Showers of blessing

I literally got showered this morning after I left my hotel, which I had just taken a nice warm shower. As soon as I stepped out the front door the rain came down, now this wouldn’t be so bad except that I had thought my umbrella was lost. So all I had was my red hat that I brought and my windbreaker to shield me from the storm. But I trudged my way through the down pour to get to my Metro station so I could go visit the Cemetery. My goal was to get Kate’s picture of Jim Morrison’s grave and also to see Edith Piaf’s grave. The night before I had asked the man at the front desk how to get to the Pere Lachaise cemetery with the least amount of station changes and he pointed out that the Ecole Militare station was the best one to start from. Well the thing is I had been using the Champs-de-Mars station and when I tried to find the Ecole Militare station a few days beforehand I couldn’t, even though that was closer than the Champs-de-Mars. But the Champs-de-Mars station was what I was familiar with and so I trekked over there, by the time I got inside the metro my pants were soaked and so was my jacket. I felt like a drowned rat and probably looked like one too. What everyone says about how the Metro is so convenient to use and readily accessible is true, once you know how to use it you just go. And I used the Metro quite a bit today and will probably for the rest of my stay, though I am keeping my promise to “Bob” about the taxi thing. =) Once I got to the Pere Lachaise stop my pants had dried up enough, but when I got out of the Metro it was still raining so they got re-soaked again! I found this nice little café around the corner from the entrance to the cemetery and so I had my breakfast there. Now mind you I’m having a French style breakfast which is just croissant and café au lait, nothing big like bacon and eggs.

By the time I left the café the rain had let up and I sauntered over to the Cemetery. I had cut out a map of it from one of the guidebooks I was reading that had posted where the famous people were buried so I didn’t need to buy a map from the vendors near the cemetery. The cemetery is divided up into divisions and there are some marked signs with street names on them, but it can get confusing because the older the section the more higgledy-piggledy they are. As I wandered around the general vicinity where my map showed Jim Morrison’s grave to be the downpour started again. I had seen some other visitors taking shelter in the doorway of the mausoleums and decided do that praying that the rain would pass by quickly. Now I couldn’t find a guard or cemetery employee to ask them where Jim Morrison’s grave was but I did find Fredric Chopin’s rather easily. It was right by the street and so you didn’t have to climb over graves to get to it, which when I did finally find Jim Morrison’s grave I had to do that. Now when I had researched for my trips one of the traveler’s who’s review I read had mentioned that there was a guard near Jim Morrison’s grave, well I was looking for someone dressed like all the cop’s I’ve been seeing around town. Apparently the guard to this tomb was more like a private security type so his uniform was different. After Jim Morrison’s grave I went in search of Edith Pilaf, who is that famous French vocalist whose songs I’ve been listening to while walking around the streets of Paris. That just helps with the whole “atmosphere” of being in Paris J. Fortunately her grave was in a newer division and so it wasn’t too hard to find. Then I wandered around and found Gertrude Stein and Oscar Wilde’s tomb. I was rather surprised to find graffiti on Oscar Wilde’s tomb and his had a more Egyptian feel. Gertrude Stein’s was one of those “blink and you’ll miss it type” tomb. The whole place was so quiet, I tried to find Maria Calla’s box in the crematorium but couldn’t. However there were some pretty ornate boxes in the crematorium. I still wouldn’t want to be cremated though; I am trying to live life outside the box while I am alive so that they can put me in one when I’m dead. Hahahaha

The cemetery is located on top of a hill and from there I could see the Paris Icon-Eiffel Tower. So many different types of graves, some ornate, some simple, some new and bold, others just plain old. It reminded me of that quote Dr. Bob III used to have us all say in BJU “the only reality in the world today is that people are dying and going to hell today” (I’m not sure on the exact quote but I hope you understand the message.). Now what a way to start my day huh? You’d think I’d be depressed after that. I got back on the metro and went to the center of Paris to forage for my lunch.

