The steps of hell!

Friday, July 15, 2005:

Our morning began with the hotel's French breakfast buffet. They had really good yogurt. I had the pear that had bits of pear in it. Sooooo sweet and yummy! They also had sausage, eggs, various breads like croissant, and cereal. We went on our morning tour and saw Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and many other attractions.

We met up with Malika around noon. Malika is an old friend that came to work at the Tech during the summer of 2000. She was part of this program that sponsored folks outside the US to work here for the summer. She's originally from Bordeaux so it was really nice of her to come to Paris to hang out.

We took the metro to the Latin Quarter and had lunch at a Greek eatery. We each had falafels with fries. It didn't hit me for a while that it was lamb and normally I can't stand lamb. I literally feel ill when I look at it, but surprisingly it wasn't that bad. Regardless, I still gave Ray some of my lamb to lighten the load! After lunch we visited Notre Dame. We took a few pictures outside and then went inside. I'm always in awe at the greatness of cathedrals in Europe. They do NOT compare to the churches I've visited in the US. They have so much history and life.

After Notre Dame we went to eat Paris' famous ice cream at Berthillion. Malika treated us to two scoops of oh so good ice cream! We then went to this huge department store that had a stained glass dome. Amazing! We then took a break at a nearby cafe. It was nice just to sit down, have a cup of coffee, and talk.

Next we took the metro to Moulin Rouge. It was very cool to see it although we couldn't go in. Moulin Rouge is in the red light district so there were a ton of sex shops and of course, the Sexodrome! What is the Sexodrome you ask? The Sexodrome is apparently a huge-ass place with sex shows, peep shows, etc. Did we go in? Unfortunately, no.

After marveling at the greatness that is the Sexodrome we headed to Sacred Heart Cathedral, otherwise known as the cathedral on top of the huge-ass hill! The journey consisted of going up a slight slope and then climbing about 200 steps. Once you've regained consciousness and wiped the sweat dripping from your clothes you can enjoy the magnificent view from the top of the hill. Sacred Heart is located in the area called Montmarte. For the Moulin Rouge freaks like me you are very familiar with the Montmarte area. This is where all the artists use to live and hang out to live the bohemian life. It was a very cute little community they had with the narrow, cobbled streets. We had dinner at a little restaurant in Montmarte. After dinner we headed to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. We walked around and took pictures. The one great thing about Europe is that it doesn't get dark that early. It actually doesn't get dark until after 10 p.m.! So it was nice walking around with it still bright outside. By the time we were done walking the Champs Elysees we called it a night at 10:30 p.m.