Day 2: Wed. Sept. 14th -- PARIS
Paris photos with titles and some captionsParis photos in slideshow format
We went to the Louvre and saw lots of famous stuff like Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, as well as lots of random art. I can’t help but think that this art could be bestowed on one more worthy than I, but I guess I *liked* it all tolerably well. :o)
We got some crêpes for lunch and ate them in the gardens there by the Louvre (which I’m sure have a name, though I don’t know it offhand).
The next thing we tackled was getting a taxi and moving our luggage, because of course you can’t leave your luggage at the hostel if you’re not staying there. Our taxi driver seemed on the up-and-up and was listening to good jazz throughout. We took our luggage to our respective train stations of departure and called it good. *whew*
We then walked and walked, and tried and tried and tried to find the Bercy train station (to catch our night train to Rome), but to no avail. We saw signs, we knew where we were on the map: nothing. We must have asked four different people, and while I like to think I understand French, none of them were any help (except for the last one, who told us to take the metro because we were too far one way or the other and it would be simpler to explain)! I’ve decided that “Bercy” is my new expletive. Bercy!
We got on our train to Rome with, literally, minutes to spare. We were in a Couchette compartment, which means that there are six fold-out beds, three stacked vertically along each wall. Couchettes (unlike Sleepers) are intended for both genders, and people just sleep in their clothes. Initially, it was just us, a Hawaiian guys about our age, and a handsome Italian man who only spoke Italian. I say “handsome” because it was simply indisputable. Hollywoodized, he would be a mix of George Clooney, the guy from My Best Friend’s Wedding, and, uh, Stanley Tucci. He was really pleasant, too, just so you don‘t think I‘m shallow. ;o) Later, we had a very tired Asian girl join us, and much later another Italian guy. Elissa started feeling poorly (food poising from the crêpe -- Bercy!) and missed the part where the Asian girl got kicked off the train in the middle of the night because something was wrong with her papers. Yikes.
posted by Kate @ 9:33 AM
5 Comments:
Thanks for the updates. Two in one day! It's so great to hear about your adventures. Looking forward to more.
Well, I definitely watch too many movies, because both this post and the last one sound like story setups to me.
Movie #1 -- A sweet young American tourist is on an evening bicycle tour of Paris. Momentarily distracted, she loses control of the bike and runs into a table at a sidewalk restaurant. And the handsome man sitting at the table had been just about to propose to the snobby girl sitting with him! ...
Movie #2 -- A sweet young American tourist is in a couchette on a night train to Rome. With her are her traveling companion (ailing from food poisoning), a humorous Hawaiian man, a gorgeous Italian who may be more than he seems, and an enigmatic Asian woman. In the middle of the night, train officials burst into the compartment and remove the Asian woman, saying somthing about her papers not being good. Before she leaves, she manages to slip a mysterious jade amulet into the sweet American tourist's luggage. ...
Um, maybe not.
BESS
The "sweet young American tourist" is highly amused.
J'adore les crêpes...en particulier avec sucre.
Glad to hear of your exploits in France.
let the adventures begin! will you being going to florence to see dena??
Actually, I was in Florence (briefly), but it was the weekend Dena was in Vienna. Bercy! (Okay, now I'm overusing it.) We're hoping to meet up during some vacation or other: here or there or anywhere. :o)
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