We'll Always Have Paris...

Thursday started early: 4 a.m. to be exact. Our hero, Roger, arose with us at that ungodly hour to drop us off at Waterloo Station to catch the train to Paris. Chris even poked her head into the kitchen before we left, since we won't be seeing her until late Monday afternoon at Canterbury. Once we found the entrance to the train station, things went smoothly. It's a strange sensation to be travelling that fast on the ground (186 miles per hour across northern France!), descend into a tunnel and pop up in a different country. The first thing we noticed was that the world was at rights again; that is, people were driving on the right side of the road! The problem was that now they were talking gibberish.

We had decided to try the walking route; when we left the Gare du Nord, we headed south toward Ile de Cite. During the walk there we began the comparisons. Paris around Le Gare was something like NY on 7th Ave in the low 40s. The streets and sidewalks were wider than in London, more littered and more familiar.

The Ile de la Cite, the section of Paris that contains the Palais de Justice and Notre Dame is like something from a book. Or more specifically, movies. Seeing the front of the cathedral took me back to visions of the Hunchback. We were able to go in and look around the Gothic Cathedral and of course, light a candle, as always.

We continued our hike along the Seine. We'd decided that one day was not enough to spend in any museum or on any one thing, so we opted for the overview. We walked along a river path where yachts and tour boats were docked. As at home, during these last few weeks of school, there are dozens of field trip groups. Kids are the same where ever you find them; teachers yelling at them sounds the same even in a different language.

We arrived at the Louvre and satisfied ourselves with a tour of its outside. That is almost enough! The building is awesome; the majesty of the plaza in the middle is contrasted by the modernity of the pyramid entrance added in recent years. One of these days we'll go back and spend the week that must be necessary to tour such a vast place.

We continued along the Seine until we had a great view of the Eiffel Tower. It's an amazing sight. I didn't regret foregoing the trip to the top; you know my opinion of high places. It was really enough just to get the view of it from across the river. From there, we continued to the Arc de Triomphe. The area between the Louvre and the Arc is beautiful. It's a straight shot, and coverage of the Tour de France in recent years made it seem very familiar.

On the way there we stopped for lunch at a little cafe, where I had L'Orangina with my quiche in honor of Shawna. The man who first waited on us spoke no English, but was pleasant enough in helping us with our order. When we came back in to choose pastries for dessert, the owner was behind the counter. In somewhat halting English, he expressed his joy that we were there, saying: I love Americans. Welcome to Paris. That was certainly an unexpected surprise. While we're not sure he represented the majority of the French, it was great to hear it from someone.

We'd been advised by several people that Montmartre was the section of the city not to be missed. As the name implies (Mont) we were ready to climb the hill. At the top sits the church of Sacre Couer. Because of the route we chose, (taking us past the Moulin Rouge), we came at it from behind. We climbed into a much more traditional area of narrow winding streets and dozens of shops and cafes. We stopped near the top of the hill at a cafe, since it was approaching the time for afternoon tea. (See how English we've become!) Since we were in France, I substituted red wine for tea. We were treated to an amazing view of the city and still had more climbing to do. After a much-needed break for our feet and some time to enjoy the view, we hiked up to where the tram and tour buses were letting out the crowds.

Sacre Couer was everything our friend Chris had promised it would be. A Romanesque Basilica, it was as different from the Gothic Notre Dame as could be. The sacristans took every effort to shush people and make sure that is was also maintained as a place of worship. We spent some time inspecting it and then discovered the stairs and park to the front. If it's not the highest point in Paris, it certainly has one of the best panoramas. We listened to a singer who entertained the crowd with Billy Joel songs -- in English - and his guitar, and just took in the view.

We made the trip down, discovering on each level some new beauty: fountains, statues, gracefully curving stairs. We were glad that we had done it "backwards" since the best was always yet to come. Looking up at Sacre Coeur from the bottom was as good as discovering its beauty from the inside.

Dinner was at a little restaurant where the owner lied to us about the size of the pizza so that we would order two. He seemed glad we were Americans, but for monetary reasons! Then we finished our trip to the train station and settled in for the ride home. By the time we came into Waterloo station, used the Tube to get to London Bridge and bought our train tickets to Honor Oak Park (our home away from home), we were feeling like pros. But really tired.

Roger greeted us with an offer of a glass of wine and the assurance that our grueling day had left us looking no worse for wear, and after a relaxing chat, we went off to bed to rest up for our day off. Tonight we join him at Trafalgar Square.