A Lazy Parisian Afternoon

30 Septembre 2007

I meet up with Liz at around 11. I was so happy to see her (she’s becoming a staple in my new French life) and I naturally asked her about her first night with Naomi. She said it was good, that Naomi bought pizza (how funny!!) and that she liked living with her, despite the size of the apartment, especially because she could practice her French. Turns out that Naomi has been living in Paris for awhile, but she is originally from Reunion, a French territory near Africa. She is a student who is looking for a full-time job. She’s also a great resource for Liz, because she has given us advice on getting Internet access. She told Liz that the library at the Centre Pompidou has free wifi access, so Liz and I agreed to check it out tomorrow, after our English assistant meetings during the day. I wanted to go see the site of Napoleon’s tomb, so we went to the Hôtel des Invalides, which also happens to have the Musée de l’Armée. We purchased student tickets and went through the museum first, which houses numerous suits of armor, swords, old-fashioned guns, etc. The second part of the museum, which was going through an update, was for the World Wars. This is especially interesting to view, because it was almost like France’s take on the war and Liz and I were viewing it from our countries’ perspectives. After walking throughout the entire museum, with the exception of the current additional-charge exhibition (titled “Love, Sex and War”), we went into the military church, which has a transparent wall, through which one can see into the location of Napoleon’s tomb. However, to enter the place where Napoleon is buried and actually see his tomb, you have to go around the outside and in through a separate entrance. Once inside, his huge tomb (for such a small man) is located in the center and is surrounded by female guardians who watch over him. There are some other tombs here, such as his nephew (Napoleon III) and other military leaders who died. The exhibit also has some of Napoleon’s memorabilia, like his hat and coat, seen in many pictures that portrait him. After leaving the museum, Liz and I decided that we wanted something to eat, so walked around in Paris until we came to the Champs-Élysées and we bought some sandwiches. We sat on a park bench, under all the trees, and we ate and talked and people watched for a few hours. Honestly, it was nice doing nothing special. I enjoyed watching all the couples walk by or the little kids. After sitting as long as we wanted, I wanted to go see the famous Georges V hotel, which is just off of the Champs-Élysées. While walking there, I got a craving for Haagen-Dazs, and there happens to be one of their biggest ice cream stores here, so I went in and I got a two-scoop (deux boules): Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Carmel Delight. Of course, it was so good! The worst thing about the whole situation though (who’d have thought that getting ice cream could go bad?) was that the seating area outside and the inside of the store was packed! And it top it off, these three older French ladies cut in front of me and the 20 others behind me in line to get their ice cream cones. I had been tolerant of the French and their habits up until this moment, but when they proceeded to behave as thought the rest of us weren’t there and take forever to make their choices, I purposefully acted up to make them feel guilty. This got the attention of one of the workers and it got me my ice cream sooner and cheaper, and I was able to pay before the old ladies (cows, as Liz called them). When Liz and I were walking out, we saw a waiter bringing huge, yummy looking sundaes out to the people sitting in the “dining area” and we decided that one of these days, we were going to come back here and get a dessert just like that! We continued to walk along the Champs-Élysées until we found the street where the Georges V was located, and once we found it, it looked amazing, just as its reputation claims. Outside of the hotel, luxury cars and limos wait for leaving guests to take them wherever they want to go. The ambiance was incredible and of course, it made me think of my good friend Diane and one of our favorite movies, French Kiss. The sad thing about it is that my camera’s battery had died and I couldn’t take a picture! I’m going to return there, if just to take the picture! Liz wanted to go back to the Disney Store, so she could look for the High School Musical 2 soundtrack in French. The store was of course crazy because it was a Sunday, so we didn’t stay there very long. It was getting to be about 6:30, so Liz and I decided to return to our homes. When I got back to the apartment, Mickel wasn’t there, so I decided to take a nap. He woke me up about an hour later and we ended up talking until the middle of night! I had to stop the conversation because I have a meeting tomorrow morning outside of Vincennes, in which all the non-European Union English assistants have to attend.