The first day in the City of Lights...

(written June 7 12:43 AM)

Well we just finished up day 2 of touring Paris. Yesterday is a bit of a blur as we went for about 36 hrs without sleep. When we got off the plane, we met up with Melissa and our driver. Yep we were those cool people with drivers waiting for them at the airport. However, we asked for our sign that read: Ms. Smith, Ms. Doucette, Ms. Wright, Ms. Cleaveland" and he said "haha", folded it, and put it in his pocket. Hello France. Then we had a silent but nearly deadly ride to the hotel. Angie and Amanda would be good Parisien taxi drivers :) Don't look, just floor it! Mary grabbed on for dear life at one point. Also, he kept blaring horrible music. "Hey there Delilah...", sad French music, and techno. Yesssss. We got to the hotel and it is great. Two cute rooms, free breakfast, and an awesome concierge. Bathrooms are slightly confusing. Shower head points directly downward and there is no shower curtain, only half a non-closing glass door. Rebecca and Mary's bathroom overlooks the street, so they became very popular after the first morning.

We then went right out to sight see. First stop: Jardin de Luxembourg. Awesome square trees, statues, and a giant golden head we named Johnny Goldenhead. Lots of runners too, even at lunch time. We then got ambitious and went to Notre Dame. Amazing. We did meet up with some gypsies (shout out to L. Cook). They walk up to people in front of the church and ask you if you speak English and if you say yes, they show you a sob story on a piece of paper while their partner comes up behind you and tries to pick your pockets! We just walked away from them so we were golden. They call the area in front of Notre Dame the Square of Miracles because at sunset, all the "cripples" get up and go to the bar with the money they suckered out of people that day.

So anyway, we check out the inside of the cathedral and then go wait outside to go up to the top to "enjoy the view". About 15 mins later into the line, fatigue and delirium hits all of us and everything becomes funny. A Frenchman sat next to me on a bench and started talking to me. He told me he was a comedian and all this stuff and then he puts on a mask and stands behind Mary. Reba got a good picture of him. I find them everywhere...

We then go in to head to the top of ND. 422 steps (around a spiral staircase that only turns left, has occasional windows so you think you're almost done every few mins, and narrows as it goes) later and we are crippled, dying, and overlooking one of the coolest cities in the world. Gargoyles are all around us, as are about 40 kids from a school, but it rocks. We got some awesome pictures, and a small hatred of spiral staircases from those 422 steps (which I counted through step 4). We saw where Quasimodo hung out and figured out that the reason he was hunched over was that the door to his belltower was too short.

We then went to get a drink where the owner ran off a crazy man who was standing by us screaming something about freedom. Then we went to another church, St. Sulpice, which is the church in the Da Vinci Code where the crazy guy busts the hole in the floor at the rose line and kills the nun.

Then we were really delerious and decided to eat at the Hippopatamus Café. Along the way, we passed the Marco Polo Gardens and played Marco Polo. I called "fish out of water" and won, obviously. Hippo Café was pretty darn good, and I may have eaten hippo (jk...I hope). We then got back to the hotel around 8 PM, went to bed until 8 AM and started all over.

(more to come on day 2 I promise)

Video preface: While at the Arc de Triumph, Mary was having sleeve issues with her jacket so Melissa and I offered our assistance. After this video Mary shouted, "No more help!"