I'm writing about what happened yesterday this morning because I definitely fell asleep last night much earlier than I thought I would because of jetlag.
When I got to the Charles de Gaulle Airport, I was pretty amazed by how futuristic it looked in some areas. Instead of escalators, there were moving ramps and there were also these strange plastic tunnels that made it look a little like the Jetsons. I really enjoyed the cool boards in the shape of wings, though!
Airport aside, I took a whole hour to get to where I was supposed to meet and was really proud of myself for using my French to ask where I was supposed to go. And the woman answered in French even though she knew English! I'm glad she at least thought I understood, even if she did speak slowly for my benefit >_<.
After waiting for another person in our group to show up (even though her flight was delayed so she ended up taking another shuttle) we hopped on, ready to head to the charming hotel next to Notre Dame. Traffic was awful because, as usual, the French public transportation workers are on strike. This time, they're on strike because the government wants the retirement age to be 62 instead of the usual 60.
We talked to the bus driver in French a bit. I asked him about how he felt about the world cup and then I said I was Brazilian. He then proceeded to say that Brazil would not win this world cup -_-. Realistically, he's probably right, but my national pride wants to believe otherwise so I insisted that Brazil could still win if we played better in future games. Last world cup Brazil won, no one thought they would (since qualifiers were such a mess) so maybe I'm right and Brazil can win anyway.
However, my French is still rusty so then I talked about pretty buildings and bicycles because those were the words I could remember how to say....
I was pretty pleased when we got to our hotel: it's an adorable six-floor building, very typically French. It was probably built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I remember someone explaining that the reason French architechture is so unique is that they held contests to see which buildings were the most aesthetically pleasing. Everywhere I look, I think about how fun it would be to take out my sketch book and just draw everything for hours.
While we waited for the rest of the group to arrive, we went to the second best boulangerie in Paris. I bought a delicious rosette for lunch which was salami and butter on a baguette. I've never had better bread or salami!
Then, after a brief nap and shower since I didn't sleep on my flight at all, Cathy, Camille, Sarah, Katie, and I walked to Notre Dame. We ate glace. I got two scoops of frambois, which was delicious (of course). Rasberry sorbet is really good, after all.
Notre Dame is so beautiful. Everywhere I looked, I was reminded of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (one of my favorite books) and I could have just looked at the beautiful, painstaking detail on the outside alone for hours. I took far too many pictures (as usual) and we waited for Irene to go inside.
There was mass going on inside. The beautiful French of the priest flowed through like a river, complementing the forest of stained-glass windows. I was in awe and even wore my glasses so I could see every minor detail. The colors, the floors, the marble statues, everything was made perfectly artistic. I took pictures that could not possibly do justice to Notre Dame since flash wasn't allowed.
Then we tried to climb up only to find out it closed at 6:30 (we almost made it: it was only 7:00!)
After checking the internet at the hotel, we went to dinner at a charming cafe where we met a waitress who, coincidentally, is also going to Montpellier. She told us she would e-mail contact information and that she had lived in DC for a long time (her English was good, so it showed).
I ate a coconut-Nutella crepe since I wasn't very hungry (being jetlagged and all) and tried Desperado, which I liked, suprisingly, even though it was beer.
The group tried speaking French amongst ourselves for a bit- it was difficult. Hopefully, it'll get easier!
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