John's broke his what?!

Sunday, September 7, 2008
We arrived at CDG at approximately 11:00am. We had a tiny bit of turbulence here and there but it wasn't too bad. I chatted with the woman next to me and found out that she was on vacation from Tahiti. The flight was an interesting experience because it seemed at first that it was the longest flight ever - but then at the end it didn't seem long at all. John's backside felt like it was severely bruised, he kept saying, "I think I broke my butt," because of sitting in one position for so long.
We got dinner and breakfast, which wasn't too bad, and we had on-demand video screens to use. John watched half of two separate movies: In Bruges, and Speed Racer because he kept almost falling asleep- while I watched Sex and the City - The Movie.
John noticed how strange it was at the beginning of the flight to here the different sounds that the French language makes when people are talking - the usual burr of voices that you hear when you're in a large space and everyone is talking at once, but it was more lyrical - but yet had a specific rhythm to it. I guess when you fly Air France to France, you should expect to hear a lot of French.
We got off the plane and into the airport and I was surprised by the lack of people there. It seemed almost desolate - I expected it to be much busier and I wondered where everyone else was. All that was gathered around us was the other passengers on our flight hanging around the luggage carousel - it had an eerie Twilight Zone feel to it. After getting our luggage we went to the Tourism Board and bought our 6 day museum passes - then it was time to take the long walk to the RER train station - that's where we found all the people! It was like a beehive of activity. I was confused about the tickets a little but it seemed to work itself out, I didn't expect the RER tickets to be 8,40 Euro each, but it was still the cheapest way into town.
The RER ride was different than I expected, I anticipated it being underground like the metro, but parts of it were outside. It was fascinating too see the outlying areas of the city. We saw definite differences between areas of low income to comfortable means. There were buildings that looked older than 100 years with unique styles that have been kept in good condition and others that were dilapidated. There were many industrial-type looking structures that we figured were apartment complexes - they looked like dorms or what I assume to be their version of something like project buildings. Those buildings were also varied in upkeep. I tried to get pictures of some of the interesting houses and buildings, but we were going by too fast.
We saw a lot of graffiti; I am glad that I had anticipated seeing some, but I didn't know how much there would be. There was a lot of the usual "tagging" but there was also a lot of beautiful works.
We first glimpse of a landmark I recognized was of Sacre Coeur sitting on top of its hill, shining in the sunlight.
While on the RER a man came into the train and was playing guitar and singing - we spotted our first busker! He started off singing a song in French but then he sang some songs in English: "Bad Moon Rising," "Oh-Bla-Di, Oh-Bla-Da," "You Look Wonderful Tonight," and "Rock Around the Clock," all sung with a definite nasal twang.
We got off the RER and switched to the Metro at Gare du Nord - it was a bit of a walk, and the Metro was a tad crowded, we realized that there is a big difference in activity between hubs and basic stops. At first when we got on things were a little hectic, but it tapered off. Our first official mass transit experience was a success!!!
We got off at Bastille and made our way up through the maze and up the steps to be greeted by the Colonne de Juillet, the July Column. It was breathtaking to finally see things I had read about and seen tiny pictures of. We were going to stop to take some pictures but instead we decided to find our hotel and freshen up. As we were walking down the street we were amazed by how fast the people drive! It was a big, loud, fast, busy area of cars and people - but the feel was so exciting!
We set off to find our hotel and it was a little bit of a challenge with the streets jutting here and there - it was a little awkward to navigate but we were enjoying the experience. We walked by a statue that I believed to be of Beaumachais but we decided to come back to it later. We got a little turned around here and there and we found ourselves at Place des Vosges, another place on day one of our itinerary. It was fascinating to see - but again we pressed on.
We found our hotel once we got our bearings and were greeted by a wonderful hostess, Betina, and we chatted for a bit - then went upstairs to unpack and freshen up. I had originally planned to do minimal unpacking but we (well, actually - I) had a burst of energy and excitement so I went ahead and unpacked everything.
Our room is bigger than I expected, which is nice. There is a big window that opens up into the street and our view is another hotel/apartment building across the way, the architecture of it is delightful. After freshening up we went out to explore a bit. We were hungry so our goal was to find something to eat while we were out, along with seeing what we'd find. We didn't follow the itinerary I had set so we didn't go back to Bastille or Place des Vosges (yet), instead we let our impulses lead us.
We looked for specific places that we would be needing during the week: laudromat, cyber cafe, the closest market/convenience store, etc. We set out to discover and explore! Right away we were happily pleased to notice how compressed the streets are - we covered a lot of space in a few moments. We saw beautiful buildings along with older ones that are showing their age and haven't been treated well - but the textures were magnificent! We found the cyber cafe easily (obviously) and then we continued on. As we got closer to the famous falafel place we could smell delicious aromas along with the ever present bubble of cigarette smoke that only became more pronounced in larger groups of people. Whenever a car, scooter, or motorcycle came by the smell of the exhaust would penetrate the air and it actually made the cigarette smoke smell good by comparison. We noticed the drivers here are very aggressive and impatient, I don't think I could drive in this city.
We got our falafels - John had chicken curry, I had traditional, and we wondered the streets while we ate. I stopped from time to time to take photos of architecture and friezes. I'm sure we were probably by some important building or another but for then I was just immersed in the moment. As we were turning this way and that I got a glimpse of the towers of Notre Dame and I got so very excited! It seemed so surreal to me - again, to see something that I've only read about or seen tiny pictures of (tiny in comparison to the actual sizes). While walking down one of the streets John stopped and said, "Hey, Look!" as he pointed out the Pompidou Center that was peeking out at the end of the street we were then crossing. He was excited to notice a landmark on his own without me pointing it out first. We were amazed by the reality of its size. We anticipated it to be only a three story building - but its huge!!!
We started heading east towards the Seine - I wanted to see Hotel de Ville and it was even more amazing in person. The detail on it was unbelievable. We took a few pictures and then continued on to the river. We saw the spires of Notre Dame and Sainte Chappelle and the conical rooftops of the Conciergerie - but we were on the wrong side of the islands so we had yet to see the Eiffel Tower. With the streets being so compressed you really couldn't see it everywhere - so it evaded us. The streets all seem to have a forced perspective to what is at the end of the road - and so many of them twist and turn that it looks like the buildings bend.
We were getting pretty tired so we started heading back to the hotel. We had felt a few raindrops hit us - so we didn't want to dawdle too much. We picked up our first Parisian pastries from a little crowded pastry shop and made our way back to rest. We called home to let our folks know we were safe. We tried to stay awake until at least 8 o'clock, but it didn't work - we were too tired - we decided to go to bed at 7.
It was an awesome first day!!!
-Karen