Paris Day 2 Part 1

I woke up at seven and stayed in bed until nine. My roommates were being noisy for no good reason. There really isn't that much you can do in a cramped room like that. They serve breakfast from seven to ten, which was much like the breakfast on the plane, bread, bread with chocolate, coffee and orange juice. This time I got fruit spread, which was delicious. There were only five or so people in the lobby, eating reading, etc. Mostly loners it seemed. There were two pretty girls and a guy near where I sat. I ate and sipped my coffee while looking over my phrase book. The new phrase of the day is “could you recommend a good x to me” which according to the book is “pouvez-vous me recommander un/une bon x.” Shortly after mastering this phrase, and a couple others, a stream of people began pouring into the lobby. Every one was well dressed. They were mostly girls, and were all cute, but as I realized after a while, were all in middle school or high school. This was one of several groups of young students staying at the hostel, all with guardians or escorts. I was kind of hoping there would be young people that would be in similar situations but turns out they're all on school trips or the like, and they're all either French or German. I'm impressed because all the kids look very adult and dress much better than I do, and many people I know. I felt a little awkward, being an American and in a room that was slowly filling up with strangers that probably didn't speak English.

I took a short nap, but then came back downstairs to write an entry in the blog. The lobby was pretty empty at this point, but I heard some American English being spoken. I only saw a couple of people, but didn't recognize any. After about thirty minutes I thought I heard a voice that I knew. I heard it again and was sure. I got up and walked over to see Juan with a bunch of Union students. Juan had mentioned to me on facebook that he was going to Paris at the same time as me, but it didn't seem like we were going to meet. Luckily we were staying in the same hostel. He broke out laughing at my hair and at seeing me in the same place. They were all going to Renne for term abroad and were leaving that afternoon, for a two hour train ride. I wish I could have seen more of them, but I'm still happy that I got to run into them so unexpectedly.

Girls from Union at the Hostel

Me and Juan at the Hostel

I met my aunt and uncle at Hotel de Ville, which is s a nice place to sit on some days. There was a bunch of guys sitting at the fountain, that might have been speaking French but might not have. One had an empty wine bottle at some point. There was a couple dressed in wedding attire getting pictures taken, and many people sitting at the fountain waiting, including me and a bunch of pigeons. We walked past Notre Dame again and past Sainte-Chapelle, to the Louvre. A woman pretended to pick a gold ring up off the ground in front of me and handed it to me saying, “is it gold.” I looked on the inside to where it said 18k, but I didn't think it was heavy enough to be real gold. She wanted me to think she had found it and was going to give it to me, but it was a scam and she confirmed this by saying, but won't you take it as a souvenir. I said no and walked away.

The bell tower across from the Louvre was very nice. The first courtyard in the Louvre is gigantic, or as my aunt said “quite big.” The whole place seems endless, and from what I've heard, you could spend a week walking around inside. The statues and reliefs are absolutely stunning, partially because of they're size; at a distance they look about normal for a person, but they're much bigger. Next we walked through Tuilers garden which is quite neat with it's assorted geometric shapes; there are square trees and sphere trees. My feet were already sore, but we had a very long way to go.

Jon and Sharryn in front of Palais de Justice

Bell tower across from Louvre

Details of Lourvre

As I sat here writing, there was a photo shoot going on outside the building, so if you see an ad with a woman dressed in all black against a blue fence, that's this place. That reminds me, Juan said I look European because I'm wearing all black today. Jon said I look like a New Yorker because I'm wearing all black. Regardless I've definitely got the best hair here.