Paris on Friday, Part 1

Well, shoot.  They are out of order - So this blogging thing IS NOT like riding a bike.  How did I do it?  I guess I'll figure out how to tell this story backwards. lol

Remember these 2 - I'll come back to them later. lol

HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY

(early)

If we said it once we said it a thousand times.  I STILL CAN"T GET OVER HOW BIG IT IS!!!!!  The tower is absolutely amazing.  That was the first thing we went to see.  Our hotel was down along a main road by the Seine River from the tower.  It was about a 15 minute walk.  

We decided that since we had a half day on Friday we would save the major sight seeing for Sat.  We decided to head to this "artist market area directly behind the cathedral."  This place is famous for street artists & lots of crepes.  Some of our most famous artists got their start here, so we thought why not.  It'll be a great place to get souvenirs.  So off we went.  We found it on the map, figured out the stops for the metro, bought our tickets, and headed out. I have had 2 years of French in high school and another 2 in college.  I can kind of figure out what is being said as long as they speak slowly or I can read it.  That tidbit was for informational purposes to understand what's coming up.  Once we figured out that there is the metro & a train, both of which are underground at most terminals, we could go anywhere in the city we wanted.  We headed to our stop.  We only had a few more stops before we'd get to the area of the artists market.  At this stop the announcer immediately started speaking VERY FAST about something.  Most of the people started fussing & getting off the subway.  Shoot, what do we do?  Everyone is looking confused, but not all exit.  I figure there must be a delay.  About 5 minutes later another VERY FAST announcement is made.  More people grunt, check their phones, & then exit.  I guess we should exit too.  What now?  We stand there for a bit like "the stupid Americans" (will tell that story later) that we are.  We try to figure out an alternate route by looking at the metro map.  Doesn't seem easy to get where we want to go.  We finally find 3 police officers.  They send us on a trek.  We can get on the train and then walk a block to where we would have gone to begin with.  OKay, I'm good with that.  But still, what is going on?  Half way down the subway tunnel, we find a screen with announcements.  Hhmmmm.  Seems there's been an accident with a passenger down the line.  Looks like it's going to be shut down for a while.  Oh, good, glad we didn't just sit there.  Sorry passenger......

Notice picture above, there are ambulances & police & hazmat teams & such EVERYWHERE.  So many that we didn't notice the entrance to our terminal until later.  I don't remember ever seeing so much caution tape in one area before.  The accident happened there.  And apparently it was pretty serious.  (yes, I feel bad about it now) 

We found this really neat little park area.  This wall is where some film was shot & some famous French actress did something there.  The words "I love You" are in so many languages.  It was neat - I told myself I'd look it up but still haven't done that yet.  Need to add that to my to do list. lol

Now, let me start off by saying, Andy & I have both been in numerous countries on different continents.  By now, you would think we would learn that everyone besides Americans translate distances & travel differently.  Our directions were once we got off the metro that it would be just up the hill..... Here we go.

And just for the record, we had already walked up a hill (at least what we'd call a hill at home) to get to this point.  But it seemed that we needed to climb these stairs.

 Well, that wasn't so bad.  The view is nice.  But where are all the artists that everyone talks about?  And I must admit the cathedral was a little disappointing. 

 Oh, where are all those people going?  Another set of stairs?  Really?

 Well, the views do get better each time but still I am not seeing what we are supposed to be finding.

 The buildings in this area, are exactly what I expected to see in Paris.  I wasn't disappointed.

Once we walked around the area & noticed people taking the lane to the right, we decided to follow.  AH - there it is, up another hill and behind THAT cathedral.  The first one we saw must have been the country one built for those who don't like to go to the big church. ;0)

I don't know if I ever got any pics of the artists, but it was filled with LOTS of people painting, coloring, drawing, etc.  They would create masterpieces of famous landmarks or of you.  When you get tired, you can sit down and enjoy a crepe and watch all the people.  I guess that's why I didn't get any pictures there because I was too busy staring at people while I hung my mouth wide open in amazement. 

Paris: