"I thought I saw..."

Wow.

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind. I am sorry about the delayed reply regarding Paris. I finished my last day of work earlier today and will be heading to Latvia (and afterward Bavaria) in a just few hours! But, before I get to Paris, I think that I ought to share with you an experience I had yesterday.

After work, I went to the city center for some dinner and last minute shopping for my upcoming trips. I went to a few stores and paid for my purchases with no problems, but when I attempted to buy a book about Darmstadt at a local bookstore, that was a different story entirely. My wallet was gone. I checked all of my pockets (I was wearing cargo pants and a jacket), and it simply was not there. Much of my money, my ATM card, my credit card, and all of my identification (except for my passport) were in my wallet. The only things I had left in my possession were my keys, a compass, a cell phone, a German phrase book, and a few loose coins. I thought that perhaps my wallet had been stolen when I was leaning against a counter reading the book that I had intended to purchase. I was amazed that I had felt absolutely nothing. Thank God the cashier spoke English. I explained my situation to the cashier and asked her if she had seen anyone come up behind me, but when she replied that she hadn't, I asked her to watch my jacket as I ran back to the stores I had previously visited. Perhaps I had forgotten it there? Meanwhile, I was getting pretty upset, but I knew that wouldn't help anything. I checked the last store where I had knew that I had used my wallet (a supermarket), and it turns out that I had left my wallet at the check out. They had taken it to the back for safekeeping. My disaster had been averted. What an adrenaline rush!

But on to Paris! Paris (and the surrounding area as you will see) was really great. As I don't have too much time to go into much depth and as we went to a lot of different places, I will try to be brief. My two companions (from Cologne and Ireland) arrived in Paris on Thursday night at about 11:00 PM. After some searching (due to a slightly inaccurate map), we were able to find our two-star hotel Hotel de l'Europe (near the Gare de l'Est) which turned out to me more than sufficient for our needs with air conditioning (my first exposure in Europe), free breakfast, internet access, and daily cleaning service. We decided to go to bed as soon as possible in order to get an early start for the next day. We would need it.

As I alluded in the previous paragraph, Friday was a very long (but still satisfying) day in Paris. After breakfast, we walked south to the Ile de la Cite Conciergerie, stopping by the Place de la Republique, the Bastille, and the Sainte Chapelle (although we didn't go into the last) along the way. At the Ile de la Cite Conciergerie, we visited Notre Dame and a WWII memorial, among other places. Afterward, we walked to the Lourve, seeing it from the outside only (for the time being) and then to the Arc de Triomphe. When we had finished with that monument, we walked south to the Palais de Chaillot Cineaqua. We had lunch on the steps of the Palais looking on to Paris' most famous monument the Eiffel Tower, which was just across the Seine River from the Palais. The Eiffel Tower was our next stop. We had been hoping to go to the top, but as there were huge lines, we decided to come back at an earlier time another day. Next, we walked southeast to UNESCO building which was unfortunately closed for the rest of week. So, we walked northeast to the Musee de l'Armee, which supposedly had a large dedication to Napoleon. Unfortunately, it was also closed (for Bastille Day which was to take place on Monday). So, we walked north to the Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres which was closed as well. Undeterred, we bought some Nutella crepes from a vendor at a small carnival that we chanced across, and then we walked back to the Lourve to finally go inside. We had found out that entrance to museum was free on Fridays after 6PM and we wanted to make the most of this opportunity. We walked around the museum for a little over four hours, seeing a number of famous works of art including the Mona Lisa. After we had finished, we thought that the crowd at the Eiffel Tower might have died down at night so we walked back to the famous landmark and found that the crowd had not diminished. Since we didn't want to stay at the top for only a short period of time (even though the sun was setting and the sky was beautiful), we decided to once again try our luck at a later time. By this point, it was getting late, and we were very exhausted (with hurting feet from miles and miles of walking), so we took the to metro back to the hotel and crashed.

After breakfast the following morning, went to a nearby supermarket to load up on food for the day in what turned out to be a very good frugal decision. We walked to the Sainte Chapelle where THE Crown of Thorns was said to be located. Apparently, the Sainte Chapelle was created soley for the purpose of storing famous Church artifacts. Once we had arrived and seen the Crown for ourselves, we found out that it was instead an exact replica as the original had been melted down during the French Revolution. It was a disappointment but the building was still neat. Afterward, we walked to the Musee d'Orsay. While the Lourve held art from up to and including the 17th century, the Musee d'Orsay had art from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Van Gogh and Monet exhibits were especially interesting. After a few hours in the museum, we took a train to Versailles where we explored the grounds surrounding the Chateau de Versailles including the gardens of Marie Antoinette which were some of the weirdest places I've seen. After a few hours the grounds were closing for a festival, so we made our way back to the Eiffel Tower where spent a few hours on the top, watching the sunset and eating the food we had packed. The surrounding area was quite the sight. Eventually, we headed back to the hotel, once again exhausted after a long day.

Peter left early Sunday morning for Darmstadt while Adam and I stayed behind. We allowed ourselves to sleep in a couple of extra hours and then went to Mass at a nearby Church I had found during our exploration. After Mass, we went to the Sacre Coeur which was so crowded with swindlers among others that we didn't spend much time there. We then went to Moulin Rouge which was nearby. Along the way, we passed by a number of questionable shops and were approached by a prostitute twice. And this was during the day! I can hardly imagine (nor do I want to) what the place would be like at night! Having said that, I am very glad that I passed through as I was able to see another side of Paris that I wouldn't have otherwise. Next, we went via the subway to La Defense, a desolate part of town with lots of modern architecture which was a welcome respite from the pressures of the previous days. We explored this area for a few hours, doing a little more walking through the city until we made our way back to the train station for the journey to Darmstadt. Luckily, the local transportation was running when we arrived so I didn't need to walk across town again.

Paris was a very interesting place and I am glad to have went. I wish that I had more time to share with you some of the nuances of my experience there, but time and sleep are precious commodities at the present. I will be in Latvia until Monday when I will travel to Munich to meet up with my parents. I will return to Darmstadt on Saturday or Sunday. I will keep you posted as soon as I can.