What did I do today? Today's blog
actually starts with last night. Yesterday I had met one of my hostel
mates, John, from California and talked with him for a bit. Nice guy.
Later in the evening I went up and he was talking with Ashley. She
had moved into the room at some point while I was gone. The three of
us got to talking a bit about where we're from (Ashley is from
Montana), and all that good stuff. After while John took off to the
Laundromat to wash some clothes so me and Ashley kept our
conversation going.
It was so lovely: she's a big reader
and we talked about everything including books, politics, point of
views, experiences, it was such a great conversation. Even at one
point she said she knew she go to bed, but was really enjoying our
chat, that she wasn't going to. And she said it was great to speak
continuously with someone in English. Huh? I didn't get it either.
Turns out she majored in French in college and got a contract
immediately after graduating to teach English to French students in
the south of France. So she's been away from her finance, her family,
her friends, everyone for 8 months. The reason she was in Paris
yesterday and today is because a friend from the States is flying in
to get married this weekend, and Ashley was waiting for them to show
up because they're going to stay at someones house the next few
nights before the wedding on Saturday.
I had mentioned I was thinking of going
to Montmartre today (Thursday) and she said that she had no plans and
would actually like to up there to see if she could find a painting,
so she asked if I'd mind if she came. OF COURSE NOT!!! I am so glad
for any company – I'm learning, especially new people, because it's
so fun to hear about them and discover you're not alone in ways you
think and common interests. It's weird starting over every time I
meet someone, but sort of cool too. It's interesting to think that
some day I'll remember this girl (woman) 20 years from now, have no
clue where's she at, but no matter what she's remembered by me of all
people. It's sort of cool how people leave little imprints in your
life.
Ashley and I took off this morning and
used the metro – and bonus, she's fluent in French so I didn't have
to deal with the ticket person or anything! It's quite convenient to
have your own interpreter with you (it'd be better if I could do it
myself, but since that's not currently an option this was pretty
good). We arrived to Montmartre and climbed, I'm not even joking, 200
stairs to the top (you better believe I was feeling it), but it was
totally worth it.
Right at the top was the Sacre Coueur.
For those of you who don't speak French, the translation is the
Sacred Heart. It's this monumental church with quite an interesting
history. A long time ago a bunch of Muslims were immigrating to this
part of Paris and the King and the Church didn't want anything other
than Christianity, so they built this huge church in the style of a
Mosque hoping to draw Muslims in and slowly in cooperate Christianity
into what they were teaching with the idea they'd eventually become
Christians. And it worked. Another fun fact was in WWII 13 bombs were
dropped right on top of Montmartre. Here's the thing, Montmartre is
the highest point in Paris and not hard to miss if you're going to
drop 13 bombs – it's just a tiny little bohemian village on the
hill. Everyone in the village flocked to the church and everyone
survived. The church remained untouched. Since then it's been
considered to be this really sacred and holy place (other than the
fact it's a church). Oh, my gosh, you guys should see the inside of
this place, it's huge. When I walked in the big open dome that's
favored in so many of the churches over here has this huge scene on
it. Originally I thought it was a painting, which would have been
impressive, but it wasn't until Ashley pointed out other “paintings”
and showed me they're actually mosaic work. A bunch of teeny tiny
tiles comprised to create one big picture. I looked at the tiles,
they're lucky to be one centimeter by one centimeter big. They're
what made the big picture on the ceiling. The reason I'm describing
this instead of pictures is because there is absolutely no pictures
allowed in the building. You get in big trouble if you're caught.
After walking through the Sacred Heart
we walked around the village a bit including the art area – this is
where all the artist set up little stalls and try to sell their
paintings/sketches, etc, while working on other things. Oh, it was
cool! I wish I had a ton of extra money so I could have gotten some
of the big ones, but between needing the money, I have no way to
travel with painting and shipping them home would be a nightmare. I'd
be so afraid of them being damaged. But still really neat to peruse.
When I come back to Paris, I'm definitely coming here again.
