Paris, France
It’s 5:45 am here and I’m up because I went to bed at 8. I went to bed at 8 because I was completely exhausted after our tour and other adventures. We walked well over 8 miles yesterday in our attempt to avoid the horrible metro at all costs.
The way Paris is constructed is kind of interesting. The original city was built on the island in the middle where Notre Dame is located (Side note about Notre Dame to follow). The island has a name, but Josh is still asleep and I can’t think of it. On either side of the island is the Left Bank and the Right Bank – these areas were built later.
Our hotel is on the left bank located in the Latin Quarter ( Latin because it used to be the academic center of Paris and everyone spoke Latin there). There are two bridges that you can walk over to get between the banks and the island.
One is the Pont Nuef, or new bridge, which is actually the oldest bridge in the city – but I’ll post more about it later. The second is the Bridge of the Arts – also more about it later.
Now, my Notre Dame side note. Notre Dame actually means “our lady” and most of the cathedrals in the city are called Notre Dame. What makes the iconic Notre Dame so special is that it’s full title is actually Our Lady of Paris (if Josh was up, I could do the French and it would be much better!). It is the only cathedral with the city as its namesake, so that is why it is so special.
Although, I learned on our tour that Victor Hugo actually wrote the Hunchback of Notre Dame to bring awareness to the cathedral because it was falling apart and the Parisians were going to tear it down – obviously it worked.
Now, about these bridges. The Bridge of the Arts is the bridge that has a tradition the city hates, but tourists love. The bridge is full padlocks with peoples names written on them. The tradition is to put the lock on with your significant other and throw the key in the Seine below symbolizing your eternal love. We learned on our tour that this tradition didn’t start until the episode of Sex in the City where Big and Carrie are on the bridge and also that the city comes by and clips all the locks off every few months. . .
The New Bridge is by far my favorite bridge ever, and here’s why. King Henry IV ordered the bridge to be built in the 1600s and it took over 30 years to complete. Now, you have to understand a little bit about King Henry IV, he was not a great warrior or a famous diplomat. He wasn’t highly regarded by the church – in fact he switched from being Protestant to Catholic so the French people would like him more. He was mostly a party animal. He loved to drink and be around women and throw extravagant themed parties.
This bridge was one of his few accomplishments. Until this bridge people used wooden bridges which weren’t very durable and often burned down. It took so long to build this bridge because the stone kept sinking into the river below. But, when it was finally built – 39 years later – Henry was ready to celebrate. He threw the biggest party of his life and invited everyone he knew to come to his palace. Upon arrival the guests where sent to a room where they could choose a costume for the party. After they dressed they were brought to the party where they were told that King Henry had unlocked the royal wine cellar and they could drink whatever they wanted – any year, any type, any price it was all open and free.
Obviously, people took advantage and drank every bottle. Not one to see a party end, Henry told everyone not to worry, he also had keys to the royal champaign cellar, as well. He opened it and guests drank all of that. Now, around 4 am everyone was wasted and sick (from mixing red wine and Champaign, I imagine). King Henry, however, was still going strong and called in his royal sketch artist to draw pictures of everyone as they were – passed out, puking, whatever. All their pictures were drawn with the intention of sending all the guests their drawing so they could always remember this night and the great party King Henry threw.
In the morning (well – who are we kidding – in the late afternoon), Henry woke up and didn’t remember anything about the night. He had a total blackout. So, when the sketches were brought to him he found them hilarious and was so proud of the party he threw he decided to have these faces carved into his new bridge as decoration. We took photos of our favorite ones, but there are over 300 of these hilarious faces all over the bridge. We both thought this was so funny.
After our tour we walked down the Champs-Elysees. The first part was full of Christmas market stalls and the rest was full of the famous high-priced stores. We walked the whole avenue all the way to the Arc de Triomphe.
We had planned to go on a tour of the Louvre, but forgot our student IDs – so we’re doing that today instead. We ended the night by ordering panini sandwiches from a street vendor – which I ordered in french, I might add!
Speaking of french breakfast, dear old dad, our hotel actually has free breakfast.
Yesterday we got a half of baguette and jelly, cheese and nutella (which is EVERYWHERE) to spread. And Robert, speaking of children. . .we’re pretty sure we saw your daughter. We were walking into a wine store, and this 7 or 8 year old girl was walking out by herself with a bag. We looked to see where she was going and she just kept walking down the street on her merry way with no adult in sight. Haha!
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