Paris II

Yesterday was big. Big statues, big boat ride, big BIG Eiffel Tower.
I didn't bring an alarm clock, and my room doesn't have a clock, so I wasn't sure what time it was when I woke up. Just to be safe ( I needed to be ready to leave with Phllipe at 9:30), I got up and went downstairs. It was half past six! Phillipe and Maguy were already up; she had to teach at half past seven, and he's an early riser anyway. So I ate some toast and drank some juice and, with nothing better to do, went back upstairs to bed, where I was promptly joined by Putz the Cat, who kneaded her way along my legs while I drifted back to sleep. I had to keep getting back up to check the clock downstairs, and around eight I officiqlly got up and showered and got all dressed up in my new Paris outfit. Jeans, beautiful brown leather boots, green mini dress (with pockets!), white cardigan, blue and white linen scarf and pink peacoat. Woot. In an attempt to be french I put my hair in a loopy little twist thing and threw in some pearl earrings for kicks.

Phillipe dropped me off at the Arc de Triomphe, where I proceeded to do the tourist thing and take loads of pictures from every angle, immersing myself in a herd of Asians making peace signs and grinning ear to ear. I took the stairs under the road and came up underneath the Arc, and I think I was suppoed to pay for a ticket or something but I went up the exit stairs and didn't pay a thing. Heehee.

On I went down the Champs Elysèes (Shawms Eleesays), making my first stop in a delicious smelling bakery called Paul. I snapped a few photos of the goods before being told off by the woman behind the counter. Any feelings of negativity towards the place were immediately squashed when I sank my teeth into an almond croussaint. Mmmmmm gluten be damned.

My next stop was Sephora. Now, I'm not a huge fan of perfume. Get stuck in a lift with a heavily scented woman or two and one is likely to feel a bit nauseas. But I figure, I'm in Paris. I want some Parisian perfume. Having never given any thought to perfume until this moment, however, I was suddenly confronted with a large task--what do I want to smell like? Flowers? Fruit? Love Hurts? Lust? Midnight Poison? Dark Goddess? One Chance? I sprayed and sniffed for at least '( minutes until I found something I liked that was reasonably priced. Perfume is friggin expensive! The one I liked the most was €100, so I opted for the €38 Amor Amor "Sunrise" scent. Doesn't smell much like sunrise to me, but who am I to judge? Waiting in the que I met a woman from Massachusettes. She put two sons through Villanova, so she knew PA pretty well. This was her first big travel experience, her first time in Europe. She was really nice.

Feeling a bit pressed for time ( I was to meet Maguy back at the Arc at 12:30), I continued down the Champs Elysèes, taking pictures of all the gorgeous architecture: the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, lovely gardens and fountains and everywhere I looked and listened, people from different places. Spanish, Polish, Russian, French, English, American ( two different languages), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese--it was fun trying to guess people's origins.

Eventuqlly I made it to the Place de Concorde. This is the place where Marie Antionette and Louis the XVI were beheaded, among many others. From there I could see lots of things that I will have to tell you about later because I need to go take a shower and go to Versailles!!!