rainy day in Paris

Today I went to Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart) in the Montmarte neighborhood. Sacre-Coeur is a Basilica that is less than 100 years old. I know it best from one of my favorite movies- Amelie. It attracts hoards of tourists and therefore it also attracts hoards of merchants and opportunists. Luckily Rick, author of my guide book (Rick Steves) who I apparently am on first name basis with, warned about the friendship blacelet scam. As soon as I approached the stairs that lead up to the Basilica I was approached by multiple men trying to put the beginnings of a bracelt on my wrist. I knew to keep my hands close to me and to plow on through (especially because they were very pushy). The scam is that a man comes up to and asks you to help with a demonstration. They then make a bracelt on your wrist and tie it up so you can't remove it, they then ask you to pay for it. I watched this happen to a handful of helpless tourists.

I then met up with Sandra at a local cafe (again a recommendation of Rick's), which had veggie options. We then walked down the Champs-Elysees, in March showers (with occasional heavy rain). Parts of this street has been in existence since 1667 (when Louis XIV opened the section near the Tuileries Garden). Thomas Jefferson lived on this street (hopefully I can report this on the blog without his name being removed because he is anti-patriotic) =)

We ended our stroll with pure decadence! Sandra took me to Cafe Angelina. We both got "hot chocolate". I put it in quotes because I am not sure I would call this hot chocolate. When I think of hot chocolate, I think of swiss miss packs with hot water and stale marshmellows. This was more like heaven served warm with pillows of clouds on the side. They provided one large container of whip cream to share for 2 cups. This is probably sufices most people but Sandra and I went through it so quick you could barely say "insulin coma." This is a picture of our cups with a second serving of whip cream. (Did I mention how I walked a lot today and did kick boxing on Saturday, hence justifying my large intake of heavy whipping cream).

Tomorrow- museums. I hope there are people enjoying this blog (besides my parents)

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I am on a different computer so I am not able to upload any pictures, but can give a summary of recent events.

On Monday, I was to meet Alexis at her work for lunch but I couldn't figure out how to lock their door. I spent ~15 minutes trying with no luck. I kept thinking "how hard can this be?" I guess that in France it is pretty typical to have to lift the handle all the way up when locking the door.

So anyway, Alexis had to come home and get me. We rented the public bikes and went on a nice ride across Paris. We ended in the Marais area and went to a cute cafe near Victor Hugo's home. The Marais area is considered the Jewish part of town. World War I occurred before the redevelopment of this area could take place (widening the streets and making the building more uniform looking, what you think of when you think of a Parisian street). Therefore the streets are narrow and it can give you an idea of what most of Paris once looked like.

We met Nico for a drink (where I ordered a popular beer that has liquor added to it- the waiter told me that I was "courageous" to order it, not to mention to drink it). We then went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I am off on my own today. I should be meeting up with my sister's old host-sister from back when she lived here as a high school student, Sandra.

Fountainbleu

Today we went to a world famous bouldering area southwest of Paris, Fountainbleu. The rain was not working with us so we were not able to climb much, but we had fun anyway. Fountainbleu is pretty extensive, so we went to 3 different sites (out of the many, many sites). The last place we went, Trois Pignones, is one of the more popular places. The area is very sandy because it was a part of an old inland sea. One of the famous rocks is known as the ass of the dog. I saw more of a face than a butt, but (no pun intended) who am I to argue with how to name a rock. Even though it rained here, we enjoyed exploring the sites.

Because it is such an international place we ran into a lot of different groups. A lot of British and Spanish. We didn't meet a single French person though. It was funny to watch people initially panic when Alexis asked them something in French, not realizing she was an American. It is so great to have tri-lingual tour guides, because she got a lot of information in Spanish from other climbers as well.

Arrived

This post has been delayed with technical difficulties, but here it is....

I am here and having a great time so far. After getting in on Friday afternoon I walked to my sister's work (about an hour away). It was my way of not taking a nap and it gave me a chance to jump into Paris right away (it helps that the Eiffel Tower was along my path). We then met Nico for Crepes at a local restaurant.

This morning Alexis continued her "get over you jet lag" boot camp protocol, with waking me up at a decent time and taking me to her cardio kickboxing class. This was my first cardio kickboxing class ever (kind of fun to take it in French). I think I looked pretty silly but I realized I will never see these people again. It was REALLY crowded (and hot!) in the room. I was just proud of myself for making through an hour without accidentally punching or kicking someone.

We rode the rental bikes to a local home improvement store and then went to dinner at basically a lesbian bar. They had a very nice veggie option.

Tomorrow we are off to go bouldering in Fountainbleu. I will get some more pics up soon.

Hello

I feel behind the times...... this is my first blog post ever.
I wanted to create something to keep friends and family updated on my oh-so exciting life (please sense the sarcasm). As some of you know, I head off to France in a few hours and wanted to get this blog started. For those of you that don't know, I am going to see my sister and brother in-law in France for 2 weeks. Please stay tuned for pics and posts (fingers crossed) on my trip.