Now I found the Laduree on rue Royal (which is a smaller branch of this great pastry shop) but it was a bit crowded so I didn’t stop there. Finally ended up in this little hole in the wall café somewhere near the Madeline Metro stop, the people in the café spoke French and I couldn’t hear any English so I figured this was a good place. Boy was it! Their plate of the day was roast beef with mashed potatoes and it was so yummy. There was plenty of gravy and the beef was nice and juicy with just a hint of pink. The mashed potatoes were nice and fluffy, so the simple meal just stuffed me with no room for desert. However I must admit I’m getting quite addicted to having un café at the end of my meals. That little demitasse of espresso is just wonderful! I wandered the streets a bit trying to figure out where I wanted to go next, my museum pass had finished so I would have to pay full price to get into the museums and most of them are closed on Mondays. Somehow I ended up looking for the apartment Siri Mitchell said was Adrien’s on Avenue George V; it was right above the Hermes’s shop. Now this meant I had to make my way to the Champs Elysee and while I was headed there I found this chocolate shop called “Foquets”. For those of you who know Eloise the girl that lives in the Plaza in New York, when she went to Paris she ate at Foquets on the Champs Elysee. The restaurant really does exist but the prices were not nice for my pocketbook and I figured that it was one of those places with the brand name price but not good food. The chocolate shop was closed L but that’s okay because I found the main shop of Laduree on the Champs Elysee. Oh my word! Now those of you, who know me, know that I love watching ‘Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown’ and in one of the Paris episodes she goes into this pastry shop and has tea. Well I had just finished my very filling lunch so I just bought two religieusee and a pistachio éclair and it was all under 15 euros. When I left the shop I couldn’t help smiling, I was carrying three pretty boxes that had delicious goodies waiting for me to eat. Ahhhh the simple joys of life! I could’ve just ended my day then.

But there was more, the big Sephora store on the Champs Elysee has a “nose”. Now this isn’t just your ordinary nose, no this person has a special nose which she could smell out hundreds of wonderful smells that normal people wouldn’t recognize. No I am not crazy talking about a nose, you just have to do research on the perfume industry to understand what I’m talking about. I won’t go into details but watching this person work was like watching a potter make something. Did some shopping, I was good though and stuck to my budget! When I went into the Virgin Records store I saw this young lady carrying a Build-a-Bear box. She told me that there was a Build-a-Bear store in the Galleries Lafayette near the Opera house, so I headed there next. Forget the CD’s and DVD’s I was going to get Sebastien a Paris t-shirt. (I am still sad he didn’t get a Hollywood shirt when we went this summer so you better believe he wasn’t going to miss out on a Paris outfit).

Dinner was at the café in the 6^th floor (it would be 7^th here in the US) that had more of a cafeteria style of getting food. You would just pick up a tray and go around the different sections and choose what you wanted. Would you believe I got a nice large chunk of steak along with potatoes for less than 20 euros? Yup! The meat was cooked “well done” just as I like it and they had this nice peppercorn sauce that went over it. It was a rather delicious meal and didn’t cost me a fortune. Though it still didn’t pass that incredible steak dinner where I had to get to the restaurant early on Saturday night, that place is in a level all by itself. I did eat my éclair after that and the packaging was just the tip of a truly enjoyable dessert, even the cafeteria lady came by and talked to me when she saw that I was eating a Laduree desert. That éclair was beautifully presented and had such a nice filling; it wasn’t too thick or too light just the right medium, which didn’t lose its pistachio flavor! Oh my tongue was just in 7^th heaven then.

I figured out where to get a taxi for sure at night. Just head to the Galleries Lafayette and there is a line of taxis at the stand, the only stand at night I’ve seen that was just lined up with taxis. Took my taxi ride back to the Eiffel tower where I enjoyed another dessert, the religieusee chocolate this time. Chocolate from Laduree under the Eiffel tower, now how perfectly elegant is that to end the day? Showers to blessings for sure! :-)

Sunday-A mastercard moment

Roundtrip flight from California to Paris- 800 euros
5 day Metro pass- 25 euros
Worshiping in Paris and understanding the sermon in French with a friend-priceless

