A Fairly Quiet Day

dear erik,

i always feel like i'm writing a winnie the pooh book whenever i capitalize things.

today we were supposed to go to the catacombs - the tunnels under the city that are filled with bones, but we spent too much time wandering around the train station, trying to figure out where to go to make a reservation for the TGV train to strasbourg using our eurail pass.  so, we're thinking we'll do the catacombs tomorrow.  anyway, now i have a little bit of free time, so i thought i'd post some pictures for ya.

okay, so as soon as i wrote that, we decided to go out for a walk around place des vosges.  it was very lovely, and there were Lots of people just hanging out in the park and wandering around the streets.  we went to victor hugo's house, which was mildly cool, and free, so that made it more wonderful.  then we just walked around the marais, which is the district we're staying in - there's lots of little boutiques and cafes and it's all very french - and looked at stuff in the windows. 

most everything we saw seems designed to sell to tourists and isn't that special.  plus, everything here is crazy expensive (like, 150 euros for a white t-shirt, which means you're paying about 195 dollars for a t-shirt.  a nice t-shirt, a French T-shirt, but still...) so there was very little i was tempted to buy, but window shopping is fun, regardless, and we were walking down all these narrow little streets with these beautiful buildings on either side with lots of shutters and windowboxes, etc.

i'm wanting to take a day trip to rouen, which is where joan of arc was tried and burned.  i'm a little nervous, just because i'm having a hard time finding info on how to get to the various sites (i did find a map of the town, but it's pretty minimal, and since i have no printer i'm not gonna copy out the whole thing) and megan won't be going with me, so i'll be french-less.  still - i really want to see it, so i think i'm gonna brave it.

there's a restaurant near us that has amazing reviews online, but since we don't have a phone to see if we can make a reservation, i think we're just gonna walk down there and see if we can sneak in as soon as they open and before any big muckety-mucks want to eat.  i'm not sure it's the most brilliant strategy ever devised, but it's worth a shot.

okay, so our plan worked and we got some dinner.  it was good, but not life-changing.  megan is very adventurous with food, so she ordered a dish where she didn't know what it was.  she also ordered a salad with calamari, and then when her entree arrived, it turned out it was pasta with squid in squid ink.  needless to say, it was a lot of squid for one meal.

all right.  i'm gonna attempt again to post some pictures.  we'll see if i can manage it before crashing the internet again. 

you know, just another day out walking...

this is the pont des arts - it's a bridge over the seine, and i guess there's something about couples putting locks on it and then throwing away the key.  not sure what it's about - maybe locking themselves together or something?  or maybe it's just  a slightly empty romantic gesture that people pretend is meaningful?  perhaps i'm a bit cynical?  anyway - it's cool looking, because all the locks sparkle in the light.

this is the ceiling of the chapel at the musee de cluny.  i know some part of the structure dates back to the 1300s, but i don't think this part does.  i also know that mary tudor lived there at some point (aka bloody mary - gotta love that) but i don't know if it was there then, either.  SO - this is part of a building that may or may not have been around a long time.  riveting stuff, this blogging.  you're welcome.

this is the cheese that was left over from my salad at the cafe de st. clair.  and some ham.  and this is what was there AFTER i ate the entire salad.  they're big on cheese here.  and meats.  it's pretty hard to get a salad that doesn't involve some kind of cheese and meat.  protein is important, but sometimes it's just silly.

this is the place de la concorde.  we were there looking for a joan of arc statue (which we never found.  we're not actually sure it's there.  perhaps some other "place") and the light was just beautiful.  not sure you can tell from this picture, but trust me - it was really lovely.  (that's just like being there, right?  "no, really.  it was totally pretty.")

all right.  i'm gonna go and try to read my book again without falling asleep.  so far i haven't been having much luck on that front, but perhaps tonight is the night!

missing you four and dad - hope life is good stateside.  love you!