Day 109: Paris, France

Had a great day today.  Paris is a really fantastic city.  And I am really glad I am getting to visit.  We woke up this morning around 9h and it took us a while to get out of here.  We waited for Laura and Jenny to come over after they took Erin to the airport.  Once they got settled and we left, it was a little after noon. 

Rehana and Laura waiting to leave.

Once we were all ready, we walked to the RER station and took it to Notre Dame.  It was really cool to see it in person.

Me, in front of Notre Dame.

After we stood outside of Notre Dame for a while, we decided to go get lunch.  We walked around for a while, until we found a great.....

KEBAB PLACE!!!

These kebabs were huge and really, really good. 

While eating, we met up with Duke, and then Matt came and joined us as well.  Once everybody was done eating, we went back to Notre Dame and went inside.  It is a really beautiful building.  In 2013, it will be 850 years old.  Pretty impressive. 

It is such a grande eglise.

There are lots of beautifully intricate stained glass windows.

Cool.

Neat.

There were A LOT of people there.

Really beautiful detail.  I bet they clean it soon.

Flying buttresses.

After we finished at Notre Dame, we started our very long walk to the Champs-Élysées.  It was a very cool walk, though, and I had a lot of fun exploring Paris.  We walked through the Hotel de Ville, which is the city hall and surrounding region, AKA the 4th arrondissement.  It was pretty cool.  Lots's of stores including 2 H&Ms, 2 ALDO's, 2 ZARA's and, at least one of everything else. 

Here's Jenny and Rehana at the ice rink outside city hall.

Vegggies at a nearby farmers market.

Various meats being prepared in the farmers market.

As we walked, we ran into the Louvre, which was pretty cool.  That building is HUGE. It was pretty cool to see it.  I can't wait to go inside. 

Here is me in front of I.M. Pei's monstrosity.  I actually think it is really cool.  The Parisians are pretty proud of it now, actually.  Probably after they figured out that people think it's awesome.

Glad I got to see it at night.

One of them always has a scarf on their head.

Finally, we made it to the Champs-Élysées.  It was pretty cool to be there after seeing it at the end of so many Tours de France.  There was a HUGE Christmas market along the street.  There were probably several hundred vendors set up in tents along the street.  It was very cool.

I got one of these sausages, and it was AMAZING.

Here is the marché de noel.  Pretty popular.

This was the busiest street I have ever been on in my entire life.  I have never seen a place so crowded.  Except that metro train the other night, but that is different.  There is a really great energy in the area, and it was a lot of fun.

The whole street is lined with these light installations.  They are pretty cool.  They change colors, but they are almost always blue(surprise).  At one point, they were red, white and blue, in honor of America.

At the end of the street, is l'Arc de Triomphe.  We all know what that is.  It is really big.  I was pretty surprised, actually.  I hadn't quite understood it's magnitude. 

Arc. Me.

We debated going to the arch, but we did.  It was a lot of Euros to go up, but, because of that OFII paperwork, I am extended most of the rights of a French citizen, including free entry to sweet stuff.  The climb to the top was tough, but incredibly worthwhile.  The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking.  I was not prepared for how great it would be.

Duh.

Traffic, and la Roue de Paris

The opposite direction.  This is La Grande Arche de la Défense, built in the 80's as a modern contrast to l'Arc de Triomphe.

Once we finished here, we were all very tired, and we went home.  The metro ride was fine, and we spent a few hours hanging out in out hostel. 

I wasn't sure if I was going to like Paris or not.  I have never heard the best things about Parisians, but overall, I think it is a great city.  I don't know, yet, if I'd want to live here, but it has been a lot of fun so far.