No sign of the Hunchback.

Today Udara & I explored the Metro stop St Michel.  We saw the St Michel Fountain & Notre Dame.  Notre Dame is just as amazing the second time.  The vaulted celings make the church feel very open.  Last time I visited Paris we walked through the church but this time Udara & I did a little more.  We visited the treasury & walked to the top of the bell tower.  The belllllls! 

St. Michel Fountain with dancing golden man

Front of Notre Dame

Amazing stained glass windows

This year is the 850th anniversary of Notre Dame so they are in the process of restoring the organ and some of the bells (so we had a cool view of the top but we didn't walk into the bell tower just on top).  In the front of Notre Dame were some bleachers, another part of the 850th celebration.  We got lots of awesome pictures, the 5.5 euros to go to the top was definitely worth it (especially because entrance to the church is free)

New seating area at Notre Dame

Favorite picture of the day!

Climbing the stairs of Notre Dame/coming back down was a little nerve wracking.  The stairs are spiral-never-ending-get smaller as you climb up.  Dizzy but still worth it and an interesting experience nonetheless.

Never ending spiral staircase!

After we got crêpes and ate them in a nearby park...where Udara fell asleep after she ate hers.  Cute...asleep on a park bench.

Everything is Greyish-Blue

So...I forgot to admit that a few days ago I did all of my laundry in one load to save soap/water/time.  There wasn't much laundry and I didn't have any reds or bright pinks.  That didn't matter though, my (not even bright) blue shirt turned all of Udara's socks & two of my shirts greyish-blue.  Lovely, lesson learned I guess.  Separate laundry, or else!
Today we went on our first excursion outside of Paris, we took a train to visit some more of Udara's relatives in Colomb.  We had a really good Sri Lankan food lunch & I tried anchovies for the first time! (found that out after I ate them ;)  After we played poker...let's just say I wish we were playing with money.

Quod tu es, ego fui, quod ego sum, tu eris

Quod tu es, ego fui, quod ego sum, tu eris is a Roman epitaph which means 'What you are I once was, what I am, you will become.'  It is something that I learned in my art history class this past semester and it is what was on my mind on part of our adventure today.
Today we ended up at the Pantheon, resting place of many prominent French figures and former church.  We were trying to go to Pont des Arts again to leave a lock on the fence, but went the wrong way and ended up at the Pantheon.  The high arches, intricate carvings, statues, and paintings are seen on the celing and walls.  High windows bring the light into the main building and illuminate the carved figures.  Once in the crypt we walked by the tombs of people such as Rousseau, Voltaire, Braille, Marie Curie & Victor Hugo. 

Part under construction because stone are cracking/breaking

After we left the Pantheon we stumbled upon a flea market for antiques.  It was interesting to walk through and see all of the items that were for sale. 
We went out tonight to meet with a friend of Udara's from school...missed the memo that it was supposed to rain tonight.  So we were trying to figure out which way to go down the streets, in the pouring rain...all part of the adventure, gotta get lost sometimes.  Even if when you ask directions you are standing right in front of the street sign you are looking for....Direction challenge problems....this is why we don't make plans!

Paris by Metro

Udara & I have been using our metro pass to explore the city.  A few days ago we went to an inexpensive shopping area, on accident actually.  We got off at the metro station and we followed the signs for exiting, but I guess we took the wrong way, and ended up in a mall.  Oh no...budget spender's nightmare :(  We also found a place to get our ticket to Nice for the 19th, it was 9 Euros to make the reservation with our Eurail pass.  We will be taking the TGV, that should be fun!  Our metro pass ends Sunday...we might have to renew it, there is still a lot to explore! 

Fountain at the mall

Yesterday we went to the historical Maison de Balzac & Musée National de la Marine.  The second was interesting, there were models of ships from many different time periods and the first had a pretty good view of the Eiffel Tower.

One of the stamps used to illustrate Balzac's novels

One of the models & one of Napoleon Bonaparte's royal fleet

I have been loving the food in France...pain au chocolat, crêpes, quiche, baguettes, cheese...SO DELICIOUS!

Another view of the Eiffel Tower

Yesterday night we went to see The Great Gatsby, I forgot how good of a story that is!
Not sure what we are doing today, waiting to go see Notre Dame & Sacre Coeur for rainy days because they are inside (rain forecasted for next week)

Tackled under the Tower

Today Udara & I worked on trying to figure out our Eurail pass & which trains we need to make reservations for.  It is all pretty confusing so we figured out what stations we need to go to and we are going to go to the train station tomorrow to the Eurail booth to figure out which trains we need reservations for.  Maybe it's easier than it seems...
This afternoon we went to the grocery store....I can't get over how cheap the food is here.  Norway first was a good idea, start with the most expensive, it only gets better from there price wise!  We had sandwiches & chocolate eclairs....and I bought a reasonable amount of chocolate bread....it's delicious, chocolate infused croissant.  So much chocolate!!!

Obsessed with chocolate bread.

Tonight we went out...Paris at night is always interesting.  We wandered to a cool looking building which we saw a group of people sitting in front of with candles lit.  Udara, Nishadhie (Udara's cousin), and I were trying to listen and figure out what it was for.  Eventually Nishadhie asked a woman and she said it was a group gathered to protest gay marriage through poetry....so we left.  Too bad it wasn't something worthwhile. 

We walked to the Pont des Arts bridge where people put 'love locks' which are padlocks locked on the fenced wall of the bridge. 

After, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower area, we bought crepes and were eating them on the way to the tower when we heard whistles and cheering.  From the sounds at first I thought it was a street preformer.  As we got closer we saw a huge group jeering police officers and one break away out of the crowd, sprinting.  Six officers chased him and tackled him to the ground.  I have no idea what he individually did, but the people in the group were yelling at the police officers and marching towards them in formation.  It was a crazy thing to see.  After, many more police came and the crowd dispersed to blend in with the tourists around the tower.  Crazy!  I think they were chanting about oppression and anti-socialism.

Udara's Instagram Collage!

Marken Gjestehus

Marken Gjestehus was our hostel in Bergen, Norway and we loved it!  Here are a few pictures of the room we stayed in.  It was a 10 bed female dorm, people came and left every day.

We each had a good sized locker to store valuables

A bit messy....we were getting ready to leave

Paris is always a good idea.

So last night before dinner Udara and I went wandering around and ended up at The Eiffel Tower (and used the metro for the first time to get there)  It is a very easy system which we bought a week pass for so we will be using it a lot.  We will be exploring Paris first then going off to do all of our day trips like Versailles, Giverny & Mont St Michel so we can get full use of the pass!
We were at the Eiffel Tower right around sunset (9:30PM) and it was the perfect sight to visit first.  I had forgotten how amazing the tower really is in person.

Today was a very long and adventure filled day.  We took the metro to Montmartre church and walked around that area, in boutiques (window shopping....mostly). 
We also found a nice bakery for lunch where we had three cheese quiche.  I am proud to say we ordered completely in French!  We have been doing pretty well overall with speaking French...understanding is a different story though, sometimes they speak too fast!  We found a park to sit in and eat our quiche and noticed that a lot of people were stopping by and taking pictures of the mural next to us.  We looked closer and realized it was a mural of "I love you" in A LOT of languages, we found English, French, German, Spanish, Norwegian, and even Sinhala (Udara's home language.)

After Montmartre area we took the metro to see Moulin Rouge, last time I was in Paris with school they made sure to steer us clear of this area...I wonder why ;)? 
When we were in this area I had to use the bathroom so we went to Starbucks because we hadn't seen any public restrooms anywhere...I bought some random pastry for the bathroom code.  We get through the first door and there is another door.  We have learned our lesson about letting doors close behind us (see post: trapped in a lobby) So I kept the door open while Udara tried to open the second door.  Then she says "...Maybe you have to close the first door?"  Alright, here goes nothing.  I close the first door and the second door doesn't open.  So Udara tries to open it again, then we realize....awkward.....it's a one stall bathroom and Udara is trying REALLY hard to open the door.  So we laugh and wait...and wait...another man comes in to get in line.  We wait some more.  He asks us in French, "Are they sleeping?"  Udara: "Hmm...maybe..." Wait some more..."Are they dead?"  Udara: "I hope not...."  Not dead or sleeping....but an amusing conversation in French nonetheless.

After we came home for dinner we went out again and walked around the streets by Champs-Elysees.  Lots of cool views and pictures of the Eiffel Tower!  I LOVE PARIS!  And our time here has only begun :)

We also found out going to a movie is only five euros, so maybe I won't be missing all the good summer movies!