unexpected blessing

One of the reasons why I wanted to travel was to meet new people. Now for the past four days I have been alone seeing the sights and walking the streets of Paris, it gets lonely especially when you see the couples or groups of families walking around. To deal with the loneliness I have tried to keep busy moving from one sight to another, one great piece of art after another and for the most part it works. Then you walk down the river side and see the couples holding hands, families out on an outing and even large groups of Japanese tourist milling around…it’s when the loneliness bug hits you. You are alone in this great big city, but when that happens I just try to remember that I am not really alone. God is with me even though I may not see Him in person He is still there (Psalms 139: 7-10). So today I had planned to go see the Cluny Museum and then perhaps go back to l’Ongerie to see the room of Monet’s Water Lily paintings again. By the time I left my hotel and got on the metro it was around 9:30-ish and I decided to get off and see Notre Dame. I had downloaded Rick Steve’s Historic Paris walk and since that was part of my “to-do list” I figured why not. Plus I was pretty much “museum-ed out” and needed more outdoor activities. So I skipped breakfast and figured I will just eat a really, really nice lunch. The tour was supposed to take like 3 hours but since I did one of the museums already it only took me about 2 hours to do. It began in front of Notre Dame at ‘point zero’ the place where Paris all began with a few peasant villagers who wanted to build a church in the island that we now know as Ile de Cite. The tour proceeded to go inside Notre Dame where the rose windows were and a statue of another famous French person, Joan of Arc was displayed.

Then it took you back outside to the side of the building where it mentioned something about the gothic architecture, etc. There is a park behind Notre Dame that commemorates the many Parisian’s who died in concentration camps during WW2. I’m sad to say that I could not go down there into the memorial, not alone because just standing in the small park area near the entrance was giving me the heebie-jeebies. Notice the red sign on the white stone makes a point and stands out. The words say “may we forgive but never forget” which apparently is written in a lot of places like this especially at the location of the concentration camp itself.

The tour continued to a small park back on the bank off the island where one of the oldest trees of Paris was and another small chapel. It then took you to the Shakespeare & Company book store which was not very ostentatious so if you blink you might miss it. The store wasn’t open otherwise I so would’ve been in there! But on with the tour, it made a comment about how in the olden days they used to build buildings so close it looks like it would topple over just trying to get a spot on the street.

Then Rick instructed me to wander the back areas where there were plenty of little shops great food places. At the Place St. Andre-des-Arts there is a statue of St. Michael killing a devil. Then it was back across the bridge to Ile de Cite and Sainte-Chapelle. Now this beautiful Gothic cathedral shows some wonderful flying buttresses and inside was some amazing stained glass windows. The room at the top was just floor to ceiling stained glass windows that told Biblical stories. Amazing! The tour ended near a park behind La Concierge where a statue of Henry V stood. Actually it was on the bridge on the other side of Ile de Cite where the tour ended and you could see the other bridges of Paris.

Now after skipping breakfast I promised my stomach a nice lunch and so I went back to Angelina’s. That little café is a favorite on a cold day and I really just like their hot chocolate. For lunch this time I looked over the menu carefully and found that they had cooked lamb with ratatouille so that was what I got. Superb! I have only eaten lamb a few times and I must say this meal did not disappointed. The lamb was nice and tender and the ratatouille complimented it nicely. I had this pistachio pastry for desert and even had an espresso to end the meal. At one point during the meal I had dropped my fork, made an exclamation and the girl seated next to me smiled. I figured she must understand English and so I started a conversation with her. We ended up talking for over 45 minutes and since she had wanted to go to Sacre Coeur but wasn’t sure how to get there, we decided to go together. This was by far the longest lunch I had taken, but it was nice to make a new friend out of it.

H, my new friend, had traveled to Paris before on business and knew how to use the metro system rather well. We go out in Pigalle and just walked up this street where a small park was located. In the park was a wall called “the wall of love” and written on it in over 39 languages were ‘I love you’. It’s an out of the way place that not many people know about. We climbed several flights of steps and finally made it to the top where there was such an awesome view of the city. Paris was spread out before you and behind you was the gleaming white church of the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart). Simply breathtaking! Then we wandered in the back alley behind the church to find little shops and houses that gave the area a nice “village” feel to it. There was a hidden courtyard that we saw through some gates; it was such a nice stroll. But it was back down the hill to find our metro and behold we saw the famous red windmill. The Moulin Rouge in the red light district, lots of neon signs and there was even an erotic museum needless to say we just took a picture in front of the Moulin Rouge and walked past everything else back to our Metro.

Now for dinner I had mentioned to H about this great place where they served fries and steak. It was in the book “Kissing Adrien” and when I went to Siri Mitchell’s website she had listed the restaurant there but gave a vague description of the location. So I found it through a bit of research online. H had mentioned something about getting some chocolate for a mid afternoon snack and I wanted to go to Laduree. We found a nice pastry shop on the Champs Elysee and though it was not Laduree it was close. Their raspberry tart and chocolate flan was so delicious. The flan was thick like custard but had a lightweight feeling once it got to your mouth and the tart was flavorful. I don’t normally like raspberry but it gave the tart a nice sharp-tasting flavor to complement the sweet cheesecake like foundation.

