Day Three in Paris

The next morning was another where we over slept. The problem this time though was different than the morning before. Paris is actually in the next time zone over so they are an hour ahead of England. What happened was my mother and I had just been keeping that information in our head and not bothering to change our phones so when her alarm went off at nine it was already ten. This didn’t occur to us till we were halfway out the door when we glanced down at the clock and realized it wasn’t ten but eleven.

This didn’t put to big of a hitch in our plan seeing as today was our wandering day but you still want all the time you can get, four days really isn’t enough time to spend in Paris.

We began to make our way to Notre Dame and a café that was just on the other side of it. Walking past Notre Dame in this beautiful park with the colossal church on the right and the river on the left lined with the beautiful French architecture buildings was breath taking.  The weather wasn’t too brisk so taking our time walking through this park was lovely. Just like the Eiffel Tower I couldn’t stop myself from taking photo after photo. The gothic architecture was just so photogenic.

On our way to the café we had to cross this little bridge were three men in overalls were performing. One was singing with a cone, the type that they used to project there voices before microphones were too popular, a man on the piano and other man playing the base. And what were they singing you might ask? Route 66 and they sounded pretty American. Not being able to suppress a smile I stood there and listened to them sing while my mom got more and more impatient. She was hungry and the café we were going to was only about 50 feet away.

Eventually she drag me away and we went into the café. Being in France for three days no I have come to two conclusions. The first is everyone in France speaks English and they all speak it relatively well. The second is even though they speak English they wait for you to try and speak French to them first otherwise they will just start speaking rapidly in French until you give them a confused look and a “Pardon?” I have a feeling this serves as great amusement for them.

At the café we ordered two café creams and this time instead of just getting a plain croissant like what my mother got I ordered a chocolate croissant, fantastic as always, I have yet to have any bad hood in Paris.

Next was back to Notre Dame, this time to go inside. Since it was Sunday when we walked in they were in the middle of mass and not just any mass communion. Now I am not catholic but being in Notre Dame during mass is something to talk about. My mother on the other hand, although she is not catholic, is fairly religious and was really excited to be in such a famous church for such a moving experience.

Leaving Notre Dame was another photo experience snapping away at the front making sure to get all the little details crafted into the frame we then walked on to my aunt’s favourite church Saint Chelet. I can see why it is here favourite, it’s this little chapel and it isn’t like most of the churches in England. It was colourful and the walls were covered with stain glass so light peaking through carried this magical feel about it.

On Sundays in Paris there is this little market area and during the week it is filled with flowers but on Sundays the flowers are taken away and replaced with birds. Bright little parakeets and cockatiels lined up for about two blocks and we could hear there chirping about a block away. Rounding the corner to see all these birds was lovely. I love birds, I think they are beautiful, their colours, their chirps and songs, I found myself tempted to just pick one out and by a white wire cage and just take one home with me. Voicing this plan to my mother she just laughed and said, “I don’t think British customs would be to please if you brought a bird back with you. I mean you could probably keep it hidden in your room but I don’t think you would make on the train.” Yeah, she was probably right.

Our next plan was to go hit up the shopping district but once we got there we realized that since it was Sunday nothing would be open. My face fell, I love seeing the sights but I really wanted to do some shopping in Paris. My mother seeing my disappointment assured me that the next day, Monday, we would make time after visiting the Louvre to do a bit of shopping. Oh well, that would have to do.

Next I wanted to head back over to the Eiffel Tower and then to the Arc de Triumph to get pictures of both during the day. Again, I am not sure I got enough photos of either.

To my happiness the Arc de Triumph was close by to the major high end-shopping street in Paris. I mean you could see Carte from the Arc and even though it was Sunday everything was open! I was in heaven shops everywhere I was walking in and out of everything. Now most of the shops were far too expensive for me but we came to an H&M and I just barrelled in. I have never seen one bigger and all I wanted to do was just buy everything. Since that was slightly impractical I picked out a coat that was 50%. Feeling proud of my purchase I walked out thinking, I now have a coat from Paris. I was pretty happy.

Leaving H&M we looked at the time and realized it was almost eleven, time to go back and get some sleep, we were determined to wake up early the next morning.