The Dame, The Lip, and a Tale of Two Post Offices

Sorry about the last post. As stated previously...blame the keyboard. :)

I started my day with a plan. Start at the Notre Dame Cathedral, then go on the audio tour of historic Paris (free download thanks to THE homey: Rick Steves). I was still a little upset with the Metro, plus you get to see more of the city when you walk, so I planned on at least walking halfway in to the center of town. On the way I saw one of te bike rental stations I've been seeing everywhere. For 1€ you can rent a bike for 1/2 and then get charged for every hour after that. You bike is linked to your credit card. You can drop it off at any bike station in the city and your time will stop. I tried to set it up, again: very thankful for translation buttons, but it didn't want to read my credit or debit card. :( I tried though.

I ended up caving and stepping on the metro when I realized I could get close without switching lines. Wish I'd had that info yesterday when I was shuffling back and forth! Today, after reading the guidebook suggestions, I am trying to
use the limited French phrases I know (ex: s'il vous plait, merci- using that a lot!, bonjour- a lot and even when I'm leaving; often in conjuction with the previous two, ou-where is, parlez-vous anglais- got that one, right?). Overall people have been very helpful and usually smile at my attempt. I might try to record my next attempt/encounter where I have to speak some French so I have a record of it. :)

The Dame
I got off the metro at a stop on my line, no switching train extra charge confusion today thanks, and walked the rest of the way. I ask a mail man: "Bon jour! Ou s'il vous plait?" (pointed to the map to the Notre Dame Cathedral). He gave me a look like, you are faaar away (he doesn't know about my walks) and gave me an idea that I was headed in the right direction. Positive French interaction on the day: 1! Not abad start. Actually, now that I'm trying it out all my ineractions were great today, even if we were able to completely bridge the language barrier. Oddest experience so far: now I have this automatic response to want to talk to people in Spanish. I got to speak French and "hola" or "buenas dias" wants to come out!

Back to the day (just a warning, this one will probably be long too. Grab a cafe and something to snack on so we can walk through Paris together ok? Plus, it took me much longer to walk so I don't feel too bad for you). I was making my way to the cathedral when I
found the first post office of my trip. I was excited because I could finally send my postcards out. I bought a pen outside and started to fill everything out. The pen started to run, so some include my fingerprints as a special treat. I got in line and grabbed two more postcards, and had time to fill them out while I waited. Then it was my turn. I showed her the postcards, used my phrases and she told me I have to use an envelope with postage to send the postcards. Odd...but ok. So I spent the extra monet for those so I could send out the cards (I'll reference this place later, so don't forget about this woman).

Now I was really excited. I was the one actually sending out postcards this time, instead of putting up the travels of others on my fridge (which I love too!!). I walked the two blocks to the cathedral and checked my audio tour for later; I wanted to know where I would go next so I could judge how much time to spend here. The Homey, Rick Steves, started out by saying
"find your way to the Notre Dame Cathedral." No way!! I was on it today. I was soooo good that I subconsciously knew that this was the best place to start! I know...I was lucky, but I'll take it. I put
my ear phones in and started my tour.

Things I didn't know or never stopped to think about: 1) this cathedral is all about Mary. I know this is a duh! moment (the whole dame thing) but I don't have a Catholic background so I never stopped to think about it. Anyway, it was great to see this huge building in honor of a woman. 2) this is the center of Paris. There is a gold marker in the ground which marks the spot from which all distances are measured. I stepped on it. :) 3)There is a place in the back of the cathedral where there are carvings. On of them shows Joseph "feeling up" a pregnant Mary. I've got the picture, multiple in fact, to prove it. 4) Joan of Arc has a statue here. 5) the thorns that were are claimed to have been on Jesus' head during the cruxifiction are on display here. I didn't see it because cost money, the line was too long, and I was feeling a little cramped with all the people, but I was in the same building which is close enough for me.

I did my lap of the building, and was about to leave when
mass started. I realized that they have been holdog mass here for much longer than our country has been around. It took 200 years just to finish the cathedral! It just made me feel very young and small but also connected to a long line of people who found strength in their rituals. And then I got bored (typical generation Y American, I know!) and went on to the rest of my tour. Next I walked behind the cathedral, eating cheese I snagged at the breakfast buffet. It seemed like a French thing to do: stroll along eating cheese by the Siene...ok, I was hungry and got worried the cheese would go bad!

The Lip
Back to the tour: I walked over to the monument for those deported to concentration camps during
the Nazi occupation. It was closed so I stood outside, looking in the gate while I learned about it's history. There was a sign that said
not to climb on the monument, it could cause a mortal fall. I wanted to climb on it, mostly because
they said mortal fall when it was only about knee high, but didn't because I knew my mom would yell at me. :) I turned around to leave and a man in his sixties started to step up on the monument to take a picture
the rest sort of happened in slow motion. He lost his balance
and started to fall. On his way down he clipped on of those skinning steel reinforcement bars (rebar?) that was sticking out of the grass. He knocked off his hat, glasses, and camera but popped up quickly. I was impressed, like I said he was at least 60+. Then he turned and his bottom lip was hanging on by a small flap of skin. I'm not sure he realized this until later in the hospital. He saw the blood and pulled out his
handkerchief (hard word to spell!!) to blot the blood. He had nooo idea. I walked over to help pick up his things and someone else came over speaking French. The Lip was speaking Spanish and kept pointing, saying mujeres. I spoke to him in Spanish, what I said now I don't remember I just kept saying "mas!" and pinching my own lip as we walked over. We got to his wife and she just looked at him like he was a silly old man, and I tried to explain we needed to find the police so he could go to a hospital. I ended up walking with them to make this happen since she was along me "a donde?"

