bonjour!

all about my trip to France

26.02.2007

Well the last 6 weeks have been incredibly busy. Wait – when is that not the case here?
One week before we left, some of our students came to church, and that was probably one of the most exciting things that has happened here. I hope they come again, but even if they don’t, I pray that we’ve given them the right impression of us and what we’re about.
Break finally came and started Feb 9. Kristin and I decided we wanted to go to Paris, so we planned our flights, booked a hotel, and headed out on Friday afternoon.
Unfortunately, I ended up spending that night in the airport because I had quite a long layover in Milan (easyJet doesn’t fly from Prague to Paris – I have no idea why). When I say long, I mean like 13 hours. I got in at probably 5 or 6 that night, and I didn’t leave until 6:30 the next morning. So I prepared myself for a long, uncomfortable night in the Milan airport.
At first it was interesting, walking around and getting used to the Italian I heard and saw. I explored the airport, I took pictures, I listened to music, read a book, did some people-watching. But the hours dragged on, and about 10:00 I was ready to kill someone, it was so boring. The airport gradually shut down, as all flights ended at 11 that night, and weren’t starting again until 6. So the airport went silent, with a few workers walking around cleaning up trash and mopping floors. A few lone passengers like me were sprawled out on the chairs, trying to catch a few hours’ sleep. I discovered that the chairs in an airport are incredibly uncomfortable. I found every possible comfortable way to sleep on those chairs, and quite a few uncomfortable ways, too. I would doze off for 20 or 30 minutes at a time, wake up and look at the clock in despair, and close my eyes again. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was much better than paying 100 euro more for a flight on Friday night.
Saturday morning I flew to Paris, walked in the rain to the metro station, and discovered that I had no idea how to get to my hotel. I didn’t have a map, didn’t have a clue where to go, and didn’t speak any French. I found an information booth in the train station and asked if they knew how I could get to my hotel. At first, the man looked and then said he couldn’t find any information about that hotel. I was beginning to think, great, now I’ve been ripped off and there is no such place as my hotel. But he found the hotel under a different name, and directed me to it.
I got there, paid for my room, got the key, and got the bad news. The receptionist told me in broken English that the hotel “have big problem.” No hot water. She asked if that was ok, I said sure, fine, no problem. What was I going to do? Book another hotel? I went up to my room in the smallest elevator I have ever seen – it could barely fit me and my little suitcase. The hallways on the floor are very small as well. The room smelled like smoke and it was tiny. (the bathroom was down the hall). But I was so happy just to get there. I had a sinking feeling that Kristin was never going to find that hotel, so I went out looking for her. I couldn’t find her, and the exhaustion was catching up with me, so I took a nap. Thankfully, she came while I was sleeping.
We talked about our plans for the week and decided to head out to the Moulin Rouge. It took us a long time to navigate the metro system. There are like 14 metro lines running all throughout the city. Whereas in Prague, you can get anywhere by metro and tram, in Paris, it’s just metro. It was a bit complicated. But we walked around for a while and finally came to the Moulin Rouge. We came out from underground and there it was! The big windmill! The big red letters! We got pictures and walked along the street for a while, taking in the Paris sights.
We walked around, came to this plaza, ate at a little Chinese restaurant run by this adorable asian family. This little asian girl couldn’t have been more than like 2, and she wandered around the restaurant drinking from a cup and smiling shyly at us.
We decided that it was a good time to see the Eiffel Tower. We approached it from the park in front, and oh my gosh, it was so beautiful, all lit up against the night sky. Gorgeous! We got a ton of pictures and walked under it. Every hour on the hour, it sparkles for like 5 or 10 minutes. I now know why couples come to Paris. It really is romantic. So pretty, with this warm atmosphere, all lit up and lively at night. People in Paris like nightlife and like talking and smiling. They love music. We walked down the Champs d’Elysses, with it’s fabulous stores and stuff. We were looking for a good café to sit at for a while, but everything there is so expensive. We got so tired of walking that we just went back and went to bed. But it was freezing. Not only was there no hot water, but there was also no heat in the room. We woke up late the next morning, and did not take showers in the ice cold water.
