paris, day 2

a pensive gargoyle at the top of notre dame cathedral.



paola and i in front of the eiffel tower.




today we went and ate at a nearby cafe; this is the first time in a long while that our hotel did not have breakfast, and it is just as well, since the hotel breakfast at our last hotel was garbage. in any case, we had coffee and crossaints, which held us over well enough until lunch. after that, we decided to go inside notre dame cathedral.

notre dame cathedral is only the second major church that we went into during this trip (the first being st. peter’s basilica at the vatican, and the second being the church at pisa). paola said she had gone before, and it was worth it, so we went in and even paid extra to go up the towers. it was neat up there becuse we could see the whole city of paris around us. we also got close up views of some of the neat gargoyles, and the intracacies of the architecture. when we got back down, paola noticed that we forgot to go up the bell tower, which is where quasimodo lived in hugo’s ‘the hunchback of notre dame’ (i assured her that he was just a fictional character, but it was all the same to her). realizing our mistake, she wondered if they had an elevator in this nearly thousand year gothic cathedral, becuase she wasnt about to walk up the stairs again. so we didnt see the bell tower, but we did go inside the church. it was interesting because there was actually a service being conducted. this was the first time that we saw a full service (the church was filled with people) in all of the churches that we had been to (in rome, however, we saw a small wedding). it was neat to see all the priests at the front conducting their mass. looking around, we saw all sorts of neat things inside the cathedral, including fine sculpture (including a statue of joan of arc), stained glass windows, and some neat paintings (though no paintings that i found too intriguing).

after the cathedral, we stopped back at the hotel to upload my pictures (i took so many in notre dame that it filled up the memory card), and then went to lunch at the same place we had breakfast yesterday, and dinner last night. from there we walked to the louve, and saw the whole outside (we will actually go inside one of these days). it was neat, and the pyramids by im pei were neat too (though because i had seen so many pictures, it could only effect me so much). we walked around the great garden outside, in the front, and went to a small carnival that they had set up nearby.

becuase it was up the street, i wanted to see the paris opera house, which is a great work of architecture. so we went up there and saw it, and it was neat, especially since i didnt really like it in the pictures that i had seen. seeing it up close it looked much better, and much more amazing. then we went all the way back down to the louve, becuase from there we would take the main avenue, champ de elysees to the arc de triumph. so we walked along that tree lined boulevard, past all the shops (not without making some sort of clothes purchase, though), and saw the arc. it was cool. it was certainly bigger than i thought (even though all the pictures make it look big too). the sculptures on it were neat as well.

from the arc, we wanted to go down and see the eiffel tower. we took a subway because we were getting tired from all the walking. so we overshot where we wanted to be by several blocks, but oh well. the eiffel tower is a big monument to shittiness. i didnt think it would look so crappy, but it did. it isnt really anything, anyway, except for a big tourist trap. even though i took enough pictures, i let everyone within earshot know my opinion. i still cant put my finger on it, but it reminds me of something from knott’s berry farm, in my childhood. it is as crappy as it looks, and it is the one bad thing that i could say about paris (everything else being great). from there we took a walk and saw a couple of neat other buildings on the way home: the hotel de invalids (which is some building dedicated to veterans and has a big gold dome), and some other palace just opposite of the awful tower (some palace or another).

i really had to use the bathroom (number one) and saw one of the pay toilets on the street. it looked like a space pod, in which you pay forty cents, then the station door slides open. i was amazed by it because it was so clean. in fact, it says on the outside that this space age toilet unit self cleans itself after each use (i didnt get to see who used it before me, so i cant confirm if they left a big mess to be cleaned up or anything). in any case, looking around the pod, it appeared as though the insed had been given a big shower, since everything was wet, and it smelled good (although i would still hesitate before sitting on the seatless toilet (i would end up sitting down if i needed to, though))! while taking leave of my urine, i wondered if i should test the unit by splashing some on the seat. without intending to do so, as though it were subconscious, i then did splash the seat! after finishing, i looked for where i should flush, and could find nothing. i suppose that is part of the self cleaning process. since i did not drink enough water throughout the day, it would certainly have been clear to the next user if the toilet self flushed. in any case, i left, and in my excitement with this amazing toilet, i told paola all about it. it was only because we didnt have anymore change that i didnt go back to see if, in fact, it had all been cleaned up (toilet flushing and all). i will be wondering how clean that bathroom got all night now, not sure if i will be able to sleep tonite. as far as i can tell, though, that was one pay toilet that was worth it! next time we will eat at the mexican place and i will put the toilet unit to the test, making sure that i have eighty cents to conduct the experiment.

after much debating, we decided to walk home, rather than take the subway (we were really tired, so it was a hard decision to make). in any case, we came across the rodin museum (which was closed, but at least now we know where it is), and some neat small cafe. it was where a lot of the literary figures and artists liked to hang out; it might be fun to have coffee there, but not tonite. we ended up eating sushi at a place near home.