To use up some time H had mentioned that she needed to get some souvenirs and so I told her about the Galleries Lafayette. It wasn’t too far away from H’s hotel so we took the metro back to the Concorde stop and then walked up the The Gallery. Now talk about a crowded area, man trying to get into that store was a mad house. Picture lots of cattle being forced to walk through a small opening to get in a larger field and that was how it was trying to cross the street to get to the main building of the store. Craziness! Now we had to get to our restaurant before 7pm when it opened because they don’t take reservations and there is a line. We were there about 30 min. beforehand and so we wandered around the streets a bit, but when we got back after 15 min. of walking around there were already people gathering. So we decided to get in line and were one of the first people to enter the restaurant. Now this restaurant must be really good because within 5 min. the whole place was filled up! And when you get inside all they ask is how you want your meat done and what you would like to drink. Then they serve you a salad with vinaigrette to begin the meal along with the house wine. The only meal they serve here is steak and fries. It was the best! The fries were nice and crispy without being overdone or salty and the meat was so tender. It had this nice green sauce that was olive oil based but had some spices in it to complement the meat. Delicious! Then for desert I ordered crème brulee which was just heavenly. My new friend and I parted on the Champs Elysee, her to go back to her hotel and pack me to walk back to my hotel and sleep off this meal. The unexpected blessing was that I had made a new friend, just when I was so lonely in this big city God provided me a friend. It was so unexpected and just made the experience that much richer.

Late blog

Sorry but I am exhausted and tired this has been a rather long day and I have much to share but I will try to post it tomorrow. My camera was set on this 3 burst mode so it took triplicate pictures of everything and I have to sort through it all now. I will say this God has been so good to me today in providing an unexpected blessing. Also for those of you who have read "Kissing Adrien" by Siri Mitchell, I ate at the place where Adrien took Claire for dinner one night. And everything they said about that place was sooo true! The steak was delicious and the fries were wonderful and you really did have to go there before 7pm so you can be sure to get a seat. So for now I shall just keep you all in suspense about what happend to me today. =)

Lost and Found

I got lost in the Marais (3/4th arrondissement). The plan for the day was to go to the Conciergerie (the museum where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before they cut off her head), Museum of Modern Art in the Pompidou Center, Picasso Museum and the Carnavalet Museum and if I had time I really wanted to to go the Louvre at night. Well, the day started of splendidly. I once again took the Metro to St. Michel (it's the name of the bridge near the metro stop that allows you to get to the Ile de la Cite where Notre Dame is located) and had no problem with the doors this time. As usual I was way early for the musuem and I wandered around a bit trying to find breakfast. Finally I decided to just enter a cafe that over looked the Plaza du Chatelet which was on the otherside of the island. Now mind you these island's are not that big. The cafe au lait with the croissant was wonderful, their coffee here is made so nice and strong and the croissant was light and flakey just like a well made croissant should be. I found the oldest clock in Paris which per the source I read beforehand has been marking time since 1370, sorry the picture is a bit blurry that rush of caffeine was starting to take effect on me. The clock is on the same building as the Concieregerie. Marie Antoinette's cell was small and a bit damp but it was intresting nonetheless. The same building also imprisoned the great French Revolutionary leader- Robespierre, he fortunately got to keep his head! Inside the building it was rather dark and one of the main halls they were doing some renovations so all I got were pictures of the small courtyard where they led Marie Antoinette to her last ride in Paris.

