Paris Das Day 3-6

Ahh, yes. France. We have now been in France for 4 full days and only now have I found the time to detail our adventures.  We are currently in Reims and, given that the other two travelers (Gabrielle and Sharp) are away playing trivia games (and setting records on Monster Mash, Poker, and almost "Castle Bandits"), I have taken it upon myself to monopolize Sharp's computer and tell of das adventure. Upon arriving in Paris after a night train from Munich (which I found quite comfortable, though the others found less than pleasant), we had to search out our Hotel called the Hotel Maubeuge. Due to my insanely amazing map reading skills (not even kidding - I was pleasantly surprised with my ability to use a map), we found it with very little trouble.  And to our pleasant surprise, the two-star we had booked at a price hostels go for in Paris, we had a private room with a modest shower on the top floor with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It was no 4 star hotel but it was an amazing deal for the price we paid. Upon leaving our things at the hotel (we could not yet check-in because we were too early), we decided to take a stab at the metro to get to Notre Dame.  Again, to our surprise, the metro was pretty easy to use (when Gabrielle was doing the map reading and correcting Katharina - true story, mom). However, it was also quite expensive - 1,60 euro per ticket and oftentimes the tickets malfunctioned (for which we did get replacements).  After 2 subway stops, we made it to Notre Dame which sits on a small island in the Seine...I was on the lookout for the Lorelei, the siren whom Heinrich Heine wrote about in a famous German poem. Alas, I could not find her. However, we did find Notre Dame, which was absolutely incredible. There was a small line but fast moving and we got into the church after about five minutes. Really, there is nothing I can say to describe the awesome, vast, and inspiring aura of the interior of the church. We happened to enter the church just before mass began.  We had the pleasure of being scooted aside by security as the priests entered in white and red robes.  As we walked around the church and behind the altar, seeing people in confession, several "mini" chapels, and incredibly beautiful stain-glass windows, we were all the while surrounded with the constant sound of the Catholic priests singing Latin prayers.  Sharp seemed to be quite taken with the whole experience, as was I.  As is customary in Catholic churches, I also lit a candle for my Oma as did Sharp for his loved ones. And really, how often are you able to light a candle in Notre Dame? All in all, the church was spectacular, particularly the stained glass.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  After leaving Notre Dame, we went to have lunch in a small cafe and then went back to the hotel to check-in and rest.  We then went to Musee D'Orsay, finding it closed (sadly), but then happened upon the Tuileries Gardens where we sunbathed for a good hour or so. By this point, we were quite hungry so we went to explore the Latin quarter, where supposedly all the students hang out.  We did see some students from the high schools in that area but what was more interesting was the Pantheon, where Victor Hugo and Voltaire were buried.  Though we were not allowed inside the Pantheon, the huge structure is incredible in and of itself...also, there was a protest going on outside the Pantheon.  Sharp considered joining the protest, as did Gabrielle.  I have learned to just ignore them, as they have a tendency to do ridiculous things on the street. Let me mention a few in an aside: 1) They like to play follow-the-leader, where they copy my exact movements and words and follow me in a line without regards to how ridiculous it looks to others 2) They like chanting "left. left. left right left." and marching in line. 3) They also enjoy speaking in FAKE German accents...and speak in it so much that they forget how to speak in normal English. They have to think about it before actually uttering regular English words.  It is QUITE annoying, given that their idea of German is adding "Das" in front of everything. For example, this is a conversation they have A LOT: "Das gut." and then the other responds, "Das very gut" - they say that about EVERYTHING. Including getting lost in the metro or other completely not-good situations.  They are four, I swear. Okay, back to the Latin Quarter.  We found a traditional French restaurant, which Gabrielle and I absolutely loved. Gabrielle loved the mayonnaise-aoili sauce so much that she talked endlessly about how good it was.  She would bathe in that sauce if she could. Completely true. I had incredible pate and artichoke hearts.  Sharp, on the other hand, will come home 20 pounds lighter given that he is incapable of finding food that he can eat. At this particular restaurant, he got a steak that was completely charred - rather unfortunate for him, ja? After dinner in the Latin quarter, we went back to the hotel and crashed. End of Day 1.

