Touristus japanesecus

There were quite a few titles I debated on for today, The DaVinci Day, The Day of the Man Purse, and The Day I Think I May Have Really Killed Grandma being the top contenders. You'll notice I didn't choose either.
So yes, we're only 3 days in and already Grandma is insisting that tomorrow be a "rest day." So we're going shopping at the Galleries Lafayette and visiting the Musee National du Moyen Age and then exploring the Quartier Latin :D
I guess its time for me to do some storytelling eh? Our plan for today was the Louvre, but because I'm such a professional at the Metro now I noticed that the Eglise de Saint-Sulpice is right on our Metro route to the Louvre. Anyone who's read The DaVinci Code sufficiently, like me, will recognize said church, so naturally I had to stop in! Of course I could have guessed but I didnt really know that the church was about 3 blocks away from the Metro station, or that the church is jussssstt off my map that had the Metro station, and vice versa, or that there was construction that involved very high walls set up in a veritable maze that made the entrance to the church very hard to find. But as been the spirit of this trip thus far, i found it, Grandma tagging along and gasping for breath while simultaneously getting distracted by various other not-things-to-sight-see. Just kidding, I've been keeping pace with her. Kind of.

Saint-Sulpice is nearly as big and just as beautiful as Notre Dame was, but sadly it has not been kept up nearly as well. They're in the middle of renovations right now so the facade was covered in scaffolding, but the inside was more or less intact. Many of the frescoes and paintings are cracked or peeling, but the main altar and organ were breathtaking! And the best part is I got to see what I came for, the white marble obelisk and the golden meridian line that runs right across the altar :)

So back to the Metro we went (more stairs for Grandma) and made our way to the Louvre. Grandma made the decision as to which stop we would get off at, because there are two Louvre stops. It may or may not have been the wrong decision. (It was). I shouldnt give Grandma a  hard time I guess, because admittedly I haven't always chosen the best paths for us in our travels just far, I just don't tell her that :p

So the Louvre. How to describe the Louvre? Well the building is unbelievable for one. I've also never seen such a large conglomeration of people in one space. And the Louvre is a pretty darn big space. I came very close to being trampled by a lumbering herd of Touristus japanesecus on more than a few occasions. We tried to avoid the "Big Three" beeline as much as possible, so we first headed to the Napoleon III apartments. If that was the solution to the French monarchy I don't even want to think about how opulent Versailles is going to be! My favorite part was the chair that was like one piece of furniture with three chairs, and they were in a spiral, very hard to describe, but it seemed completely irrational for any sort of social function.

After Napoleon we had lunch at the Cafe Richelieu, overlooking the courtyard with the glass pyramids. A great way to rest after a lot of walking! After lunch we decided we really had to go see at least the Mona Lisa, because it was my first trip to the Louvre and you really can't go to the Louvre without seeing La Joconde. I'm not going to say that seeing the Mona Lisa took my breath away, because really she's not a whole lot bigger than a piece of newsprint and I've seen reproductions of her so many times that I already know what she looks like. But it was pretty cool to be in the same room as the most famous work of art ever. We even happened upon the Winged Victory on our way there so even better! On our way out we walked through the hugeeeeee gallery where the curator was shot in the DaVinci code and saw Madonna of the Rocks, which also made it into the book. (I hope by now you've picked up on the first potential title of this entry.)

Finally around 4pm I walked and Grandma staggered home from the Metro (hence the third possible title) to rest our feet a while. I laid down for about 10 minutes and then decided I was bored so I went to go wander around our neighborhood and look in some shops. It was then that I had time to contemplate the second possible titles of this entry. The Day of the Man Purse. I have never seen so many man purses in my entire life as I did today. Granted I have never spent as much time in Paris as I did today, widely regarded as the home of the man purse, but I was still shocked. I think I was mostly shocked by the wide variety of man purses. They range from the semi-respectable small leather messenger bag to the camera case-sized "sporty" adidas shoulder bag. The most "Parisian" version of the man purse I've seen is a leather case about the size of a hardcover book that is worn cross-shoulder. One could argue that these are used to bring things home from work but they're just too small! However I will grant them that their pants are rather tight. I noticed that the tourists tended to go for the tackier cloth camera-case sort. But before anyone asks they were not in fact camera cases, because they had their cameras around their necks.  Why didnt I take pictures?!?!?

We went to dinner at a very crowded brasserie just a few blocks from our apartment. I had toast au jardin, which is roasted red pepper, eggplant, and sundried tomatoes covered in olive oil and spices over a piece of toasted bread. Mon Dieu c'etait delicieux!

Les Fils de La Ferme

We ate dinner tonight at the restaurant Les Fils de La Ferme, per several recommendations in the guest book of our apartment. They couldn't have suggested a better spot! Off the beaten track but lovely, only 10 or 12 tables but it was completely full. And only one waitress to work the whole place! We had some amazing fish with veggies- healthy(ish) and delicious(very). Everyone else in there in French, so it was great for me to be able to listen in on the conversations. I'm getting pretty good at that :) I definitely have to work on speaking louder when I speak French though. The waitress and I had a very amusing language barrier when she brought us a little appetizer. It was a small cup of a whipped something- mousse I guess- with a pesto-looking something on top. She was telling me it was "ail", which I of course couldn't remember, and she didn't know it in English. It was delicious though so we ate it nonetheless! I just consulted the ever-trusty Google and found that "ail" is garlic. Well I'm off to the tarte au chocolate we bought earlier :) A demain!

