Bounjour, mademoiselle

Paris, France in two days. Is that even possible, you ask? Yes, but it's going to be crazy. I mean, crazy. We began our journey at about 5 am...yes, you read that correctly, to take the Eurostar train into the continent. I'd make comments about experiencing the Chunnel, except I was kind of asleep, given the ungodly hour. It's a wonder I slept at all with the American teenagers in front of me giggling about scrapbooking their Paris trip with stickers from Hobby Lobby. Sigh. And yes, that totally would've been me ten years ago.

As soon as we arrived in Paris, we hit the ground running. If you're ever in the city, the Paris Museum Pass is a must. Every travel blog I've read complains about the horrendous lines at all the major tourist attractions. I couldn't tell you about them because the Pass eliminated that problem. We asked the first cab driver we could find outside of the Gare du Nord station to take us to the Notre Dame, but he simply said, "No" and drove off. I mean, a simple "no" would've sufficed...acting like I'd asked if I could scalp you was a bit much. We got to the Notre Dame and it turned out to be everything I'd imagined. I finally got to see Abbe Suger's flying buttresses (ha, butt) that I've been teaching about for over seven years. Afterwards we ventured across the street for some coffee and croissants and discovered that some Parisian cafes are simply tourist traps.

Inside the nave

Look at that base.

We then headed to the Louvre. We had come prepared with a list of things we wanted to see, which was helpful, but the museum was super overwhelming. I felt a mild case of ADD coming on as I flocked from one piece to the next. It's too crowded to contemplate the works and we were in too much of a rush to make other things happen. I don't know what my favorite piece was. I had little interest, or rather time, to check out the ancient art, but seeing some of the old Assyrian lamassu sculptures as well as remnants of Persian temples were pretty exciting. I mean, how did a lowly high school teacher from Texas suddenly get to be in the presence of artifacts that are five thousand years old? Oh, and that's me in front of David's The Coronation of Napoleon. Please don't judge the sweater wrapped around my waist. It was easily 80 degrees in the museum.

We then took a stroll from the Place de la Concorde (where the guillotine beheadings occurred during the revolution) down to the Arch de Triomph on the Champs de Elysees. The famous street itself was pretty underwhelming. I think it could've been the result of a festival that was happening on most of it. The views of the Arch as we approached it were amazing, but climbing the structure itself was possibly one of the worst experiences of my life. Obviously I need to be in better shape, but there was a small moment in the dark stairwell when I wondered how bad it would be if I just gave up, sat down, and just lived inside forever, thus shaming the soldiers whose memory the structure honors.

The last site on our list for the day was the Eiffel. I had my doubts, but once I noticed the number of little old women and small children making their ways to the top, I figured it would be worth it. And it was. Unfortunately, the Pass doesn't help you out with the Eiffel, but the waits weren't too bad. The view was breathtaking (for its beauty and because it was ridiculously cold). Afterwards, we finally checked into our hotel, which I can't recommend enough - the Select Hotel. It's right next to the Sorbonne and walking distance from Notre Dame. We were so tired, the thought of staying in and falling asleep early was very appealing, but we forced ourselves to walk around a bit and have a mediocre dinner at a leeeeeeiiiiissssuuuurrrreeellllyyyy pace. The American in us could not handle this.

Stay tuned for Day 2 in Paris...books, Bonaparte, and a boat.