Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Day 3

Nanny woke me up at 6:27 this morning. I thought it was 7:30, no wonder I felt so tired. She handed me coffee in a bathroom glass and told me to wake up. After freezing my butt off yesterday I got dressed and put on a warm sweater. For breakfast I had cereal with honey, bland yogurt with honey, coffee, and grapefruit juice. Now that we know where the metro station is, it was easy to make it back to the Louvre. The plan was to take the tour bus to the Museum d'Orsay, which showcases impressionists such as Monet, but when we tried to get on the bus the driver wouldn't accept our tickets (no matter how much Nanny begged, pleaded, exclaimed, screamed, shouted, and made other forms of general complaint). So we walked to the museum. Did I mention it was raining again? Under one tiny umbrella we trekked our way, dodging traffic and people. When we made it to d'Orsay there was a line so long we had trouble finding the back of it. After about thirty minutes of waiting with little progress we skipped out of there, tired of the rain and endless lines. The new plan was to make it to Versailles by the most convenient means, but after a brief conversation with some lady on the street, it was determined that the line there would be just as wet and just as long. Plan C- Galleries de Lafayette. Imagine a six story mall with a domed stained glass roof in the center, where prices ranged from 10 to an infinite amount of Euros (the latter section being dominate). After so much rain and confusion we thought it best to head back to the hotel, where I am currently stationed. I have now successfully convinced Nanny back out into the dreary weather, in hopes of ensuring a visit to the Notre Dame. I'll let you know how that goes...

Update: The Notre Dame was beautiful. My favorite by far. I took a zillion pictures and bought a teeny tiny Mary and child medal. I was really able to experiment with manually adjusting shutter speeds, as the light in the church is dim and most pictures come out blurry. We took the metro, once again, but this time it was different because we had to switch trains. We have been taking the pink line train that moves over one singular route, but it doesn't go past the Notre Dame station. So we had to change at Chatelet, which can be best described as a human underground beehive, everyone moving for their own individual motives but in the same directions. It was a mess for us outsiders in unfamiliar territory. Nanny couldn't stop and almost took a nasty fall when she tried to step onto the moving sidewalk. I thought she was going to mow down the poor girl in front of us. After we were through at the Notre Dame, she decided to go to the Bastille. Although I was relatively certain that it was no longer in existence. Yet away we went, following the map to the area conveniently labeled "Bastille". It was quite the walk. When we got close I expressed my doubts and reinforced the thought with a point to the dot on the map labeled "Bastille Marker". So we continued on, no in search of the marker. After getting just a little bit turned around (ok, my fault), we found what we were looking for, and got back on the metro. Green station, blue station, white station, orange station, unfortunately, the colors of the walls does not match up with the color of the route. Wouldn't that be a good idea though? Back to the hotel we went. When we were almost there I decided I was hungry. We stopped at a sidewalk cafe (again) and I ordered a Quiche with salad. It was delicious. For dessert I had some pineapple thing that was thin slices covered with caramel and a small dollop of pineapple ice cream. It was...interesting. Don't get me wrong, I liked it; but I was a little bit confused on the manner in which to eat it. I cut the pineapple from around the middle, thinking that I wasn't supposed to eat that part. Now you go and try to cut the edges off a thin slice of pineapple with a sharpened butter knife and a large spoon and tell me what you think. In the end I just ate the middles I had so tediously cut out, as I felt like an idiot, believing the two Frenchmen sitting at the table close to us were poking fun in their happy chatter. So I had my dinner, and not I am so pooped out I may not be able to finish my sentence. Oh look! I made it!
g'night

ps: pictures later
maybe.

Update2: Pictures!


there was some movie set by/in the Louvre
I want to figure out what movie it is.






LUNCH!







Famous prayer tables in Notre Dame











Shutter something like 2.5"












Beautiful rose garden behind the church











From some bridge over the Seine

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Morgan
It's awesome reading your adventures!! Would you please take some pictures of flowers in France and Italy (exp. bouganvilla) if you see some.
Thanks
Helen
ENJOY

dlsearles said...

Great Job Morgan! You have everyone at moms work waiting on the next post. Keep up the great work and enjoy you trip.

luvya, dad

Emily said...

dude isnt it awesome how they always have honey????