Day 54, Sunday, November 12, 2006

Trains are the best time to blog.
After having spent the last 5 nights in Paris, we are now on our way to the coast where we will be taking a ferry to Dover. We’re headed from there straight to London where we will be staying the next 4 nights.
Our time in Paris was as wonderful as could be expected. The only drawback was our accommodation, which was the worst hostel we have stayed in yet. Apparently this is not unheard-of when hostelling in Paris, as it has the lowest standards for cheap accommodation in Western Europe. Quite weird, if you ask me. Anyway if you like the smell of cigarette smoke and Chinese food and don’t mind the yellow tinge of the walls or the view of factory smoke stacks, then this place was just fine. And apparently we were lucky, as this was one of the “nicer” places and we didn’t see meet any uninvited bugs or critters in the rooms.
Apart from our hostel, Paris was beautiful. The Eiffel Tower, up which we went one evening after dark, was much larger and more impressive than I thought it would be, and it’s base is the size of an entire city block. I was expecting it to be more space-needle-ish in size and was happily in awe at the mass of it. The view from the top was especially impressive and romantic. It was definitely one of those things that you wish everyone you knew was there to experience it with you.
Earlier on the same day we took a trip down into the Catacombs below the streets. We paid 3 Euro each to follow a dingy spiral staircase down 130 steps from someone’s private (and also dingy) storefront to the maze below. It was the kind of place and atmosphere that made you wonder how many people per year wander through the wrong gate and are lost and forgotten about. It was all very dimly lit, and the gated path took us through what seemed like an old sewer canal before opening up into a cave-like area with a few plaques explaining about the grave-site we were about to enter. I guess in the late 1800’s the graveyards of Paris were filling to capacity so the city decided to make use of the ample amount of space below their streets, which had been used for mining and would also be used for WWI and WWII bunkers and shelters. Anyway let’s just say that I don’t think I ever have, or ever again wish to, see that many human bones. It was incredibly musty and bizarre, our path took us for the better part of an hour winding through walls as tall as our heads made up entirely of human bones, with skulls places in rows quite decoratively and disgustingly, if you ask me. Quite an experience. We all went back to the hostel and took showers afterwards.
Notre Dame was quite fun to crawl though. It was all smaller than it seemed the the Disney Cartoon, but after climbing up in the bell tower and get a close up look of all the gargoyles and statues on the outside walls, it was easy to imagine a person like Quasey Modo (spelling? I don’t know) inhabiting the place. The spiral staircases were longer and narrower than the in Catacombs and seemed to go on forever. It was quite fun and the view from the top was fantastic.
The Arc De Triumph we did not climb, as it was 5 Euro and we expected the view from the Eiffel Tower would be quite better anyway. We stood underneath the Arc however, and watched as some sort of commemorative Ceremony took place as this weekend is the remembrance holiday for France as well.
We put much effort into making our way out to Normandy and the D-Day beaches for November 11, but discouragingly did not make it. The only non-reservation train that we climbed onto (15 minutes early, I might add) was already stuffed full, with nothing but standing room for the 2 hour journey, at the end of which we were still not even sure if we’d be able to find a bus going out to the beach. We decided to save it for “next time”, and instead spent the morning shopping for presents and eating at a deliciously cute little French restaurant, and then for the afternoon we headed back to the Louve.
We had already spent the better portion of a whole day at The Louve, but had only made it through one of the three wings. The place is enormous. After our second afternoon there we still left 3 or 4 entire exhibits untouched, and rather rushed through some parts of what we did see. I could see spending an entire week in Paris seeing nothing but the Louve and a few nice places to eat quite happily. As it is I’m happy with what I did see (which im not going to bore you with unless you ask, because once I start I’ll just go on forever). It was fantastic and I sapped every ounce of enjoyment out of every picture and sculpture I was able to spend a reasonable amount of time gawking at.
The only day I haven’t made mention of yet we spent entirely out at the Palace of Versailles. For me this was one of the best days, and it was also the only day that the sun was out, lucky for us. We strolled around Marie Antoinette’s gardens and gaped at the many King Louis’s private apartments and the famous Hall of Mirrors. The gardens were the most impressive part, with quite a large lake in the middle from where you could rent rowboats and paddle around. It was cute to watch but we decided not to spend the extra money.
Anyway of course there are many more details on which we’ll fill you all in on in about 12 days time. To sum up, Paris was everything Paris should be, and our feet are much more sore than when we arrived and our minds much fuller. (I think I actually felt smarter coming out of the Louve for the second time:)
On to London! I believe most of our excitement for this next leg of the trip comes from knowing that English will again be useful to us, and we can stop talking with our hands and in one-word sentences like “toilette?”
Love, joy, and peace to you,
-Kait.