Day 2.
This was not the greatest day for Sharp, but for me and Gabrielle it was nice.  We went to the Louvre in the morning and by some odd chance, got separated from Sharp.  One second we were standing in front of the Victory of Stand...(I cant remember the name - I'll look it up) and the next second Sharp was gone. We left him inadvertently to explore the rest of the Louvre.  We thought we might see him at the exit, but alas, we couldn't find him there (unfortunately, there was more than one exit so we probably missed each other). Gabrielle rejected my idea to intercom Sharp so we decided to go back through the Louvre again in search of Sharp. On the way, we saw a lot of pretty incredible pieces of art. In addition to the staples - the Mona Lisa, the Wedding Feast at Cana, and Venus de Milo - there were other paintings from the Renaissance and from the Egyptians, etc etc that were pretty spectacular to look at. However, after going back through the Louvre for another 2 hours, we still could not find Sharp.  We went to a place about 15 minutes from the Louvre to get a lunch of bread and cheese and picnicked by the Seine River. Upon finishing we headed back to the hotel, where we found Sharp who had been waiting for the last two and a half hours. We were tired so we crashed until around 6, when Sharp's rumbling stomach (as he had not yet eaten that day) prevented further sleep. Deciding to also visit the Eiffel Tower, we left in that direction. Sharp ate enough for two, but other than that the meal was not noteworthy. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower, where we surprised by its immense and dramatic appearance. Discovering that the line to ride the elevator up compared in length to the Eiffel Tower's height, we decided to pay for the less expensive walk up. 1665 steps later, we reached the second level. Then we took the elevator to the third level (there were no steps available or we would have done that). The sight was unbelievable (as were the number of awkward couples making out). We could see most of Paris (I think). Anyhowzer, we got a good view of the Paris skyline at night, staying until 12:00 am (closing time). We found out we were ~5000 km from NYC. Then we left. And then went to sleep. Ze end of Day 2.

Day 3
We overslept, as usual.  When we finally woke up, we got on a train to Versailles.  Actually, we got on a train to somewhere else and then switched to the right train to Versailles.  The palace was absolutely enormous, encompassing more than it would be possible to see in our half-day's visit.  The front was plated in gold and was a masterpiece of baroque architecture (according to Dr. Lamar, anyway), and the inside was ridiculously elaborate.  For example, Louis XIV had three beds?  The portraiture was also interesting.  There were a lot of pictures that looked normal and then just had Louis XIV's portrait in the middle - like, a scientist looking at a globe with the King of France staring down at him approvingly from a portrait on the painting's wall.  We also looked at his gardens after going through his chambers, which were also enormous and done in weird labyrinths and patterned bushes, and we sunbathed here too.  After Versailles, we got lunch in the 6th Arrondissement, buying baguettes, cheese, and fruit to have for lunch (and the leftovers for dinner).  Then we went back to the room and slept until about 8.  Then we went to Montmartre.  We walked up the really steep hill to see the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, which was very interesting.  In addition to having a great view, the cathedral itself was gorgeous, although the architecture was a bit different (more simple) than we had become accustomed to seeing, since it wasn't built until the late 19th century.  After visiting the church, we walked around a little of the area.  It seemed like a popular area for youth in particular.  We snacked on some crepes that we bought at the bottom of the hill before going through some souvenir shops (although Katharina wouldn't let us stay for very long because apparently we needed to sleep).  After buying a few small souvenirs, we went back to the hotel, packed, and went to sleep.  End of day 3.

Day 4
That's today.  We didn't oversleep, actually.  We woke up on time and finished packing in time to leave the hotel around 9 to go to the Galeries Lafayette for a bit of shopping.  After a rather convoluted ride on the metro (on four different trains?) we ended up exactly where we wanted to be, at this massive department store.  We shopped for about an hour, with Katharina buying a toga/dress and Gabrielle buying a cardigan, before heading back to our hotel.  We picked up our luggage, grabbed lunch at a cute bakery near our hotel, and went to the train station.  We rode the 45 minute train to Reims without a hitch, although the conductor never came around to check our tickets (which we found odd), and managed to find our way to our hostel despite their VERY imprecise directions (in part thanks to the public buses, which are probably not actually free, although we never figured out where we could buy a ticket...).  The hostel we're staying in is very nice; it's actually some sort of community center in addition to being a hostel.  We have a private room with three beds and our own bathroom.  After leaving our stuff at the hotel, we headed out to explore Notre Dame de Reims, the cathedral here (Notre Dame just means Our Lady; lots of cities have their own Notre Dame).  It was a gorgeous cathedral, with original Gothic architecture from the 1200s.  It was much less crowded than any of the other cathedrals we had been to, and the interior was also (interestingly) more bare.  The notable point was definitely the stained glass windows, ranging from original medieval depictions of Biblical stories to redone, more modern striped glass to Chagall's modern Biblical stories in stained glass, featured in the very back of the cathedral.  We spent about an hour in here admiring the cathedral.  Afterwards we were very hungry, so we went to a bakery for dinner and dessert (FYI, mille feuilles is a fantastic dessert).  After that, we came back to the hostel to plan our next days.  We're about to go to sleep after we post this, so presumably this will be the end of day 4.  Tomorrow we plan on going to the Surrender Museum, which celebrates the German surrender at the end of WWII, and then hopping our train to Calais, which leaves around 10:15.

Please note that, as Gabrielle and Sharp began to write the blog entries, they begin to get MUCH smaller.  Also note that German is a surprisingly easy language to speak; just add "das" to any English word and you will have its German translation.  It's proven fact; ask any German authority.