Ok, so. If I'm going to actually do this whole keeping a travel journal thing for the first time in my life, I might as well start from the very beginning! We flew from LA to Paris via Air Tahiti Nui, as it was the only nonstop airline that we could fly using miles. Now, the fact that it was a Tahitian airline should have been our first warning. The fact that they had to spray the plane with insecticide WITH US ONBOARD before we took off should have been the second. But, having been properly fumigated, we soldiered on! They served swordfish and liver for dinner (wtf? who does that?) and three grapes and a slice of orange for breakfast. (Seriously, I could have gotten more nutritional value from chewing on my hand). The entertainment consul was one of those old school ones that plays on a loop and half of the 6 movies weren't working properly. So, I ended up watching a French movie (which was actually pretty decent-I should try to figure out what it was called) and, unfortunately for me, Shrek 4 (never again). So, needless to say, it was a long flight.
We arrived in Paris in the AM and, in true fatherly style, my dad was ready to take off and see the entire city in a day. On previous occasions we stayed on the right bank of the Seine, so for this adventure we stayed on the left bank at a little hotel called the Relais Christine.
This hotel used to be an old monastery back in the day. It had lots of little neat nooks and crannies and the rooms were lofted so that the bed was on a level above the rest of the room. Creepy fact: there were books from the 1800s in the sitting area that listed all the people from Paris that had died that year-a little light bedtime reading anyone?
So, after checking in, we headed out to have an early lunch and to start exploring. The left bank has a much more Parisian feel than the right bank-it has greater cultural flair and attracts a younger/hipper crowd. Accordingly, I also found that it had a bit more "tude" than I remember on the right bank. Although, I think Parisians are just kinda rude-full stop. Some things never change I guess. I found Paris to be a bit more claustrophobic than I remember-it's a bit like New York seating on steroids. Either way, I've determined that French food isn't my thing. I love cheese and bread, but I'm kinda off of them both after having inordinate amounts of both in Paris (the whole "gourmet" thing isn't really my scene, so it just kinda translates to eat bread or starve).
After brunch, we went to Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dome. Now, since Bin Laden was nice enough to threaten to blow up Paris right before we went, there were black beret army guards with AK-47s at every major tourist stop. They had also put in airport-style security checkpoints at each church.
Sainte Chapelle is the one with GIANT stained glass windows-like, really big. A large chunk of it was under renovation, but you could still get the gist of things.
After a brief visit to Sainte Chapelle, we wandered over to Notre Dame. This was where I noticed my camera was dead-it had suffered from a nice whack in the taxi ride over (aka being thrown into the rear trunk window) and it's brains were making a nice shaking sound. At this point, the display screen totally died and the camera stopped focusing properly-sad day. Either way, I managed to get some quick snapshots off before the camera totally bit the dust:
I had seen the inside of Notre Dame a few years ago, but I had never seen the flying buttresses around the back. Being the art history nerd I am, I got a bit too excited for my own good.
Also, as a random aside for Mel: they had that tree that used to be by us in South Yarra-remember how you sent me a picture of it before I came for the year? It's brother lives in Paris, apparently :D
After Notre Dame, we walked back across the river and along the Seine to our hotel. It was a very pretty walk-too bad my good camera had gone dumb :/
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