June 21, 2007 PARIS--day two!!!

Wow! What a day! Not only had we started the day having taken over 800 steps up to the Eiffel Tower yesterday, but we added another 800 today between all the famous sites we visited today! Occasionally, we're feeling it in the knees, calves, and feet, but for the most part, we're hanging in there. The breakfast at the hotel was awesome, and I don't think we've ever tasted croissants this good, which is a great thing since we load up on them and fruit to take with us on our adventures every day. We were off on a bit of a walk from our hotel to the Pantheon, the most famous tomb in Paris, which has the likes of Rousseau, Voltaire, the Curies, and many others enshrined. The coolest thing is a clock akin to the one in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago which keeps time with a pendulum and the revolution of the earth. We got there in time, thanks to the tips from our Canadian friends on the bus last night, for a guide to take up hundreds of steps to the top where the view was breathtaking. It was fun to see the Eiffel Tower from afar.

Then we had a bit of a walk to Notre Dame where the crowds and the vendors and the music was. We got in line and found the first part not all that captivating until we got to the priest who was in the middle of a service and saw the famous glass windows. Beautiful! But the highlight was not within the church but after an hour's wait outside in line when we got to climb up the top to see Bourdon, or the big bell. That was cool! And the gargoyles--wow! Each had its own distinct personality, and it was a blast to look each in the eye and once again see a spectacular view! I think we had four cameras going at once trying to get the best shots. Robby even took the binoculars and put them in front of his cell phone to make a telephoto lens and got some great pictures!


CARINA & MOM FOUNTAIN

Next we headed to a place dear to Carina's memory from her trip of 2004 with her French teachers. It's called George Pomipdeau Square right outside of a modern art museum complete with fountains and brightly colored sculptures. Carina took us over to a street vendor she knew who had delicious crepes, waffles, and ice cream. What a wonderful lunch! We decided to tour a floor of the art museum and saw so many unique sculptures and paintings and photos. I was so impressed by Carina's enlightening commentary on pieces that at first glance to my uneducated artistic eye just looked like fingerpainting on canvas. But she could see beyond the surface and even comment on brush techniques and lighting choices for photographs that made such a difference in my appreciation of them. This girl has quite the interest in art. I have just not seen it so much in this type of practice before. I'm learning so much about Carina and Robby this trip. The museum had cool escalators in front of glass so as you descended, you could see the whole square. There were merchants in the square, and Carina decided to get a henna tattoo (lasts three weeks) and some cool bracelets made of string and beads the artist got in Chile.
We took more pictures in the square and headed off for St. Chapel, but the lines were so long before when we passed it, we had decided to come back, and by now they had let the last of the visitors in.

Robby suggested a boat tour on the Seine, and it was perfect timing! The boat was just about empty until take off, when about 100 French school children bounded onboard, and they were noisy. We figured it would be hard to hear the English commentary now (since they listened only when it was in French), so we moved to the back of the boat. It was fun to see some of the sights we had visited from the view of the famous river Seine, and the calming waters and sound of the motor lulled both Carina and Robby to sleep.


We decided on one more stop of the day and were brave enough now, after we had figured out the buses, to try the Metro. Carina is so great at navigating things like this. So we found the station at Pont Neuf, found #7 the pink line, and ended up at Galleria Lafayette--the Von Maur or Harrad's of Paris--well, not quite, but it was fun. We roamed in the departments with a bit of tug of war between Robby wanting to look at electronics and Carina at perfume, clothes, hand bags . . . .
Finally, we went out to a Best Buy type of store to look for Mac games, which are pretty hard to find. When we found one, Robby was bummed that it was $70 and, of course, in French. I just wanted a new battery charger because mine stopped working and all I brought were rechargable batteries, but there weren't any. I did buy some regular batteries to tide us over a bit at the tax free shop at the airport, but ouch! the prices. We found the Metro to get back to the hotel and were met with many small impromptu bands of street music, laughter, and frivolity. Great day!