Paris, Day 1

Well, this summer has not slowed down.  I had one more week of training at the b&b from June 24 - 30 and then July 1, my partner volunteer - I'll call her "A" - and I skipped town and went to Paris!

We rode a FlixBus to get there.  When we arrived in Paris, we had some trouble finding the place we were staying, but eventually, and with the help of a friendly Parisian, we found it and settled in for a good night's rest.  The next day, our Paris adventure really began. 

We woke at about seven in the morning, but the sun was already up, bright and hot.  The first item on our schedule was the cathedral Notre-Dame.

I didn't know this before starting to research this trip, but apparently there are two islands in the river Seine, which runs through Paris.  The islands are called Ile-de-la-Cite and Ile-St-Louis.  These islands were sort of the birth place of Paris, and the city as we know it just grew from there.  Notre-Dame is on Ile-de-la-Cite, so we got to cross a bridge over the river Seine to get there.  We ambled along over the river with plenty of other Parisians and tourists while listening to the harmonious city symphony of honking cars.  Along the way, we caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower off in the distance.  !!!  However, once we reached Notre-Dame, there was no thinking about the Eiffel Tower; the towers of the cathedral loomed over us.

Notre-Dame was grand and beautiful and inspiring (of course); however, no photos were allowed inside the cathedral.  I liked that though.  It encouraged me to just be in the moment and enjoy the beautiful architecture and artwork and not worry about capturing it all on camera.

A and I sat a while in the rows of chairs inside the cathedral, contemplating, admiring, taking it all in.  Then we wandered down the nave, looking at the statues and murals, gawping at the stained glass windows.  It was a gorgeous place.  There were a lot of other tourists, so although the cathedral was large, it was filled with the bubbling murmur of people's voices and (forbidden) cameras snapping and clicking.  Shoes squeaked on the tiled floor while prayer candles burned a soft golden-yellow in racks here and there along the nave.  It was interesting to see how some of the visitors to the cathedral were very touristy, taking pictures even when they weren't supposed to, talking loudly, rushing along, while other visitors seemed to be there just to pray.  They crossed themselves and kneeled or sat quietly by themselves. 

After Notre-Dame, we went to a nearby bookstore and cafe called Shakespeare and Company.  It was founded by a man George Whitman, and it sits just over a bridge and down the street from Notre-Dame.  You can see the cathedral spires out the cafe window.

I LOVED this bookstore!  It was fairly dim inside, and the walls were covered in shelves thickly lined with books.  Small cozy rooms led to arched doorways of old brick or stone which opened up into more rooms.  Chairs, tables, and beds with blankets were positioned in corners for comfy reading spots.  A few windows with potted plants let white daylight in.  A staircase led up to the second floor, and a poem by Hafiz was painted line by line on each wooden step.  What's more, a slanting diagonal shelf had been built into the staircase's side, which I thought was a fantastic idea.  The entire bookstore was a place I'd have liked to take a book, my journal, and a mug of tea and just stay for hours. 

After tearing me away from the bookstore, A and I strolled along the river Seine.

The weather was hot, swelteringly so, but a gentle breeze off the river helped make it bearable.  The deep green of the water churning past looked like a length of silk.  To think of all the things that that river - and the buildings along it - had seen: wars, conquests, Romans, kings, queens, artists, writers, revolutions, and now tour boats and river cruises.  Incredible.