Then we went to the Louvre!!! We walked into the courtyard, I saw that glass pyramid, and I almost melted, I swear. I spent 3 hours walking around that museum with my mouth gaping open, hardly able to believe I was actually there, in the Louvre, looking at paintings I had only seen in textbooks. We had talked about those paintings in my classes, and now I was there, 5 feet away from them! I saw the Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo, Winged Victory, paintings by all these artists, Louis XV crown jewels, Napoleon’s furniture. It was so huge and amazing, and there was more that we didn’t even see. I loved it. We walked through the gardens in the front, which again would be beautiful and romantic in the spring.
We spent that evening at a pizza place and then watched a movie at one of the theaters. We were going to watch one in French, since Kristin is familiar with the language a little. However, I would have been so lost, so we just watched an American film instead.
We took some pictures. Then, unfortunately, Kristin accidentally erased all the pictures I had taken. So you won’t be able to see any of my pictures of the airport, or the Eiffel tower, or the Louvre, because they’re gone. I was upset at first, but fortunately, we still had a couple days left in Paris.
Monday we woke up late, went to a restaurant for breakfast, and went to the Galleries Lafayette. We stepped into the door, and it was like walking into a woman’s paradise. It’s the biggest, most expensive mall I’ve ever seen. Every designer brand you can think of – Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Hugo Boss, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Fendi – all that and more are on like 7 floors of this huge mall. The first floor is accessories like bags, perfumes and jewelry. The next 3 floors are women’s clothes. The second floor is also shoes. I got the most wonderful tingling sensations looking at all the most incredible shoes I had ever seen. Mostly, I wandered around with my mouth open – like in the Louvre – and felt out of place. I wanted to buy something, because they were having amazing sales. But amazing sales for designer brands are not really sales. When a skirt is 272 euro – and that IS 50% off – you know you won’t be making any purchases there. I felt simultaneously elated and depressed. Afterwards, we shopped at H&M to make ourselves feel better. We went to this perfume museum, but it was kinda boring, so we made our way to the Notre Dame. I wanted to prove to Kristin that I wouldn’t get lost in Paris, so I led us there. And I didn’t get lost. Notre Dame is beautiful. Very crowded, though, and the walk there was cold and rainy. It wasn’t the nicest day, but it is a beautiful church.
Then we went back to the hotel. I got stuck at the entrance to the metro because my ticket stopped working. It was supposed to be a 5 day ticket. I was so mad, but I couldn’t do anything because Kristin had already left. So I debated walking back to the hotel, but finally I tried my ticket again and it worked, thank goodness.
Tuesday we saw Montmartre and Sacre Coeur or however you spell it. It’s this big church on a hill and it’s really beautiful. You can’t take pictures inside the church, but they were holding mass, and the nuns were singing. I wish I could have captured the way the sound echoed in all the chambers of the church. Afterwards, we went back to the Eiffel tower because I wanted to go up it. Kristin had already been up when she came to Paris a few years ago, so she didn’t want to go again. I waited in line for a total of like an hour and a half. I was waiting in one line until I discovered it was the stairs only line. I don’t think so!! So I had to get in another really long line. The weather had been nice, but 90 minutes later, it was cold, cloudy, and windy – like most of our week in Paris. I didn’t go to the top, just the middle. I went up for like 10 minutes, but I was cold and alone and tired of standing, so I got some pictures and went back down. That evening we went back to the hotel, talked and laughed, and watched French TV, with these French game shows.
The next morning, we left at 5 to catch our flights, but discovered that the metro doesn’t start up until 5:30, so we had to walk, in the rain again, to the train station, which fortunately wasn’t far away.
And the Paris airport has all these birds that live inside it or something. Not pigeons, which are everywhere here, but little brown birds. I gave them some of my breakfast as I sat there in the airport.
I got back to Prague and spent the next few days wasting time, not ready for break to be over yet. School starts up tomorrow, and I’m not ready for that. But when am I ever?
Pray for the mission here, as always. We still have a lot of opportunities. I’m trying to figure out how to make my students study and listen, because they don’t. I want them to care, but it’s really hard to make them. So I’m struggling with that. Plus, I have two more classes that started last week, so that makes things a little busier. Right now things are in sort of this winter slump, where everyone is frustrated and ready for it to be over. I’m just glad that the weather is sunny today. It helps a little with my motivation – not much, but a little!
I miss you all and think of you often. Can you believe? Four more months here, and I'm coming home. I just have to make it through those 4 months.
Our evening program is this week, so pray for that. I also invited one of my students to church. He didn't come, but now he knows he can if he wants, and that's better than nothing.
anyway, check out these pictures of my break: