Two Days in Paris

The last two days in France were spent in Paris. This was my third stay in Paris. I enjoyed the first two, but I really liked this trip because this time I was with my husband Jon. He is a bold, non French speaking adventurer. This attitude has helped him visit famous cities all over the world. This time I did the more traditional tourist things that I had avoided previously. We stood in line for 45 minutes to take an elevator up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It is cliché, but who cares? It is such an amazing structure, it has to be experienced! Next, we took a boat tour on the Seine, also a typical tourist thing to do. I loved it. The British English recording that explained what we were seeing was so over the top with enthusiasm it made us laugh. The young female French tour guide barked out instructions in an impressive four languages. When we finished the tour, we pulled to the dock at 7:00 pm just in time for the Eiffel Tower light show. The 75 or so Japanese tourists on the boat gasped and then, “ewwwwed and ahhhhhhhed” over the sight. It was stunning. We walked across the bridge to get a better view of the Eiffel Tower. This was challenging because tourists are bombarded by young 'foreign' people trying to sell Eiffel Tower key chains or beg for money. The females are the beggars. They first ask you if you speak English, if so, they shove a typed card with a sob story on it and ask for money. Feeling like heartless Republicans,we say non merci. We had lots of practice saying no because we were constantly approached. It’s so well organized I’m sure it’s a big money making venture for someone. Vive entrepreneurism! However, I wonder if the young women are doing this freely. I wonder if they are penalized for not making a certain quota of money each day. I wonder about the nature of whoever collects the money from the young women. Are they cruel?

Despite my wonderings, we didn’t give them any money just the same.

We ended our first Paris evening having dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We did this just because I thought it was totally ridiculous to eat Chinese food in Paris. I like being ridiculous.





The next day was Sunday so we went to church at a little place called Notre Dame. Actually, we were there as tourists and I felt like I was intruding because they were having a Sunday morning service and taking communion while folks like me were walking around gawking. So we sat down on the dusty rush seated chairs they use instead of pews and waited for the service to finish. It is a glorious cathedral. Its treasures museum was amazing. The Virgin Mary has a lot of jeweled crowns waiting for her there. How will she decide which one to wear?

We saw where Marie Antoinette spent her last couple of months before she was guillotined. There were huge lists of names, ages and professions of people who were beheaded during the revolution, including some of the very people who began passing judgment on others.








We spent an unusually warm February afternoon walking along the Seine with all the other Parisians. We looked at the ancient magazines and books of some of the ‘green box’ vendors that line the Seine.








We had a nice lunch at a Bistro across the street from Notre Dame and a late dinner at a bistro near a subway entrance where I took this photo. I had a salmon crepe. It made me miss the yummy seafood I’d had in the South West a few days before.








I like Paris. There is an endless list of things to do. I’ve just scratched the surface. I will go back and do some more scratching, hopefully soon.