Today we decide to brave the city bus system. You'd think that the whole thing would be fairly self-explanitory with maps and such, but the language barrier does pose some challenges. Helpful folks with broken English try their best to get us to the appropriate bus stop, and eventually, after some comical trial and error situations, we do.
We take the bus to Notre Dame (Our Lady) Cathedral. The good part about the bus (as opposed to the underground system) is how much of the beautiful city we are able to see.
Even though tourist season is officially over, there are long lines of people waiting to pay 9 Euros to climb the 400 steps to the top of the bell tower to have the Quasimodo experience. We choose to forego that adventure and enter the cathedral (no charge).
Beautiful energy, lovely art and the unexpected pleasure of being able to experience organ practice that day.
Caught some orbs in this photo....
Our Lady of Paris
After spending time here (we lit candles, of course), we find a little cafe and have wonderful crepes for lunch. After that, we arrive at Shakespeare and Company book shop which was a total treat to experience
This is a tiny two-story apartment jammed floor to ceiling with books....some for sale, and others to enjoy there in the comfy alcoves and overstuffed armchairs.
By now, it's tea time and we are in fairly close proximity to the Louvre, however the thought of attempting to see "15,000 works of art in 15 minutes" (National Lampoon's European Vacation) is rather daunting at this late stage in the day. So we choose to have tea and cookies in one of the cafes inside the Louvre and check out the huge gift shop, which was interesting, and I joked that I didn't need to see the real art.....it's all right here for sale!
Outside the Louvre near the glass pyramid
We managed to find the right bus back to the hotel (hurray!) and had a nice dinner (I had a cheeseburger which was tasty, but different.....very rare beef and a generous dollop of what I assume was some sort of odd tasting liquid cheese), then made our way close to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up. By now, my feet were aching (wrong shoes...live and learn), so we did not take the elevator up to the top. Just enjoyed it from the ground floor!
If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you,
it will be enough.
~Meister Eckhart
it will be enough.
~Meister Eckhart
1 comment:
I finally viewed your trip. Delightful and exciting. Can't wait to see the next one. Deidre
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