Thursday

The next few entries are not chronological; my wireless was only just set up, so I haven't been able to post much of what I've been doing. So this will sort of be catching up with what I've done and thoughts on what I'm doing, at the same time. This whole entry refers to this past Thursday.

The program didn’t have anything set up for us to do that day, so we all had passes for a hop-on hop-off bus tour of the city. The tickets were good for each of the different lines, which went to different areas. I decided to have a relaxed morning and do the bus thing in the afternoon, mostly to get a feel for how things are laid out and how far apart they are and such.

I took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower and walked around for at least 45 minutes trying to figure out where the bus stop was. It wasn’t so bad except that it was cold; the view from around there is nice and I hung out with some gypsies (none whom pick-pocketed me, by the way).

The next stop was the Hôpital des Invalides, which Louis XIV started out as a hospital for old and/or wounded soldiers. It was meant as an alternative to being taken in by a church, but it was attached to a church anyway. Eventually it encompassed more parts of military logistics: it was still a hospital, but also a barracks, offices, and strategic planning place. Now there are still a few barracks and a bunch of military offices. Oh, and Napoleon's tomb is there.

Anyway, the building itself is very grand. It’s large and sprawling with a huge gold dome on the top, visible from very far away. Inside there is a military museum which I did not go into, but I did peer into the windows. It looked a little dull, but then again it’s mostly about military planning..not something I’m very interested in. The grounds were also kind of depressing as they were mostly dirt. I guess they’re redoing the landscape?

I was hungry so began to look around for a handy boulangerie, but I couldn’t find any where I could sit. Also, quel dommage, it began to rain! Well, it began to mist in a distinctly Parisian fashion. You know how (stereotypically) the French have their ennui (boredom, nonchalance, blasé attitude) and therefore do everything in a slow, half-hearted manner? (FIRE ZE MISSILES! But I am le tired. Well, okay, have a nap, then FIRE ZE MISSILES!) This precipitation came down as if a French person were sending it then decided to go out for a smoke-and-cheese break. Paris has been doing this since I got here, and frankly, I’m ready to go on strike against the weather.

The Invalides is set in a fairly posh area, where restaurants and cafés are expensive; it’s a short walk to the Champs-Elysées. I got quite a few contemptuous looks as I ran around trying to find food and not get my little ballet shoes too wet. Anyway, I couldn’t find a reasonable place to sit so I grabbed a (unfortunately not tasty) sandwich and sat on a bench in the rain to eat it. I faced the Invalides and watched people squealing about the inclement weather.

Next stop, Notre-Dame, again. For those keeping track, I’ve been here five days and have been inside Notre-Dame three times already. I really like it, okay? As I was doing my usual rounds of the cathedral I met a pleasant middle-aged man who enthusiastically discussed the building’s architecture and history with me. Now, many of you know me pretty well…so you know how excited I get when someone will geek out with me. Long(ish) story short, I got a lovely history lesson of the Île-de-la-Cité area and the city of Toulouse, but had a very difficult time getting rid of this guy.

I’m still not sure if he was actually making a poor attempt of hitting on me or was genuinely ecstatic to find what he called a “good American.” He went on about how if more Americans were like me and were open to other cultures and experiences the world would be a much better place and isn’t it wonderful of me to want to learn about a little country like his just because it’s there? He was practically jumping up and down when I proved that I know something of world politics. Anyway, no harm done, and this dude is glad to have a “jolie amie américaine.”

Oh, and I visited the archaeological crypt underneath the cathedral which was smelly but very interesting; I’m glad the cathedral itself recognizes that it was meant to be a quick-fix replacement for the pagan temple to Jupiter (and Mercury, and oddly enough the Celtic goddess Rosmerta). I still need to figure out how to get to the Catacombs.

All right, so then I did the St. Germain-des-Près bus loop again trying to find a place to switch over to the Montmartre line, which goes into the only section of the city I haven’t visited yet. However, because I’d gotten a late start I wound up missing the last bus there. I didn’t necessarily want to get to Sacré Coeur, the “meringue confection” of Montmartre, but the area is really nice: it’s an old, cobblestoned place where there are tons of small cafés, street artists, and cute shops. Ah well, another day.

The bus dropped me off between the Opéra and the Madeleine (a posh 19^th century church that is modeled after Classical architecture and is therefore deceptively pagan), which is another very expensive area. All of the most fashionable people in Paris used to live there and attend church at the Madeleine then walk down the wide, sweeping avenues that filter into l’Opéra. There are a lot of little streets around the avenues, so I thought I’d check them out. Plus I was hungry again.

Most of the sit-down cafés were distressingly overpriced and I wound up in a little café-bar with a waitress who looked like she was stolen from the Midwest and given a crash course in Paris. She looked annoyed when I first started ordering my food but ended up seeming pleasantly surprised by my grasp on the French language. I was rather proud of myself. The croque monsieur was okay, nothing special, but the hot chocolate was fantastic.