Today I woke up and again walked around the Notre Dame, there were many tourists waiting to go in the Notre Dame so I opted to just take photos from outside. The architecture in Paris was so beautiful and it even reminded me of some Switzerland cities I visited in the ‘French’ area. Paris is a city filled with history. I learned that the gargoyles on the outside of the Notre Dame were built to drain the water from the roof since their mouths were open and had openings to let the water drain. I then went to the Montparnasse area and I bought an umbrella since it was forecasted to rain. I even got to see a French university and it was so pretty. Grace and I went to one of her favorite crepe shops so we got a crepe to eat for lunch and it was very good. I wish I had a crepe to eat right now. The nutella crepes were only 2 Euros, the food is much cheaper than the food in Switzerland. After our lunch, we rode the metro to the Eiffel tower since I wanted to maybe climb the tower, but the line was unbelievably to long, and I did not want to wait in that line. Our next stop was Montmarte, it is Paris’ highest elevation, and it once was a farming community with windmills all around. It was a very quaint and pretty part of Paris, with small roads and alleyways, tourist shops and beautiful scenery. At the top, you can see mostly all of France. We then walked over to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. It has gleaming white domes that tower over Paris like a church of the 12th century. We walked inside the church and then walked the 326 steps up the tower. The view from the top was pretty phenomenal; there were many buildings and houses crammed all around. You could even see the Eiffel tower in the distance. I actually preferred to see the Eiffel Tower in the distance versus walking up the actual tower. The view was pretty cool, but it is hard to tell what specific things are in the distance since I am not that familiar with Paris. We enjoyed gelato as we were walking around the streets. I even got some souvenirs. There was even an artists square with artists painting and selling their paintings. After our Montmarte adventure, we headed back to see the Arc de Triomphe. It is the largest triumphal arch in the world; it is 161 feet high and 144 ft wide. The arch was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 and there are hundreds of names of generals who commanded troops in Napoleonic victories. The arc is located at the western end of the Champs-Elysees. Champs-Elysees is the main boulevard of Paris filled with designer shops, many people and shopping galore. After our journey down the Champs-Elysees we reached the place de la Concorde. It is an octagonal traffic hub built in 1757 to honor Louis XV and it is one of the world’s grandest squares. There was an Egyptian obelisk which was carved in 1200 BC, the oldest man-made object in Europe, and was presented to France in 1829 by the viceroy of Egypt. Our next stop was the Jardin des Tuileries. It was filled with statues and chairs to relax and enjoy the scenery. We continued down the path until we reached the Musee du Louvre. We did not go inside, but the gardens outside were beautiful. I even had a picture taken with the glass pyramids in the background. There were gypsy women all around, I was warned to ignore them; they ask if you speak English to try to sell you various things or what not. My friend, Rene, told me that she got approached by a gypsy and got asked if she lost a ring, Rene said no but the gypsy gave here the ring and said she can keep it, then demanded that Rene pay her 2 Euro for the ring. So, I just ignored anyone who asked me if I could speak English, I felt rude but it was safer that way. We then rode the metro back to Grace’s house, so I could get my bag and then eat dinner before I had to leave. I was able to meet the family that she was living with, so that was nice. I even got to meet her roommate from China. It was a very long day and we accomplished a lot of sites to see, I was very pleased. We hopped back on the metro and went to the area of the train stop. We grabbed a bite to eat just before my train departed. I was off back to the land of the Swiss. I had one change over in Strasbourg. The train was 20 minutes late, and after I boarded it did not leave until another 40 minutes later. So arriving in Basel was delayed. I slept overnight, well a few hours, in a hostel, a all female mixed dormitory room, and then woke up at 5am to catch a train back to Adelboden. I was working the next day so I had to be back before 9am.
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