Europe Trip: Day 3, May 23rd

Despite how much I wanted to sleep in, I once again woke up far too early. This time around 7-8am instead of 6-7am the day before. I sent out some CS requests for Munich, and ended up taking my shower before Igor got up. I then started to plan my route that I wanted to take during the day, using the metro map as a guide. I was finishes up the planning around 10-10:30am, which is when I knocked on Igor's door to see if he wanted to come with me or if I should just go alone. He was already getting up and told me that he had some things that he had to do and we could meet later on that evening. Before I left he gave me some hints on which connections would be best to take using the metro. I wrote that down in my notepad and set off around 11am.

The day started out looking a little cloudy, but pretty sunny, so I decided to finally start wearing one of my shorts since I had been quite hot the day before when it was really sunny and warm. Well, as Igor is fond of saying, the weather in Paris can change within minutes. By the time I got to my first stop, the Arc de Triomphe, it had completely clouded over and began lightly raining. Luckily it never rained that hard, but still it wasn't the nicest of days.

The metro station I got off at exited right across from the Arc, so I could see it, but when I saw it I also noticed about half of the 12 or so streets that branch out from the Arc. So I was wondering how the hell I could cross with that much traffic. After wandering around a bit aimlessly, I realized that there was another underground entrance! It turns out they have a couple ways of going underground and reaching the Arc. So I went under and got in line to buy my ticket, and then came above ground underneath the Arc.

After walking around a bit admiring some of the reliefs on the side, I started the climb up the spiral staircase to the top--the first of many to come that day. I reached the top without having to take a break, which is definitely a good thing. And there were a couple inner chambers with different statues or more modern exhibit-like areas. Finally after a few more stairs you come out and can walk around the entire top with an unobstructed view of Paris. From what I am told the view is much the same from the top of any of the large buildings, whether it be the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, etc. It was quite nice, and I spent a good half an hour or so up there. I even had some German tourists take my picture.

I crossed under the street again, coming out right in front of the metro. Funny enough there was a mime right there and I snapped a picture of him before it started raining again and I sought shelter in the metro station. I then took it, with one connection, to Sacre Couer in the Montemartre neighborhood. Sacre Couer is a Catholic basillica that was designed in a very Byzantine-esque way, which was interesting to see. After walking up a couple streets I got a good view of it. There were the usual people trying to sell you useless crap, but here they were much more aggressive than at any of the other tourist places. Two different people actually grabbed me while they were trying to get my attention to sell their stuff. I just kept saying no/non and didn't make eye contact. It was weird because most of the other people like that at say the Eiffel Tower will move on as soon as you say 'non' and hardly bother you at all.

After walking about inside the basillica I followed the signs to the Dome and Tomb, which cost 5 euros. What awaited me was yet more stairs. And once you got to what you thought was the top, there were more stairs along a walkway. At the top there was a great view and you could walk all the way around the dome, seeing a similar vantage point as on the Arc de Triomph. On the way down it was especially slick, since parts were outside and the rain on stone steps is not a good combination. Inevitably, I was the one idiot who fell on my ass. Luckily I only scraped my elbows minorly and hit my thumb a bit, which now has that thing where some blood is under the nail. I hope that heals okay. It doesn't seem to be as bad as some I have had in the past.

I walked around the Montemartre neighborhood, which has a different feel than other places in Paris. The stores were more open, and close to the street. It is hard to explain. Being the bigshot I am, I thought I would take a bit of a shortcut to get to the metro station, and of course I ended up on the wrong street who the hell knows where. Eventually I realized that and turned around, and on the way back at about 3pm I decided I was pretty hungry and stopped at a Turkish place. It was the first bit of meaty gloriousness that I had had since arriving in Paris.

Igor had given me an extra phone he had with 10 or so free minutes a month in order to call him, so we could meet up somewhere. When I called him at 3:30 or so, outside the Turkish place, he said that he still had some stuff he was doing and that I should call him again in an hour and tell him where to meet me. I said okay.

I finally found the metro station, and decided to skip going to Notre Dame, after all the last thing I needed was more stairs to get to the top of those towers. So I went to my last planned stop of the day, the Latin Quarter. It was only a couple more metro stop anyway.

The first thing I came upon was this big garden/park, so I thought why not and headed in. From what I saw it had all sorts of things from exhibits on geology and evolution to a zoo. It was huge. I didn't have time, though, so I just walked around the park area a bit and then headed out. The signs said that the Pantheon was up a ways, so I started walking. Of course I got lost again and decided to walk towards where I thought it was (they suck with their signs and seem very erratic at where they place them). But even going where I thought it was I couldn't find it, so I asked a couple of guys who were playing soccer with their kids where I was, and then where the Pantheon was. Turns out it was up the same street I had been heading up, I just hadn't gone far enough. So I guess that was another lesson to just follow your instincts and things should usually turn out alright, the problem comes when you question it.

I had called Igor again from outside the garden and he said he was on his way, but it would take him half an hour or so to reach the Latin Quarter. So when I reached the Pantheon I messaged him saying that was where I was. As I walked around it, and this thing is huge, I saw a crowd of people outside a church and there were some bells going off even though it wasn't the turn of the hour. Then I saw a bride and groom come out, so I had just happened to come across a wedding! I watched for a little while, but then decided it would be best to make my way back to the metro where Igor would be coming out of.

It wasn't easy, but after some use of a map and my gut, I ended up on the right street. And right when I found the metro, Igor had just came out and was headed away from me. So I ran and caught up with him. He had thought I was still at the Pantheon. If I hadn't caught him there, it would have been a huge pain with us at different places looking for each other.

We walked around a bit more, and I finally had to tell him that I needed to find a place where I could buy a bottle of water. So he found a grocery store and I bought one, man did that taste good. Then I had him take a break at some monument, so my poor feet got a little rest.

At 7:30pm we met up with a friend of his, a New Yorker that is living and working in Paris. First we had a drink, then went to a vegetarian restaurant that Igor had made reservations at. I ordered a stuffed sweet pepper dish that had rice, mushrooms, and some other stuff inside. It was pretty good.

Then we wandered around a bit, until saying good-bye to Andrew (Igor's friend) around 10:30-11pm. On the way back home we stopped off at the Eiffel Tower so I could see it all lit up. I don't think the pictures will turn out that well, but it was cool. We made it home around midnight, and on the metro back I was starting to nod off--I felt like dad watching TV. So I went to bed right around midnight, and this time I was able to sleep in until around 8:30am.