Europe 2001: Paris

The morning was equally frustrating.  As it turned out, Amber had forgotten to include a claim to her missing train pass in the police report yesterday.  She thought she could file a report with the French Police, so we spent our whole morning wandering the streets, being sent from station to station, looking for the "baggage claim police”.  I kept telling Amber to forget about her bag and just concentrate on her rail pass, and that her 24 hours were running out.  We were finally told by a French policeman that since it happened in London, there was nothing he could do.  We bought a new phone card (as ours wouldn't work) and tried to get a hold of the London Police from a pay phone booth.

We picked up the receiver.  "Please insert card."  Inserted the card.  Beeeeeeep...hang up and remove card."  Slam!  Click.  "Please insert card."  Click.
        "Please wait...dial number."  Beep beep boop.  "The area code you dialed is no longer available, please hang up and-" Slam!  Click.
        "Beeeeep....please remove card."  SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

This went on for a little while longer before we were able to get through to the London Police.  We got an answering machine.  Amber left a message for the police to add her rail pass to her report.  Who knows if anyone even got it?

We decided that we weren't going to let the whole day be a bust (since it WAS only noon) and went to the Sacre Couer, which was a big, huge, cathedral sitting on top of the highest hill in Paris.  The inside of the building was okay, but the outside was the most impressive, just because of it's huge dome and the stairs leading up to it.  There were street vendors all over the place.

After wandering past some pretty pricey tourist shops (almost $3.00 for a bottle of water) we went to the Arc de Triumph, Amber's favorite place.  I could see why it was her favorite.  You can see all of downtown Paris and Champs Elysee and only reluctantly does one descend back to street level.  The decorations on the underside were really amazing.  Afterwards, we strolled down towards the Opera House.  Getting there was an event in itself.  The metros were less than user-friendly, and when we emerged from the underground, I saw some kind of large building in front of me.  Nah, couldn't be the Opera House.  I turned around and looked at my map.  "I don't understand, it's supposed to be right here!"  I complained to Amber.  I had been waiting for years to see this building and I didn't even recognize it.  We went inside.  I was a little disappointed that I couldn't tour around the whole building, but the Grande Staircase was breathtaking enough to make me happy.  It was all intricately carved marble with romantic statues decorating the handrails.  There was a fountain and a mirrored lobby with a comfy circular couch in the middle.

We walked to the Eiffel Tower, where the lines were unbearably long.  I sort of wanted to go to the top, but Amber didn't (understandably so).  I didn't want to go on my own or leave Amber, so I looked up at it from the ground, said goodbye, and we set off for Champs Elysee to do some shopping.  We bought an alarm clock (after a series of embarrassing pantomime on my part) and then went to the giant Sephora store and bought some really awesome makeup.  It was getting late, so we bought some groceries and went back to our hotel for a smorgasbord of cheese, crackers, salami, cookies, and yogurt.  We tried to go to the Louvre, but it was closed.  Actually, I wasn't entirely disappointed because the building itself was astounding enough to look at.  It just seemed to stretch on forever.  It became dark quickly and we walked about two miles along the river to Pont Nuef (Bridge Nine) for a night boat ride.  The cold air felt really good.  I wasn't really paying attention to what the tour guide was saying.  I was watching the scenery go by and looking at the Eiffel Tower, which was all lit up.  When the tour was over, we rushed to the nearest metro station.  It was bath time!

We had been sliding back and forth between metro stations to get back to our hotel.  We were finally at the last train change station.  As Amber and I were walking through the tunnels we could hear the sound of what might have been our train approaching.  "Go!" Amber exclaimed.  In a sudden rush of silliness we both took off, running through the tunnels and leaping down the stairs.  The sound was getting louder.  We ran faster.  Suddenly, we could hear many voices echoing around us.  Someone, or some people, were yelling in Italian.  Thinking they were yelling at me to slow down, I ran even faster, so as not to be caught.  I could hear Amber running behind me.  Five Italian boys came dashing out of another tunnel and we all raced down the stairs, me, jumping from the fourth to last step.  When I landed, I could see our train.  "Go, go, go!" I yelled.  We were all yelling.  We were all running at breakneck speed to reach the already closing doors of the train.  I jumped up and tried to force the doors open, the Italians helped me, and we all tumbled into the car as the doors slammed shut right behind Amber.  We all fell into peals of laughter, including some of the other passengers who had seen us racing to the train.

When we got to our hotel, all we wanted were hot baths.  I took mine first, then it was Amber's turn.  After she had been in the bathroom for a while, I began to worry a little after it became very silent.  In fact, there were no noises at all coming from the bathroom.  She had been in there hour when I could hear light snoring sounds.  I bolted up and opened the door.  The light was off.  I flicked it on to find Amber fast asleep in the bathtub.