An American...or two...in Paris

Continuing the journal entries from last time...

Le 26 Decembre
Today was a day of waiting. I awoke this morning and waited in the hostel until it was time to leave to go get Sarah. When I reached Gare du Nord, I waited 30-45 minutes for the RER B because there was some sort of problem with its normal circulation. When I finally arrived at the airport, I spent an hour and a half waiting at Sarah's arrival gate surrounded by Muslim women who emitted screeches akin to Xena, warrior princess, everytime they greeted someone they knew. I finally found Sarah (her luggage WOULD be the last thing loaded on to the conveyor belt) who had had about 7 hours of sleep in the previous two days combined, who I was very glad to see regardless. We made our way back to Republique, deposited our bags in our room, and freshened up a bit...luckily, I was able to move out of the mixed room into an all girl room...no more snoring old men for me. By this time, I was ravenously hungry (having been reduced to eating leftover christmas cookies) so we stopped and had some kebab. I can't really describe doner kebab other than to say that they shave meat off a giant meat log. Its rather tasty all the same. It was so nice to sit down and eat some real food after two days of surviving off of christmas cookies and chocolate. Anyways, afterwards, we took the metro to trocadero so we could take the requisite eiffel tower pictures. It was rather cold (0-2 dgrees Celsius) and the line to go up the tower was horrendously long and Sarah was dead on her feet so we decided to call it a night. We walked to Invalides and saw the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, and Invalides all lit up and looking beautiful. We also had a chance to see the eiffel tower sparkle. (it does this every hour). So, we returned to Republique, took wonderful hot showers, and Sarah was asleep by 8 pm. Hopefully she will wake up refreshed tomorrow for our louvre day. I'm gonna try to convince her to skip the eiffel tower in favor of Notre Dame...we shall see what happens... But I must say, i'm very happy to have Sarah here with me. I wish I could keep her for longer. Anyways, good night. Tomorrow, the Louvre!

*NOTE*
In between the last post and the next post, Sarah and I ran all over Paris and saw A LOT! We visited the Louvre, climbed the towers of Notre Dame, strolled the streets of the Latin quarter/Saint Michel, visited Versailles, paid tribute to Napoleon at his tomb at Invalides, perused the military history of France at the Musee D'Armee, ate more kebab, climbed the eiffel tower (so cold!), ate sandwiches on the steps of the opera house, climbed the hill of montmartre to sacre coeur, ate many crepes, and visited the artists of montmartre at the place du tertre. Whew! I know we did much more...but on to the next journal entry!

Le 29 Decembre
Many things have transpired in the last few days, but of all the incidents that have occured, I must record one, lest I forget it. While in Notre Dame de Montmartre, an older church alongside Sacre Coeur that is relatively tourist free (tourist free...the way to be! For churches at least...), Sarah had an "experience"...although I must say it wasn't of the religious type. The solemn hush that can only be found in a cathedral was all pervading, and Sarah and I were treading softly and speaking in whispers. About half way through the church, Sarah sneezed. Which would have been ok...except it was the most unnatural sounding sneeze I have ever heard...and it echoed through the cavernous passageways of the cathedral, utterly destroying the sanctity of that holy place. The look on Sarah's face was a melange of horror and embarrassment that was strongly fighting the urge to laugh. We struggled to compose our faces in this most solemn of places and headed for the exit as demurely and quickly as possible. As soon as we reached the open air, we burst out laughing hysterically. And it is impossible to keep from laughing to myself each time I recall the incident.

P.S. What do you think of Snert as a possible cat name? I've added it to my collection of names I will have for my cats when I'm a crazy old cat lady. Thus far I have, Baudelaire (for a black cat), Themistocles (this cat needs to be an epic hero), and Smee.