Adventure (031906)
Long and wonderful day today. We slept - oh we slept, fourteen hours killed our jet lag wonderfully. We slept through breakfast, but stepped out of our hotel to find an open air market right here on Richard Lenoir. We found bananas & oranges and baguettes. We wandered down the street to the Bastille monument - we laughed at the FTD lady (France's symbol of democracy - I think) on top and paused to listen to a group of horn players and a crazy drunk guy dance. Suddenly the crazy drunk dude found Mom and basically started to assault here (rubbing against here like a cat on your leg). I've seriously never seen anything like it, he was just pushing up against her and speaking broken french (?) at her. Char and I stepped in, grabbed Mom and started running away, dragging poor Mom with us. The crazy guy tried to follow us - but his drunkeness interfered. Not a pleasant first experience, but we've been wiser since then.
We ate breakfast then and found the Metro. I have mastered the interpretation of the maps and lines. I feel cool knowing how to travel like a Parisian, but I cannot (or willnot) master the bored and uninterested expression they all sport so freely. I am quite shocked at how rude everyone is, not just towards us, in general.
We took the Metro to the Eiffel - it was amazing - seeing it loom in the skyline as we approached. We took a lot of pictures - can't wait to develop them. We waited in line and paid 7.7o euros each to get to the 2nd viewing deck. The view was incredible, totally surreal. We bummed around that district for several hours, walking the Rue Cler and seeing the Ecole Militaire. We stopped at a fountain at the other end of the Eiffel just as dusk came and the lights started twinkling. Breathtaking. Some nice young people from Canada took our pictures with the Eiffel tower glittering in the background. So cool. Caught the Metro back to our hotel. Char & I ran out for bottled water and saw a beautiful church. Great, great day. More to come!
PS - I spoke with Rob tonight on a great connection. It was so good to touch base. Miss him and the kids lots but it's great to get away.
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