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Friday around 2:30, after the last of the sessions and we had packed up all of our equipment, and finished the event the “French” way, with champagne at noon, MB and I went off on a small adventure to Montmartre. We took the Metro from Port Maillot, changed at Charles de Gualle Etoile, and then again in Pigelle. Arriving at Abbesses in Montmartre, we climbed up from the deepest Metro platform to the suface via an incredibly long circular stair.
We then walked along the rue Yvonne [something something], past the Sacre Couer up on the hill, and into the heart of the fabric district. I bought a mere three metres of fabric – which I am not really sure what I am going to do with, but it is a really pretty rust color. I would have loved a lot of what we saw, but a lot of it was incredibly expensive. Twenty euros a metre and more. The stuff I picked out was only 7,90 euros a metre.
Then we went back to the Port Maillot area and got sandwiches from Paul’s for a really late lunch/early dinner.
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The Story of Saturday in Paris!!! My one day to actually y'know, sight see!
It started a little bit later than my usual 6:15am. I got to sleep in until 7:45! I met MB for breakfast at 8:30 before she left for home. I met my dad at 9:15 for our adventure on the town. We took a cab to our first stop - I finally caught sight of the Eiffel Tower! We started at the Eiffel Tower where we went up to the second platform. That early in the day in August – even on a Saturday the lines were long, but not too terrible.
Not completely down the street like it was when we came down, anyway. We stayed up on the second floor for a while before descending to the first and reading all about the building of the Statue of Liberty bringing light to the world. Then we caught the Batobus (a water bus – a long boat that has eight stops up and down the Seine) and took it up to Notre Dame. We wandered into the Latin Quarter to find the longest continually running restaurant in Europe (founded in 1686) and had lunch. I had the appetizer of Spanish melon on ice (sweeter and smaller than cantaloupe) and lunch of guinea fowl and small potatoes with a chestnut flour sauce. Then we walked back to the little island Notre Dame is situated on and started at Saint Chapelle and wondered at the sheer magnitude of the walls of stained glass windows. The cobalt blues, and true reds, and brilliant yellows overshadow the fact that the building is in really poor repair and the windows badly need cleaning. Even as shabby as the rest of it looks the brilliance when the sun shines in is fantastic.
Then we walked down to Notre Dame, took one look at the line to get in and decided to bag it – we walked along one side and back on the Batobus. We then got off at the Louvre, and sadly, it was closing so we couldn’t go in, but we walked along one side and down next to the Jardin des Tulleries to the Place de Concorde (this is where the Revolutionaries beheaded Louis the sixteenth and also Marie-Antoinette in 1792 or 3...). Along this walk is a very shiny gold statue of Joan of Arc on her horse holding a windblown flag. It was shiny and bright and right in traffic.
From there we walked up the Avenue des Champs Elysees. All the way to the Arc de Triomphe, where we (finally!) hopped on the Metro and rode it up to La Defense and the Grande Arche. We stood under the Grande Arche and looked back on the Arc de Triomphe and I took a couple of pictures that who knows what it will look like. So from the gorgeous and old (not quite ancient, but old) to the modern and I won’t say *ugly* per say, but certainly not pretty.
Then we took the Metro back to the hotel. After a rest, I went up to the 8th floor of the hotel (Le Meridian), where the Presidential Club is (my dad is staying up there), and watched the light show at the Eiffel Tower when they twinkle all the lights for fifteen minutes on the hour in the evenings.
So I ended my journey of today where I began it, with the Eiffel Tower. Packing so I can go home tomorrow. One and a half days of fun after eight and a half days of bone numbing, grueling, tiring work. I can’t wait to get home.
Note: Having nothing to do with anything NCIS dubbed in French loses totally. The chick that dubs Abby is too straight laced (no feeling of fun that infuses all of Pauley Perrette’s lines), Gibbs sounds like a ninety-pound weakling, Ducky still rambles, but it loses a certain Ducky-ness. Tony and Kate don’t have the teasing edge – they sound like strangers reading lines. McGee is the only one that sounds at all like the “newbie” he is, unsure but eager. Sad.
Aside: Charles De Gaulle airport is a nightmare. I was on line for about an hour before they pulled me out to go to the “e-ticket” line. Come to find out there was a bit of a bomb scare in the terminal not fifteen minutes before I got there. It took three hours to get from the bus, check the bag, and to the gate (at the other end of the terminal from where the bag check counter was). They were boarding as I walked up – and I was about a third of the way back on line! All those people after me! All of the five security check points to get through! Needless to say, we were late.
