Sister Europe Trip- May 1, 2009- PARIS: CITY OF LOVE

We all woke up on time and got dressed to head to the train station. Another big day ahead of us and lots of walking ;) I had a heck of a time getting my entire luggage down those “cube house” stairs. Keri even captured a GORGEOUS picture of me lugging all my stuff down the stairs- haha. We made the train station and said our goodbyes to Keith- he was heading back to FL and Keri and I were making our way to Paris. My sweet brother in law took my carry on home with him to pass on to my father- who was coming back to AL the day before I was, so I could purchase more things while in Paris. So anyways, Keri and I were on our way to Paris. I was pretty exhausted on this train ride- it was 3.5 hrs long. I did get a little nap, but not much since we had to share the train cart with several people. Keri and I looked at some of the pics from our trip to pass the time and I read a little more of my book. Keri went and got us some croissants and OJ from the food cart- it was just ok. Anyways, we were on our way. When we arrived at the Paris station, we had to figure out the metro system. HOLY COW- that is sooooo confusing. Thank goodness Keri had good directions and had done this before. The names of the metro stations were so confusing and I had no clue how to read them. While we were purchasing tickets there were a few women asking for money (they seemed to be of Israeli nationality). There was even a guy playing music on his boom box on the Metro who danced then asked for money. Keri just told me to act like you don’t speak English and turn away. They had some beggars in Amsterdam too, but I couldn’t resist the ones with dogs, so I would give them 20 cents or so and then give their dogs the rest of my food. Lol. I’m a sucker. Keri told me that they give their dogs drugs so they look sad and sleepy- that’s so pitiful.
Anyways, so we followed the map- sent to us from our apt guy- who didn’t speak hardly any English ;) – but we managed to find our way to the apt. We even arrive 30 min or so early. Since we didn’t have a phone, we tried to e-mail our apt contact, but he didn’t respond. After waiting 20 min or so, I finally asked a gentleman if we could borrow his cell phone to call this guy to make sure he was on his way. Luckily, he was a VERY nice French man and didn’t mind at all- he even talked to the guy in French for us so communication was crystal clear. He told us that he was on his way and would be there within 5 min. We “Merci’ed him and continued to wait  Within a few min he had arrived. He was a very nice man and between Keri’s two years of French and our catching up from our Learning French in your car CD we managed to communicate quite well. I was pretty impressed with how well Keri did and remembered. They had wireless internet (so that was a big plus) and free long distance  Keri opted to rent an apt over a hotel room for the 3nights since they pretty much cost the same as a hotel and it was bigger. She did GREAT and we really enjoyed the location of our apt and the size. By this time I was really ready to watch some “ENGLISH SPEAKING” TV. Sadly, the majority of the TV in Paris was in French too. Which is ok- I mean it is their language. We managed to get on Skype and talk to our families before heading out. So anyways, we decided to go check out Paris. Everything seemed to be closed (we weren’t sure why until someone pointed out that May 1st is their Memorial Day Holiday). So we went and grabbed a real French bread sandwich and had a great conversation with some exchange students. They informed us of the great things to see while we were there and spoke perfect English, so that helped us out a lot. I was very excited to use some of the French that I had learned through Lucy and her family and through the CD Keri purchased for me. I knew the important words: Thank you, How much?, Bathroom, Excuse me, What time is it, and a few more. Being in Paris definitely made me want to learn more French.
After eating, it was time for sightseeing.
First we went to the Louvre- I couldn’t believe how freaking massive that thing is. Its soooo much bigger than you can imagine. The décor and carvings were unbelievable. The statues were gorgeous. We didn’t even go inside- I’m not much into art, so I didn’t really care to go inside. We were told that if you tried to go look at everything inside the museum you would be there for a whole day. No thanks. This is where I first got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower- there it was and all its glory- I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing it in person. Next we walked towards Notre Dame- the line was VERY long, but moved rather fast. We were going to take the tower tour, but it was closed for the day- of course. Anyways, so we did go inside the church and it was breathtaking. There were having communion and confession going on. We got several pictures while we were inside. Again the details and carvings were just beautiful. The stain glass windows were breathtaking. They said the best time to go is at sunset and we were pretty close to that time. Since were not catholic we didn’t partake in the communion or confession, but they did have a candle lighting processional that you could partake in for 2 Euros. It was told to take your sins away. I went to light my candle off another one and burned myself and said “Fudge” (but not Fudge)- Keri actually got a pic of me saying this in the church. It hurt. AWFUL, huh? So I got back in line and got another candle to take away that sin I just committed- haha. Second time around everything went fine. Lol. I’m sure God was either telling me something or laughing at me. After that tour, we were pretty tired, so we decided to go back to the apt to get showers and head to dinner. Keri made reservations for us at a very fancy restaurant that overlooked the Eiffel Tower. It was some of the BEST food I’ve ever had and the one was delish. We had a cheese sampler platter, a bottle of wine- that tasted like honey and apple juice- (I heard Keri found some of this wine in FL). The brand was Manzanilla (a sweet white wine). Then we both had the steamed veggies with king prawns. Delish. The food, service, and atmosphere were so nice. The Eiffel Tower would blink all over every 15 min or so. The view from our table was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe we were actually sitting there having dinner in front of the Eiffel Tower. The dinner was a little pricey, but Keri and I wanted to splurge one night while we were there and since it was just the two of us, it was very peaceful and we had some good conversations. After all, it was Paris  We talked about planning an international trip each year- but bringing the husbands along. We are hoping the Springsource will have another international conference next year. To end the night, we toasted to my 30th birthday and I thanked my WONDERFUL sister for planning this memorable trip for the two of us.PARIS- FIRST DAY