PICTURES

Pictures of the Sacre Couer and the Notre Dame at night. Pretty huh?

Hokay, the first is Sheri eating the world's yummiest Pastry in the world. The second is actually a funny story. We had just gotten a bunch of bread and that pastry for food for the day and then we went down to the metro to wait for our train. Well we're sitting down there and this guy on the opposite platform starts asking us where we got our bread and then he just stops and says, "holy crap, what are you guys doing here?!" It was Chris, our friend from the Eiffle Tower!!!! Of all the metro stops, in all of Paris! It was crazy! So he ran over and we talked some more, told him a lot of stuff was closed today but certain things weren't, and then took a picture because come on, who'd of thought we would run into him! So yeah, that's Chris. And then the last is us hanging out at the Touleries at the fountain. Good times!

Ok, so I am having trouble putting pictures up, so the written word will have to suffice, sorry. So what are we up to now…, oh right, Monday. Well on Monday we had planned to go to Versailles, but the funny thing about France is that most things are closed on Monday (don’t ask me why). Well we realize this at like 11 o’clock on Sunday night. So I was designated to get up at 7am and walk to the internet café to see if it’s closed. So I get up at 7:30, stumble over to my suitcase, and decide that jeans aren’t worth it and that PJs will suffice. So I stumble downstairs and out onto the street. Picture this: me, shuffling along a side-street, in the rain, in the middle of Paris, at 7:30 in the morning, in my PJs. Pretty funny isn’t it? I would have thought so too except that I was really freaking tired and the Indian bar next door smelled bad. Well, I found a café and it turned out that Versailles was closed. Suck. Times ten. Seeing as there was nothing I could do about it though, I stumbled back to the hotel, back to the room, announced that it was closed, got back in bed, and slept till one.

Well around one we decided that since we are in fact in Paris for one more day, we might as well enjoy it, and we spent the day kind of tooling around Paris and seeing things that we had managed to miss, or that we wanted to see again. We started out at the Louvre. That was fun to just kind of wander. We saw a lot of random pieces like a larger-than life painting of Louis the XIIII and a bunch by this guy Turner that I really really like. It was fun. We left at five and walked down the Touleries or the Royal Garden. It was sooo beautiful and there were people everywhere and the sun came out. There was this huge fountain right in the middle where a whole bunch of people were just relaxing and we decided to just stop for a bit and relax too. It was great. We did a lot of people watching and talking about random things and just generally enjoying the atmosphere. There were a bunch of kids running around playing with boats, and people reading in chairs by the fountain, and the sun was shining with a gentle breeze that blew a cool mist from the fountain and we were just sitting on the edge of the fountain taking it all in. It was one of the coolest experiences in Paris for me.

After that we went to the Place De Le Concord which is where everyone was executed by the guillotine during the French Revolution. It’s in the center of a giant round-about right in front of the palace and Touleries and it’s pretty cool. The best part though, was when we were walking along the outside of the square and I stop in front of a random building to fix my ponytail that was falling out. Well as I was doing this, a soldier comes up to me and starts speaking to me very sternly in French. I told him I was sorry, but I didn’t speak French. So he says in English “You can’t stop here, that building is an embassy, Etats-Unis” Well my eyes must have gotten really big because as I said, “oh I didn’t know, I’m really really sorry! We’re going now.” He just kind of smiles at me and winks as he turns and goes back to his post. Did I forget to mention that he was cute? And he was guarding the United States Embassy? And he was in uniform? Yeah, it was a nice moment.

Well after that we head up to the Sacra Coeur because I hadn’t seen it yet. That was really cool. We took the metro up to Monmartre (neighborhood Moulin Rouge is set in) and walk through all these crooked, cobble-stoned streets lined with bars and cafes and random shops, used book stores, art stores all clinging to the side of this hill. All of it was so cramped and random and it just had the coolest feel. And when I say cramped, I mean cramped. We had to stop for a minute for something and while I was waiting for the other two girls, I watched this guy get his car, which literally had 6 inches between his rear bumper and a van, and about 3 inches between his front bumper and another car, out of the parking spot and onto a road that was about one car width wide. The whole time I sat there thinking, this guy is never gonna be able to do this. But as I watched him push one car forward with his bumper, and the other car backwards with his other bumper, low and behold, right before my very eyes, the guy actually manages to get his car out after about a dozen maneuvers! And the best part is that when he was done he looks over at me with this look of triumph and puts his hands in the air and whadya know, I actually clapped for the guy. It was pretty impressive and all I got to say is Provo drivers got nothin on Parisians when it comes to parallel parking.

Aaaaaanyway, we finally get to this neat little trolly thing that takes you up the side of the hill to the top where the Sacra Coeur is and up we go. We step out of the tram into the soft summer twilight and our ears are filled with the gentle sound of the breeze in the trees and people talking quietly as they sat on the steps, and someone playing John Lennon on a guitar. It was so serene and so beautiful. That’s the thing about Paris though, you can get all these really different feelings, all these really different atmospheres in one city, but no matter what, they are all beautiful. Not a single one wasn’t. Anyway, we walk a few steps toward the guitar player, look up, and there’s the white Sacra Coeur rising up above a beautiful hill-side of grass with a grand, white-stone stairway leading up to it. And as we turned around, we saw the entire city laid out before us in the setting sun. It was stunning. So we just sat there in the twilight and talked about things as the Chinese guitarist sang “Imagine.” It was so so peaceful and chill and sooo cool. Anyway, we eventually go up to the Sacra Coeur and go inside. It’s really beautiful in there and I just love the glass. I think it’s much prettier than the Notre Dame and it actually feels more like a church than the Notre Dame. It was quite, and there really weren’t that many people in there. It was really beautiful. I liked it a lot.