After looking at the art we continued
our walk through the area which was fantastic. We walked by the
Moulin Rouge!!! I wish I had seen it 50 years ago when it was still a
little grittier, because they've modernized it up a bit – you can
actually go in a see a show and have dinner, but it'll run you 300
Euros – roughly $450 per person. I'll do that next time.
We decided we would really like some
ice cream, since the sun was shining (it wasn't suppose to; it was
suppose to rain here all day), and we wanted something nice a cool.
Ashley had been to Paris several times before and knew a really good
stand a few blocks from Notre Dame, so we hopped the metro back down
and looked for some ice cream. All I have to say is it's a really
good thing ice cream in America is not like the stuff over here, or
I'd be eating nothing but ice cream. I had a really good chocolate
ice cream cone – the thing was gone in 3 minutes.
While enjoying our delicious treats we
walked in front of Notre Dame – it's a mutually favorite place of
ours. Ashley actually told me some stuff I didn't know: there are
three doors on the front of the church, the first to the far left
depicts the coronation of Mary. The middle is the Door of Judgment,
and third is the Door of Health – all the statues show all of this.
Just like the Sistine Chapel, there is so much more behind the
statues and figures than looking cool. When they built these things,
they had a purpose, they didn't just slap any old statue or figure in
there. Remind me to tell you about the Martyr of Paris (it has to do
with Montmartre and Notre Dame).
After that we sort of just walked
around the city and went and looked at the Pantheon. This is where
they bury all the important people. Victor Hugo, the author of The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mary Curie, and so many others are buried
here.
We walked around the streets a bit more
and decided to come back to the hostel. We sat and talked for awhile,
trying to decide what to do, but we didn't have that much energy
after walking around all day. At that point her friend's plane
landed and they were coming to pick Ashley up. So she packed and we
said good-bye. She's heading back to Montana on Sunday to go back to
school to be a lawyer.
It was super nice to spend the day with
some one who has been in Paris before – actually a lot of the
information I got today came from Ashley because she's taken all the
tours before and she's been living in France for almost a year and
has learned a lot about French history. It was just a really nice
day. I feel so content right now.
I'm not sure what the plan is for
tomorrow. If it's nice I might actually walk to the Eiffel Tower and
read in the park for awhile. I don't know yet. It's turning out to be
really nice to stay in one place for awhile. I'm not rushing,
rushing, rushing, to get everything crammed in.
It seems weird that I've been away for
a week and a half. Sometimes I think “It's only been a week and a
half” because I've been doing so much I feel so much more time has
gone by, but then I'm thinking about everything I still am going to
do and I think there's not enough time to do that.
I realize this post is getting long, so
I'll wrap it up here, but I'd like to close with this: this trip has
been such a learning experience. In 12 days time I have been plunged
right into a whole new world, emerging with new perspectives on the
world and myself. I don't know how much will stick with me when I
come home, but this is something that can't be undone. I can never
not have done this trip. It's a scarily comforting thought.
Till later my Homies!!! As always, I
love and miss you!!! Can't wait to see and hug everyone!
Oh, what a fabulous day it sounds like you had! I bet it was nice to have someone who spoke the language so easily so you could just relax and enjoy what was around you. I'm sure it took some pressure off knowing you had her there. And what a wonderful person you met! She sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteI find myself checking your post so often just to take a peak at what you're experiencing. Your posts are NOT too long. It's a bummer when I come to the end because I want to hear more.
Continue to be safe and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!! Can't wait to see and hear about the Effiel Tower! Love you! Amis
It was fabulous and the weather turned out to be great! It was suppose to rain all day and it was sunny and perfect for walking!! Ashley was cool -- it was really nice to actually TALK with someone.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think my posts get to be a bit too long -- it's so hard to wrap everything up though in just a couple paragraphs...to really get the whole experience/feel of it.
Again, I really don't feel all that interesting, so it's weird that everyone is reading this. I like staying connected to you all though.