We arrived in Paris, after a 4.5 hour car ride, an hour stuck in traffic on the Paris Peripherique (beltway), and getting stuck in huge market traffic over by our hostel inMontmartre. It wouldn't have mattered so much if we didn't have people to meet, places to see, but of course, we did! So we parked our car as fast as we could, got onto the very crowded metro, and headed towards the Champs-Elysees (the street leading off of the Arc de Triomphe) to meet a friend of Thomas'. We met them at Bistro Romain, on the most touristy street in Paris, so it was over-crowded and more pricey than we would have chosen in other circumstances. But, it was nice to meet his friend and his friend's wife, other fellow Americans living in France. And- we all had really yummy dessert, so I can't complain too much:)
After our lunch, we headed over to the Nunnery that is the sister Nunnery to one of Heather's voice students (a nun). We tried to explain that we knew a sister nun, back in WVA, but apparently they have lots of sister churches... and the first nun we talked to didn't really understand what we wanted (which wasn't really anything other than to say hello, we know your sister nunnery in WVa). The second nun we spoke with was more excited for us and gave us a brochure, so Heather has something to show off to her nun!
From the Nunnery (got to say, didn't think I 'd ever write that), we went back up to Montmartre to check into our hostel. It looked pretty nice in the lobby, not quite as much Halloween spirit unfortunately, but it didn't matter much because all we did was throw our bags down and head out to find the Moulin Rouge. As you may or may not know, the Moulin Rouge is located in the same general Montmartre area, on a long street of sex shops. By the time we got there, everything was already lit up (sex-shop signs included), which was.... pretty... especially the moulin (windmill) of the Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge is originally famous for putting on the cabaret can-can act (a "seductive" dance opportunity for the courtesans of the 19th century), and today continues to entertain visitors with similar shows. These shows are very pricey, at least for us this go around, so we just took pictures from the outside. Next on our list- the Eiffel Tower.
We decided that we'd make ourselves a nutella crepe and wine picnic dinner beneath the Eiffel Tower or Tour Eiffel, as drinking alcohol in public is legal in France. It's actually a very strange cultural experience to be sitting beneath the Eiffel Tower, while it sparkles, (at the hour, every hour, for 5 minutes, the Eiffel Tower literally sparkles), with several other picnic groups, all with their little glasses or bottles of wine. As one of my French coworkers says, "In France you have 5 main rivers, the Seine, the Rhone, the Saone, the Loire, and le Vin" (vin being wine).
It was a short adventure in Paris, but a delightful one indeed!
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