Monday, July 7, 2014

Paris Adventure - Day 2

July 7, 2014
Today is Monday and I am in Paris, France. I keep saying this because it has finally dawned on me that I am over 3,000 miles away from home on another continent in another country. Wow! Today along with three of my classmates: Toa, Cosha, and Tjaya I toured the city of Paris like I have never toured another city in which I was a visitor. I walked…yes three hours maybe more. I toured the city of Paris. To begin I must tell you about this lovely experience. Tjaya and I waited for Toa and Cosha in the lobby of our hostel, but they were nowhere to be found. She and I decided that we did not want to be late nor miss our guided tour of the city so we struck out on our own with maps in hands, tennis shoes on our feet, and the name of Jesus in our mouths.
Up the street, down the street, down the steps to the Metro with transport pass in our hands we began today’s adventure. Tjaya and I matched up with the names of the places we were headed with the ones on our maps. Needless to say we made it fine. I was worried about my pengyou, Toa (that is friend in Chinese) and Cosha. I looked and looked until I saw them come walking up. Tjaya was worried as well; but we knew the show must go on. We arrived at St. Michel Fountain at about 12:35 pm. Our professor, Dr. Lukosius, told us what we had to do for the day and the tour began at 1 pm so I would like to say, mission accomplished!

We met our guide, Nancy Bentley, from SANDEMANs  neWEUROPE  tour company. Yes, the spelling looks funny, but that is how it is on my ticket from the tour. We walked, it seemed, the length of Paris, but I loved it tremendously. I saw the church of Notre Dame, the river which runs straight through Paris, the only skyscraper in Paris: the French people hate it as they think it ruins the look of this beautiful ancient city. As with anything else, you cannot please everyone, but they did stop with the only one skyscraper.
Nancy, the tour guide explained that King Henri IV was her favorite king. She also told the story of Joan of Arc and how she was considered a witch. Poor Joan! Wanting to answer the call of God and fighting in the war was not a good choice for her as she was killed while trying to do a good deed.
No photo today as I am still learning to navigate this program. I had a photo from yesterday, my hubby, but I did not want to add him today. I have a photo of Joan of Arc's golden statue that I will post tomorrow along with whatever I blog about tomorrow. Merci...I understand what I did wrong with the photo. Done