Saint Mary of the Stairs

Once again I proved I'm determined to run Grandma into the ground, she dubbed herself "Saint Mary of the Stairs" after one of our many journeys through the metro tunnels- she'll be in top physical condition by the time I'm done with her!

We started our day at the Arc de Triomphe, where we and about 500 of our closest friends paid our respects to France's Unknown Soldier. Quite a stunning piece of architecture.

We walked all the way along the Champs-Elysses from the Arc to the Place de la Concorde, considered stopping in the Petit Palais, an art gallery, but were deterred by horrendously long line.  We really need a museum pass. We did also take the time to stop in the Louis Vuitton store, have some pizza for lunch, and pass by the Toyota dealership, where we saw my dad's next vehicle. Motorcycle? Powerchair? Jetpack?

Lunch, while overpriced, was quite delicious. It was a little awkward to eat pizza with a knife and fork, especially when the pizza doesn't come already sliced. Grandma made me promise that I'd include that I managed to launch my fork across the restaurant. Twice. The couple sitting next to us was amused. The waiter brought Grandma some horribly sweet fruit juice nightmare instead of the rose she'd ordered, so he brought us little tiramisu mousses :) Yum yum!




I then took us on an (admittedly roundabout) journey through Ile de la Cite to Notre Dame. Poor Granny. But it was definitely one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Packed with tourists obviously, but I managed to get some good pictures. My mom will appreciate this one: Supposedly spirits or ghosts will show up in pictures in the form of "orbs". Look what happened as soon as I stepped into the chorus of the cathedral:
and every picture I took in the chorus had at least one or two orbs in it. But none of the pictures in the ... other bit... had any. Tres interessant!

After Notre Dame we decided we needed some energy, so we went to a cafe right across the street that Grandma went to last time she was in Paris, before she went to Mass and Notre Dame. I am really starting to enjoy cafe espress, and Grandma's going to have to learn because her cafe americain cost about three times more than mine! On the way home we got some tartes to save for dessert, and some bread and cheese. Tres francais! We're resting before dinner now (I'm pretty sure Grandma fell asleep) so that we can eat at a more french hour than last night.

The French is coming along nicely, I haven't managed to make a total fool out of myself, though I did have a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights moment in the boulangerie. I wasn't quite prepared for the accelerated velocity at which the woman was speaking, and the lady in line behind me had to come to my rescue. But then I managed to sustain a short conversation in French, so I didn't seem like a complete clueless tourist!

3:38 am

Paris is very loud. So is Grandma's snoring. I don't think I've ever been quite so very awake.

Jetlag 1 Jillian 0

Off With a Bang

All in all, a tres successful first day in Paree! We took the RER up to Luxembourg Gardens (the walk was much easier without baggage) and relaxed in the shade with some Fanta. Fanta is no joke one of the top 5 things about Europe. Ok so thats exaggerating a little bit but its still delicious. And its way better over here than the stuff we get back home. And the bottles are way cooler (see pictures).

Anyway so then we walked to a cafe called Le Cercle and sat outside and had smoked salmon and white wine. Parfait! This cafe was located on a very busy street corner, which made the people watching very interesting but was also a convenient place for buses to stop and spew their fumes everywhere... we're adapting!

On the way back to our apartment we stopped at a very tiny cafe called Le Vin du Rue and had dessert. The cafe was so tiny that while we were eating the chef and waiter and two of their friends sat down to dinner. They started asking us about our vacation and whatnot, and I was talking to the chef in French. He was very nice, even though he kept correcting my grammar, and said it was "tres jolie" the way I spoke French! I don't blame him for correcting me though, my French grammar is truly horrendous when I speak! Hopefully I'll get a little better by the time we leave. I'm still feeling a bit nervous about using my French, but even by the end of today I was much more at ease, so I'm sure by the end of this trip I'll be a natural. Dessert was by far the highlight of our day, and not just because it consisted of a molten chocolate cake with creme anglaise for me and chocolate creme brulee for Grandma. If I don't gain 20 pounds by the end of this trip it will be a miracle.

We're Hereeeeee!!!!!

After the slight hiccup in the airport of Grandma getting strip-searched, we enjoyed a relatively pleasant plane ride over. Or, Grandma did anyway. She slept the whole way. I was freezing and my right arm fell asleep. And then I was just starting to drift off when the plane made a funny noise, so naturally my first thought is "WHERES THE FIRE??" and then I couldnt really fall back to sleep after that.

The journey from Charles de Gaulle to the apartment was slightly more cumbersome. Neither of us had exactly packed light, the wheels of Grandmas suitcase made it impossible to pull, and I was guiding us with only the vaguest sense of direction and no idea of the requisite stairs to transfer from the RER to Metro line 4. Whoops. All I can say is MERCI BEAUCOUP to the several lovely Parisian young men who stopped to help the little old lady with her luggage.
Finally, after receiving different directions from a hotel concierge, a lady in a tobacco shop, and two or three passerby (who were all very gracious by the way- so much for nasty Parisian stereotypes), we found our apartment. After pulling out the computer on the side of the street to check what the entry code is, standing around exceptionally confused, and waiting for the superintendent to let us in, we got to the apartment, which is, in a word, French. The washing machine is in the kitchen. 

Grandma immediately passed out of course, I set out in search of baguette (which is delicious, by the way) and then returned and passed out in kind. Now we're finally getting a move on, we're going to head up to the Luxembourg Gardens to explore and have an early dinner. No game plan yet for tomorrow- should I be worried?

Day One - leaving Charlotte & Grandma getting strip searched!!

You won't believe the start of the trip!!