Paris2
Trip Start
Dec 10, 2008
1
14
22
Trip End
Jan 15, 2009
La Rosiere, Île-de-France, France
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
We arrived in Paris, and found some underground parking. I had mentioned earlier in conversation that Melbourne didn't have a metro system, so Jean-Luc wanted to show me Paris's metro system. As it was 12:30, we got some lunch first. We went to a restaurant that serves food from Savoire, a region in France. Savoire is the Region in France that Jessica live n, and we joked that we had come all the way to Paris to eat food from her home!
We ordered tartines, which are just fancy open sandwiches as they were the fastest thing to cook. We finished quickly. We then walked to the metro, which wasn't too far way. I didn't realise that there were 2 different types of metro; automatic with a conductor, and without a conductor. As we had to change trains to get to the Notre Dame, I got to go on both, but didn't really notice the difference.
We finally arrived at the Notre Dame. It was a rainy day, and there was a pretty long queue, so it was like umbrella city outside. Thankfully, the queue moved pretty quickly and we were inside within 10mins.
The Notre Dame was even bigger than the Sacre Coeur. It had a lot of stain glassed windows, huge ones. They also had a lot of art hanging on the walls; some modern, even. There were some very graphic murals of Jesus on the Cross and getting caught after the Last Supper.
The Notre Dame didn't have any signs at the front, like the Sacre Coeur, so the atmosphere was a lot different. Lots of people were taking photos and talking. The Scare Coeur was a lot more sombre. There was still a huge area for praying and mass. In that area, a few were sitting, their heads bowed, praying, others were taking pictures of themselves sitting in the Notre Dame.
We stayed in the Notre Dame for awhile before we decided to brave the weather again and go back outside. On the way out, there was a box of money for the poor, and I put some money there. I think that when I've got it so good, especially at the moment, that it's important to give back.
It was still wet outside, but it wasn't uncomfortable. We went back on the metro and made our way back to the car. Jean-Luc drove around for ages, looking for a souvenir shop for me. We finally found one near the Eiffel Tower. I didn't go crazy, because even the souvenir shops are really expensive here.
We rushed because we wanted to go to a museum and it closed at 7 and it was already 6pm. It wasn't far away, so Jean Luc dropped me and Jessica there while he visited Sophie with Ambre. It was the Museum of Primitive Art. It was also the museum that I had visited with the school a week or so ago. I didn't let on, and I saw the exhibitions that I didn't get to see last time. It was really interesting, and it turns out that there was a big section on Australia.
We got picked up after the museum closed, and we went to Sophie's small apartment which wasn't too far away. We picked up Sophie and Ambre and travelled back home. Ambre, Jessica and I had fun while we waited for dinner taking pictures of us in berets and posing in sleeping bags and hoodies. We had dinner, and as we had had a big last few days and an early start tomorrow, we went to bed early. We said good-bye to Sophie and Ambre, as they wouldn't be awake when we left and I got pretty sad. It's sad to think that you may never see someone again.
It felt good to go to bed after a long day, and I was so happy with my time spent in Paris, but I have so much more that I want to see. Hopefully I can go back soon.