We started to walk. I wad impressed with how well he took the fall and how calm they both were. I also understand bits of Spanish, much more than French, so it was interesting to hear them talk on the walk. She was scolding him and askig him what happened. He told her he was trying to take a picture. I threw in that the picture would have been beautiful. :) The whole moment was unreal. We found the police in front of the cathedral, and amazingly there was a hospital just across the courtyard. I walked them the rest of the way there. She thank me profusley and both of my cheeks. The Lip shook my hand and thankfully did not try to kiss my cheeks, and we went our separate ways.

Back to the tour! I know...I couldn't believe what just happened either, but I couldn't really wait there for them so I walked back to the park and started the audio guide again. On the walk back I wished I snuck in a photo of this couple so you would know I didn't make it up, but didn't think about it until after. I know it's better that I didn't, but still had
the urge after. So, I'm back in the park and on my tour...I walked by some more churches, Shakespeare & Company (a famous bookstore that was a meeting place for Hemingway and his crew, published Ulysses, and continues it's tradition of giving free rent to aspiring writers in exchange for working around the shop. I saw some reading outside, going back and forth between their rooms upstairs), the Conciergie (former palace turned prison that housed the Revolutionary Tribunal where people were held, sentenced, and executed including Marie Antoinette), the Supreme Court, and the oldest bridge in Paris. It was a full day!

Tale of Two Post Offices
It was still fairly early, maybe 2pm, so I decided to continue to explore and walk around new areas. I stopped off for an ice cream at the place famous for some of the best ice cream in Paris. It was very good, but I've had some better stuff at a spot in Berkeley (Ici!! Yum!!!). I went to find the Picasso museum but kept going in circles, so I skipped it. And then I found a second post office to send the post car I got for my brother and his family. I went up and asked how much, and he helpede print out a stamp for .85€, which I stuck on the postcard and mailed off. I had been duped by a tourist trap! At a post office!!! Damn. I had to laugh because really, what else can you do when someone rips you off while you smile and say thanks for your help. :) Oh well, the envelopes I was tricked into purchasing at the other place are very nice.

I started to walk back, enjoying the moment, the small village feeling. The houses that run into each other along narrow streets covered with vines, spotted with leaning chimneys, and giving me a lot to take in. I also started tp
think about my next stop, should I go north or south? So far I know I'm choosing south, but where is still up in the air until I get to the train station. I stopped into a grocery store to buy some deordorant. I know have French deordorant and Spanish tampons (TMI, I know). It feels like I am on a toiletries tour of the world. Shall I get some nail clippers in Italy? :)

I went next to the convenience store to grab a French beer and had an interesting exchange with two intoxicated men who wanted to know how we toast drinks where I'm from. I said "cheers!" but I'm not sure they ever understood. They grew bored of me and headed on their way. I grabbed a cheese pizza and some wine at a restaurant near my hotel (my version of cheese and wine tasting in Paris) and a pastry from the place across the street that made me make all those sounds that can be embarassing to make in public. Not a bad way to end the day!

Here are some random notes I took today:
Flip flops- called tongues
Murse (man-purse) very popular
Flying cigs- one got thrown down from a window and landed right next to me
Totally satisfying, finding your way in a new city
Bike rentals- I keep trying but it doesn't like my credit cards
I keep wanting to talk to people in Spanish. :) It has become my go to language other than English.
Love, love, love the translation button on automated machines!!! Had to buy a metro ticket today without it. Was only able to do it because I had went through it yesterday.
French Elvis walked by me today: funky clothes, the hair, and the biggest give away was the elvis belt buckle! He's alive! I snuck a picture but only from the back. :(
All postcards will now be hand delivered, possible exception: the Vatican

Things I've seen on the metro:
-dogs
-cat
-a man who looks like a mouse...I snuck a picture
-a long baguette...carsfully protected from germs by the napkin she held it with. Then it hit one of the poles people hold into when she went to sit down. Yum
-people from all walks of life but no obviously homeless people. Maybe I'm on the wrong train
-a metro line map near the ceiling with stops that lights up because you can't hear the announcements and sometimes it is so crowded that you can't see out the window to know if it's your stop. At least that's my guess on why it's there. Either way, I like it.

Long embraces in public: so long i thought one couple fell asleep or was meditating yesterday. There were others but this one really caught me off guard. I even paused pretending to take a picture to see if they were breathing. :)

That's all for now. Oh yeah, Paris is much colder than Madrid. Women hear where actual shoes and there are more tourists
so I don't stick out quite as much. I was starting to get lonely on day two, but am starting to enjoy my psuedo-solitude (I've been skyping and emailing at the end or start of every day). Now I'm off to plan the next leg...

Au revoir!