Journal: Premier Jour

besides being jet lagged (or maybe in the midst of being jet lagged), our first day we:

• checked in to our apartment, unpacked, freshened up
• headed downstairs: from our front door - to the right a couple blocks is the Notre Dame, straight ahead is art vendors and the Siene (Ille Saint Louis is right in front of us) and turn your head to the left is Point Neuf and past that, you see the corner of the Louvre. Fantastique!
• wandered the streets of Buci and settled on a cafe. For me: Frommage assortment and vin blanc, for Mr. Price: espresso.
• fading quickly - but went to the Market and picked up some breakfast, a baguette and a bottle of wine.
• back to the apartment, 30 minute nap for me in which i fell so deep asleep that when my alarm sounded i not only had forgotten where i was (in the apt) but that i was in france or that i'd fallen asleep. REALLY hard to get up- wine maybe wasn't so good an idea
  Mr. Price herds me along until we're back on the street, descending the steps to the riverbanks of the Siene and heading towards the Notre Dame.
• circled the ND and found a park bench in the garden behind the ND for me to space out on.
  Fussing that I didn't bring the right camera lens and needing caffeine, we headed back the apt for a glass of Coke and load up with the right equipment.
• back out and this time, a la gauche! we start our walk.
• across point neuf, down the street above the river
• into the courtyard of the Louvre, right through the center archway around IM Pei's pyramid/entrance to the Lourve and on through the mini arc (the one Napoleon built for his wedding)
• continued on through the Tuileries, Place du Concorde, (got some good close-ups of the top of the Egyptian Oblisk), glimpsed La Madeleine (the church, not a restaurant), and onto the champs elysees but stopping the gardens ended for a nutella eu banana crepe.
• found a park to eat our delectable desserts and watched some kids playing, a little girl pee in the park (lovely) and another little girl Madeleine's age with a lot going on (busy bee) walk along side her mom with her own stroller. highly amusing.
• continued on down the Champs-Elysees, joining the throngs of Frenchies enjoying their day-off. Not long after Blvd du F.D.Roosevelt, the street was blocked off by police --which was super convenient because we could step in the street and get a picture with the Arc in the background. Not bad.
• Nearing the Arc du Triomphe, they had since closed off more of the massive boulevard and you could see bands and militia lining up at the base of the Arc - in place du Etoile. Sweet! a parade-- or at the least, a military show of some sort to mark the end of WWII in Europe and the end of the [4 or 5-year?] German occupation of France. The pictures aren't great- hard to get close or get a good angle.
• Wandered back down to the river on Avenue Marceau among the massive trees lining the Grande Boulevard. Passed the Medieval Church with the spout for pouring hot water on invaders still projects out of the front. A personal favorite touch.
• Took a turn on Ave du President [Woodrow] Wilson and strolled along.
• Before long stumbled upon the tiny corner of town where I took one of my favorite pictures of all time: from 2001, a picture in the evening of tour eiffel with a long exposure time-- it's on our wall and you can see the glow from inside the Parisian apartments below. Mmm. (yay)
• Did anyone else know that there was a Musee du Mode (Museum of Fashion)?? Imagine the thrill of my surprise and delight. Received approval to return-- Mr. Price first told me it was closed for renovations (cruel) but then agreed that it was small and seemingly harmless. Return, we will.
• Continued on to Trocadero Plaza and it's water garden then on under Tour Eiffel and on to the Champs du Mars, avoiding the souvenir salesman like pig flu and dodging those obnoxious rose hoaxes (they shove a rose into the womans' hand and then collect an exorbitant amount of euros from the shocked and shamed man she is with)
  Found the perfect spot on the grounds to lay down for a bit and stare up at the sky - surrounded by light green trees and the tower.
• Unfortunate discovery up on leaving the park: I managed to sit in bird poo. Ugggh! Scraped it off with leaves and soaked it with hand sanitizer (a couple times).
• The walk home: about 40 minutes but a lovely shortcut through the 7eme and 6eme where we seemed to be two of maybe 10 people on the streets (apparently they were all celebrating over on by the Arc du Triomphe). Come along out of the Champs du Mars on Rue Saint Dominique where we continued past Les Invalides (giant golden dome housing Napoleon's tomb) and until the street turns into St. Germain des Pres, passing some neighborhood parks, centuries-old churches, impressive homes and Ecoles.
• Finally arriving in the Le Quartier Latin (and passing Kiki Mimi - a shop of little consequence to me, only the name makes me want to find a phone and call Mimi and tell her I found her shop. In 2004, I made her pose in front of it) and winding through the streets until crossing Boulevard Saint Michel and making it to the Cous Cous restaurant we eyed earlier in the day.
• Past 9'o'clock and pretty damn tired at this point - I apparently spoke spanish to the waiter and wondered why my brain was mis-firing and why he couldn't understand me. stammering a bit longer, I guess I finally produced french and we communicated. Mr. Price later informed me after I mentioned how scrambled my brain was that he knew because I was speaking spanish. hmmph.
• Over vin blanc, we recalled the last time we were in Paris - the now famous excursion in 2000 when we were just friends and I let him sleep on the [concrete] floor of my flat to save francs at the end of his back-packing trip. I'd forgotten that he meet my french friends. I had not forgotten that once on top of the Eiffel Tower - after much coaxing on his part- the soccer game ended that clinched the winning title for France in the Euro Cup and the town went bonkers. You cold hear the crowds singing from the top of the tower.
• Delicious dinner and a couple block walk and we were home. Bonne Nuit!

Mr. Price says he thinks he walked the 'broken' right out of his toe yesterday.

I *might* be writing all this to postpone walking again. But we did cover quite a bit of ground yesterday and I think I'll be delighted later to relive the day. Hope you enjoy it, too.