Home now, though, and other than my sleep schedule being a bit screwed up, everything is great. I took the last couple of days off to recuperate, and will go back to work tomorrow.
We then walked along the rue Yvonne [something something], past the Sacre Couer up on the hill, and into the heart of the fabric district. I bought a mere three metres of fabric – which I am not really sure what I am going to do with, but it is a really pretty rust color. I would have loved a lot of what we saw, but a lot of it was incredibly expensive. Twenty euros a metre and more. The stuff I picked out was only 7,90 euros a metre.
Then we went back to the Port Maillot area and got sandwiches from Paul’s for a really late lunch/early dinner.
---------------------------------------
The Story of Saturday in Paris!!! My one day to actually y'know, sight see!
It started a little bit later than my usual 6:15am. I got to sleep in until 7:45! I met MB for breakfast at 8:30 before she left for home. I met my dad at 9:15 for our adventure on the town. We took a cab to our first stop - I finally caught sight of the Eiffel Tower! We started at the Eiffel Tower where we went up to the second platform. That early in the day in August – even on a Saturday the lines were long, but not too terrible.
Not completely down the street like it was when we came down, anyway. We stayed up on the second floor for a while before descending to the first and reading all about the building of the Statue of Liberty bringing light to the world. Then we caught the Batobus (a water bus – a long boat that has eight stops up and down the Seine) and took it up to Notre Dame. We wandered into the Latin Quarter to find the longest continually running restaurant in Europe (founded in 1686) and had lunch. I had the appetizer of Spanish melon on ice (sweeter and smaller than cantaloupe) and lunch of guinea fowl and small potatoes with a chestnut flour sauce. Then we walked back to the little island Notre Dame is situated on and started at Saint Chapelle and wondered at the sheer magnitude of the walls of stained glass windows. The cobalt blues, and true reds, and brilliant yellows overshadow the fact that the building is in really poor repair and the windows badly need cleaning. Even as shabby as the rest of it looks the brilliance when the sun shines in is fantastic.
Then we walked down to Notre Dame, took one look at the line to get in and decided to bag it – we walked along one side and back on the Batobus. We then got off at the Louvre, and sadly, it was closing so we couldn’t go in, but we walked along one side and down next to the Jardin des Tulleries to the Place de Concorde (this is where the Revolutionaries beheaded Louis the sixteenth and also Marie-Antoinette in 1792 or 3...). Along this walk is a very shiny gold statue of Joan of Arc on her horse holding a windblown flag. It was shiny and bright and right in traffic.
From there we walked up the Avenue des Champs Elysees. All the way to the Arc de Triomphe, where we (finally!) hopped on the Metro and rode it up to La Defense and the Grande Arche. We stood under the Grande Arche and looked back on the Arc de Triomphe and I took a couple of pictures that who knows what it will look like. So from the gorgeous and old (not quite ancient, but old) to the modern and I won’t say *ugly* per say, but certainly not pretty.
Then we took the Metro back to the hotel. After a rest, I went up to the 8th floor of the hotel (Le Meridian), where the Presidential Club is (my dad is staying up there), and watched the light show at the Eiffel Tower when they twinkle all the lights for fifteen minutes on the hour in the evenings.
So I ended my journey of today where I began it, with the Eiffel Tower. Packing so I can go home tomorrow. One and a half days of fun after eight and a half days of bone numbing, grueling, tiring work. I can’t wait to get home.
Note: Having nothing to do with anything NCIS dubbed in French loses totally. The chick that dubs Abby is too straight laced (no feeling of fun that infuses all of Pauley Perrette’s lines), Gibbs sounds like a ninety-pound weakling, Ducky still rambles, but it loses a certain Ducky-ness. Tony and Kate don’t have the teasing edge – they sound like strangers reading lines. McGee is the only one that sounds at all like the “newbie” he is, unsure but eager. Sad.
Aside: Charles De Gaulle airport is a nightmare. I was on line for about an hour before they pulled me out to go to the “e-ticket” line. Come to find out there was a bit of a bomb scare in the terminal not fifteen minutes before I got there. It took three hours to get from the bus, check the bag, and to the gate (at the other end of the terminal from where the bag check counter was). They were boarding as I walked up – and I was about a third of the way back on line! All those people after me! All of the five security check points to get through! Needless to say, we were late.
Home now, though, and other than my sleep schedule being a bit screwed up, everything is great. I took the last couple of days off to recuperate, and will go back to work tomorrow.
