiting in line, Chris and I meet these two older Australian ladies who look almost like twins, but are actually non-twin sisters.

06 Aussie Sisters

They have been traveling for a month, so we share stories and traveling tips and such. They have already been to New York, Las Vegas, Nashville, Miami and Orlando, London and now Paris. We love to watch them interact with each other, teasing each other and such. Jude and Sherri are really quite a hoot!
 
By the time we get up to the top, it is time to meet the others at the bottom. Figures. I try to call Amanda's cell phone, but the connection is not happening, so I wave and shout down at her. I'm sure the other tourists love that. I let them know what's up and say we'll meet back in half an hour. They are cool with that and go off to do some shopping.

02 From the Ground Up

 

Exploring the tower is really fun. The views are some of the best in Paris, aside from being on the Eiffel Tower. I take some of my best photos of the trip up here. I am particularly enamored by the gargoyles of Notre Dame.

05 My favorite

The one-way only, check-point system in the tower is a bit annoying, but I understand why they have to do it that way. With a much traffic as they receive, it would be challenging if people were going every which way and they were not regulated by numbers. We descend the tower on the other side and meet the rest of our group just in time.

07 Angles

At this point people are starting to get hungry and they are interested in doing a bit of exploring and souvenir shopping. We head to the other side of the river to the restaurant quarter (my name for it). We stop at a little authentic creperie and try some real French crepes. Mine has cheese and ham and it is absolutely fantastic. I am thrilled! Shortly thereafter we stop at a gelato stand and have some rich, delicious gelato. We are all very satisfied.
 
After the fabulous food, we do not last much longer shopping, and decide head back to the hotel via Le Metro. We must gather our things from the Galaxy Room, where we left them in the morning in order to load the coach in preparation for our train transfer this evening to Germany. The coach takes us into town for our dinner at Les Balcons (The Balconies) which is decent, and then off to the train station go we.
 
More hurry up and wait as we gather for the train. We are early enough that our train is not even listed on the schedule boards yet. After it comes up, we head out to the platform and get organized into our wee little rooms. The cots are already made up and ready for us when we load, so there will be no sitting in our rooms. They are also 3-high, and I am in a room with Nora and Matthias. So, I climb up to the top bunk on the ladder and we try to get the bags situated so that people can actually move in the little chamber. Once my suitcase is aloft, I curl up for a minute to rest. Turns out I am pretty tired, and I end up falling asleepy sleep. When I awaken, it is pretty late, so I take off some clothing and decide to go back to sleep. I awaken a few times throughout the night, but for the most part I find the motion of the train beneath me quite hypnotic, and thus restful.