Well around this time the other two were getting hungry so we set off on a quest for food. Much to my chagrin we end up at the McDonalds by the Pantheon, so dumb. Oh well though, what can you do. Our server was actually really really cool though so I can’t complain too much. He got on to Sheri for not knowing what she wanted since we were from America and he was genuinely shocked when we told him that we didn’t eat McD’s in the states because it was shack-nasty. Oh yeah, that’s how we found out that they serve beer at McD’s too, we asked and he couldn’t understand why it was weird to have beer served at McDonalds. Gotta love Europe. After that we went back to the Notre Dame. It was dark by now and most of the tourists were gone, so we just hung out in the big square in front of it and listened to the musician that was sitting near us. It was getting late, but we decided that we wanted to do one more thing before we went home, so Sheri decided that we should try and find the Ritz because it was in an Audrey Hepburn movie and she loves Audrey. The only problem was that we had NO IDEA where the Ritz was. But that of course was a tiny insignificant detail and we head off in search for the Ritz.

First we stopped at the crepe stand at the corner of the Notre Dame to get a crepe and ask if the guy knew where the Ritz was. His response was priceless. We go up and ask if he knows English. He says he does (he was pretty young, blonde, our age, maybe a couple years younger) Anyway, so we ask him if he knew where the Ritz was and he looked at us for a couple of seconds and says “No, but if you take me with you I will find it!” Hysterical. So we get our crepes, talk with this scared thirteen-year-old from Michigan that was getting a crepe as well, say our goodbyes and continue along the Seine. (The crepes were fabulous by the way, heaven in my mouth.) So we’re walking along looking for someone to ask our question to, but we can’t find anyone and we didn’t want to just go up and ask random people. So Sheri starts singing this song, which goes something like this, “Somebody talk to me, somebody talk to me, I want somebody to come up and talk to me.” Well we decide to stop at a bridge real quick and take a pic and within thirty seconds of her finishing this song (backed up of course by Marina’s and I’s amazing vocals), this drunk man comes up to us and starts kissing Marina on the cheek. Imagine our surprise! He starts asking what we were doing and where we were going in French as he’s like hanging on Sheri and Marina and I look over at Sheri and her face lights up and she yells, “The Ritz!!!! Where’s the Ritz?” The drunk points down the Seine in the general direction of the Place De La Concord and tells us it’s over there. We say thanks and he proceeds to tell us how beautiful we were, kiss us each on the cheeks, and walks away.

As you could imagine, Sheri, Marina, and I were all pretty shocked, but before we could even catch our breath, a group of about 5 French guys that were passing by completely surround us and start talking to us! So here I am maneuvering my backpack on the ground between me and the bridge railing with this guy leaning on the bridge next to me and another one right behind me. I look over and there’s another guy in between Sheri and Marina, and a couple more off to the side just watching their friends. Well after about 30 seconds we realize that they slightly inebriated. You know the kind, not really that drunk, just drunk enough where everything is slightly funnier and your inhibitions are slightly decreased. Well we talk to them for a few minutes and realize that they were harmless and after that, we had a blast! Seriously, these guys were hysterical. It was four friends and one of the guys younger bother. Two of them spoke really good English and the little brother was a sweetheart. We talked about how American’s were prudes (when they found out that we didn’t smoke or drink, one was like “Wait wait wait. You don’t drink, you don’t smoke… Sex is your vice!” Imagine his astonishment when we said, nope, no sex either.) We talked about how Jason spoke really good English when he was drunk, about how we dress like Americans and how we were leaving for London in the morning. That one was funny. They asked us how much longer we were in Paris and we said not much longer, we’re going to London in the morning. Well Jason looks at me and says “London! Why are you going to London?! It’s so American there! They dress like Americans they, speak English. Why would you want to go there?!” Well I shoot back “So you don’t like Americans?” You guys, you should have seen the look on his face. Of course he was slightly intoxicated so he didn’t pick up on his mistake right away, but when he did his eyes got as big as saucers and he’s like “No no no noooo! I LOVE Americans!!!!! I like American girls!” It was hysterical! They really were cool though, they only tried for maybe five minutes to get us to go out with them (that’s really good for a French guy) and they were really funny and talked to us for a good 30 minutes. Well after a while, they knew it was time for our little shin-dig by the Seine to end, so they gave us all kisses on our cheeks, Jason gave me his email, and we parted ways and went home! Shortly thereafter we decided that Sheri wasn't allowed to sing anymore songs about people talking to her. Seriously, it truly was the best night we had had in Paris and the perfect way to end the journey. At least in Paris anyway, next stop, LONDON….