Ahh what does a girl do after a long full week…. ok who am I kidding? I had two long and arduous days of school (which included listening to two lectures on luxury brands such as Dior, YSL and Chanel and what their ads meant and their history, plus a lecture on strategic alliances followed by a French class…), I know, this is hardly the hard life.
Yesterday, I finally made it to the gym (yes, I joined a gym in Paris, though I’m not sure what the purpose was since I’ve been walking 4-6 miles a day just exploring the city), but more importantly, I finally made it out to the Catacombs. Spooky stuff I must say! I can’t say that the bones were spooky, so much as the long and narrow and seemingly abandoned passageways with sparse lighting. You know what they say about people who are such scared-y cats, that they would be scared of their own shadows? Well, normally that’s not me. But, in the long passageways, I kept feeling like there was someone right behind me, and I kept seeing weird shadows that I was convinced were not mine, and with no one else around, it really was not helping my fragile mental state. Luckily, I managed to knock some sense into myself and realized that the weird shadows were a result of where I was in relation to the lamps, and thus were nothing to shriek about or run from. If you're laughing at me... well, you have every right!
After this, I found myself walking around Paris, and soon enough, I found myself near Notre Dame. I seem to have an affinity for it, since it’s now the third time I’ve been here during this stay! I walked around some more and by the time I got home, I was exhausted. In fact, at about 6pm, I could barely keep my eyes open and had to take a nap! I woke up around 8:30, puttered around as my friend Alex would say, and went back to sleep around midnight and happily slept until 9:30 am today.
Today, I had grand plans for the day. I would get up early, climb the Arc de Triomphe and then head to Musee de l’Orangerie or Louvre and then walk around the city some more (probably ending up at Notre Dame again…). That’s not quite how things ended up. I met up a couple of girls from school for lunch and then we decided we would head to the Fashion Museum. Well, unfortunately for us, the Fashion Museum was closed… indefinitely. However, we found ourselves right next to the Eiffel Tour so we went with it and proceeded to find as many beautiful vantage points as we could to take pictures! We then walked down to Pont Alexander III and then walked through Jardin des Tuileries where we sat around a fountain (or at least that’s what it is in the hot summer months) and planned on a picnic when it gets warm enough and then continued our walk to the Louvre. To cap off the day, we got to witness the Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkly!
I know, it’s all very touristy, Notre Dame, Catacombs, Pont Alexander III and all of my gaping up at the Eiffel Tower, but you know what, that’s what I am… a tourist. I proudly look at the map in the subway to get my bearings, and do my best to reconcile the street names I see to what’s on my map and to add the cherry to the top of this ice cream sundae (or maybe macaroon since we are in Paris, afterall…) I hang my camera proudly around my neck and take zillions of pictures of everything in sight!
Tomorrow promises to be a rainy day (per the 3 different sites I need to consult in order to actually have an accurate assessment of the weather), so this tourist intends to finally make it to Musee de l’Orangerie and then maybe start the exploration of the Louvre.
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