Erin McElvaney

Photo Gallery for Day 3- Paris

Videos:

   1. Live Jazz music at Jardin de Luxembourg

      J'ai oublie! Here are a few random things I've noticed: 1. The sidewalks are annoyingly narrow on the streets of Montmartre. 2) Also, there is a mysterious flow of water in 'gutters' along the streets in many places. Genevieve doesn't know why. I thought maybe street sweepers could brush dirt into them, so it gets carried out to the Seine. 3) Tati is a cheap crap store- everywhere and very crappy! 4) This annoying ad for mascara EVERYWHERE! 'Alert! My D-cup eyelashes are going to make waves!' -- Thanks Gen for explaining! 5) They hate you not having proper change! I've been scowled at plenty for handing over bills.

      Au jour d'hui:

      Got up and had breakfast. Gen & Elena arrived! Yay! Chatted for a bit, dressed, and Nate's electrical outlet transformer is frying somehow :( il ne marche plus. So I didn't get to fix my hair. Oh well. We tried to exchange money-Nate got ripped off: 50є for $100. :( I got money at an atm not bad. Us 4 took the metro to Gare du Nord so we could reserve our couchettes/train passes to Nice. We were so confused until Gen found out why all ticket counters were closed--flash strike! Annoyed, we headed down to the catacombs!

      They are where all of some 6 million skeletons were moved to when hundreds of yrs ago, the cemeteries were a health hazard etc. The bones were stacked high with femurs and skulls to make patterns. It was dark, cold, creepy & cool. Gen helped translate the plaques and sayings everywhere. Many long catacombs-interesting! And only 2.50є for students!

      Then, we walked far to Gare de Montparnasse, wher ewe finally reserved our train tickets. It was useful to know French bc the ticket lady said she only spoke English un peu. I successfully made our reservations. 17.50є each for our couchettes. 11 hrs on the train though! We arrive in Nice at 8:15 am.

I also used a public pay bathroom- enter .40є and use, close the door and it self cleans/flushes/disinfects! We got paninis at the gare (I had chicken curry-3.90є) and ate on the ride to jardin Luxembourg. The gardens were awesome.

      We saw a live jazz band playing, tennis, chess, basketball, boccie ball, and a huge playground--kids everwhere! No regard for safety-parents don't care! Falling face first off playground equipment, etc! I tried to take a video but missed all the good falls. We had many good laughs. It seems in France, tehre is a general and blatant disregard for rules and regulations. Safety isn't as much a deal--no liability issues. Kids climbing and playing on dangerous playground things, no protection of amazing artwork at the Louvre, ppl drinking in the lobby of our hostel when the sign clearly says 'interdit,' and public drinking! Crazy! They trust ppl more here I guess or maybe all are more ignorant.

      I'm drinking wine right now. (Speaking of breaking rules--this is apparently not allowed in the hostel) It was generally a beautiful day. At the jardin, we saw the octagonal fountain, where you can rent bateaux to push around the water w/ a stick. It was cute to watch. I remembered this (as did Gen) from Robert & Mireille movies from Middle or High School French classes. Kinda windy so the boats sailed! We saw an interesting art gallery in the park's building, too, and there was modern art displayed all throughout the huge park.

      We stopped to eat fruit and listen to the jazz. So awesome.

      We came back to our new room to check in and Nate drew the view from the window and we've said on such occasions: it's like something from a dream. It really is.

      I wrote a bit, showered, and we waited for Elana to get back from Pompidou. At 9, after checking my email, Nate, Gen, Elana, their roommate Tanna, and I went to get dinner down by les Marais near a jazz club we planned to stop in. We ate at a Thai place bc we were sick of walking. I had shrimp ravioli for 'entree', pork piquante for 'plat', and cafe for dessert. We did the French thing and ordered the 'menu', which means off a fixed-price choice menu w/ several courses. We had a lot of fun @ dinner laughing about things in culture, etc. Gen taught us French etiquette: never switch fork and knife, and always keep both hands on the table. I didn't realize that us Americans always let an idle hand rest in our lap! The French say--'what are you doing down there?' ha! We spent the whole dinner calling each other out--'oop! There goes your hand!!' & talking about accents.

**I love all the places w/ dogs! In stores & cafes alike! And they don't ever have leashes on!**

      We didn't make it to the jazz bar! We finished dinner @ 12 midnight, metro-ed it back to Pigalle (1 stop before ours). There we explored the red light district and took pictures of the 'sexodrome' and Moulin Rouge.

**What is a popper? Sold @ a sex store**

That was fun times :).

**Gen doesn't understand (neither did we, which is why we asked her):

1)Why there are rivers of water running the gutters of Parisian streets?

2)Why there are rugs in the street gutters sometimes

3)Why are there cats painted on the chimneys?!**