Then it was off to the Pompidou Center to see some Modern Art. Now my pass read that the museum opened at 10am but when I got there the lady at the door said eleven. Fortunately there is Stravinsky fountain and I remember this from a scene in "Sabrina" (the newer version with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond). It was right after Sabrina got sent to Paris to work for Vogue and they had one of the fasion photo shoot in front of the fountains. Pretty cool to see it up close and in person, jsut like the Mouth of Truth in Rome. Now the Pompidou Center is a fascinatin piece of architecture because it looks like a building inside out with all the metal and pipes showing instead of being hidden. I liked riding up the escalator it was pretty cool. Inside the museum I saw some rather intresting things and the question "what is art?" came to mind. They had videos, pictures, statues and all these funky things preserved in the musuem. Take a tiles for instance, now this was one of my favorite pieces inside there because to me it looks like the inside of a rubiks cube without the color so the red roses stood out against the white tiles. Then they had a recording of this guy who would make "music" from ordinary things like milk bottles, wind chimes, boxes, sticks etc. I got to sit on a piece of art while listening to that, they had these Persian looking rugs that were placed on couches and it was "art". So again I ask you what exactly is art? You can't just say it involves colors (because some of the best art are black and white), or that it involves sound, or that it is something made out of a particular element. Maybe I am asking the wrong question, what about "who decides what is art?" but then I digress. It was time for lunch because after all this thinking not to mention this rather intresting indpendent film I saw in the video room. Some Russian guy made it and it involved bricks, three sets of couple who kept doing the pose of the Vitruvian Man and a story about how the birds pushed the sky up high. Yeah I know doesn't make sense and I was lost most of the time but it was fascinating!

Lunch was when I got lost. I read my map before I left the Museum of Modern Art and thought I knew my way to get to Picasso's Musuem. I figured for lunch I would just have a crepe nearby the musuem and a Perrier. Hahaha the best laid plans do go awry. I kept walking and walking hoping to find the streets that I needed but I didn't want to pull out my map in the open because that would just scream "tourist!!!" and being a solo female that is not a good thing. I found a park and a large building where there was some kind of leather market inside but not the street I wanted. So I decided to let my stomach guide me and it found this nice cafe out of the way where the waiter was what I could only imagine a classic French waiter should be (he was older, French and could flirt without saying a word. hahaha). Lunch was asparagus quiche with smoked salmon on top, Perrier and for dessert un cafe (or if we were in Italy and expresso). Isn't it beautiful? That little cup held more power for the rest of my day but I didn't know I would need all that caffeine rush then. And who knew that asparagus could taste so delicous with salmon, there was just a nice mixture of flavors with the saltiness of the salmon complementing the lightness of the eggs and asparagus.

While I had my lunch I pulled out my map and found that I had gone several blocks north of where I needed to be. Man I've walked around so much that even though my legs may scream in pain I've gotten used to ignoring it and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. The Picasso Musuem is located inside a nice mansion but when you walk around inside you find stairways that don't match with the time peroid in which the house was built. I felt like I was moving inside PIcasso's painting. There was sloping ceilings, steps located covertly around that just made you want to walk down them to find out what is around the corner and rooms that had curved walls. Marvelous the way they did that museum! After Picasso it was off to the Carnavalet Museum where I got lost again. This musuem is housed in a large place, there was art work everywhere from different centuries with different King Louis and had the furniture from each decade or century. Man was my head spinning! I needed out and quick! I decided to walk back to the Louvre and on the way I saw a familiar green sign. When people say Starbuck is everywhere, they really weren't lying I passed two of them between the Marais and Louvre. Now I'm going to be a groumand snob and not drink any Starbucks while I am here in Paris, I mean the French have their own way of making coffee delicious why not go with the locals. Also I am going to stick to my promis and not visit McDonalds either...I might visit the French version of fast food like I did in the Philippines with Jolliebee but I shall not step a foot inside the golden arches while I am here.

Since I was still early arriving at the Louvre (I wanted to go in when they had the lights on in the Pyramids) I figure I would try a French specialty-crepes. There is a vendor on Rue Rivioli that I found and got the Jambon crepe along with a Perrier which made dinner for the day. Then I found a bench between the Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries where I sat and people watched while eating my dinner. The cold wind got to me though and I entered the Louvre before the lights went on in the pyramid. This time I went into the Richelieu wing and saw the Asie exhibits along with the Scandanavian paintings. This wing was not as croweded as the Denon wing where the "top 3: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged victory" are located and this wing even had a indoor statue garden. Seeing some of the archelogical finds from ancient Mesopotamia up close was almost as good as being in Egypt, almost but not quite. They had various hieroglyphics exhibited where you can get up close and really see the intricate design made by people thousands of years before you even came into existence. Man this is one of the reasons why I travel...to not just read something in a book and belive that it actually exist but to actually get up close and personal enough to see it. When I finally left the Louvre it was dark and I couldn't find a taxi anywhere, they were not near the designated taxi stands so I walked from the Louvre all the way back to my hotel. I wish I could tell you how many steps that was but my pedometer that I took doesn't work and so I ditched it, but my aching feet will tell you it was more than enough and they deserve a pedicure when I get back home. LOL