Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Lessons in and about Paris: Day 3


[Hat tip to Michael Leddy, author of Orange Crate Art, for inspiring the format of this post! :) ]

* The stained glass in the Sainte-Chapelle comes in five colors (blue, green, red, violet, and yellow).

* Climbing up to street level from the Cité and Lamarck métro stations takes a certain level of fitness.  There are a loooooooot of stairs.

* When the area under the cathedral of Notre Dame was being dug up for parking space, some ancient Gaulic archaeological ruins of Lutece, the Paris before Paris, were unearthed.

* It's a little lonely visiting the Musée d'Histoire de la Médecine by oneself, but interesting nonetheless.  After I lingered over the anesthesia case for several minutes, the lovely attendant asked, <<Vous êtes anesthésiste?>> I mean, who else would linger over the anesthesia case? :)

* It's true what they say.  There are a lot of unpleasant women in Paris.  A lot.  BEYOND unfriendly.  Openly hostile and rude, actually. And apparently if you try to be sweet or if you fail to "stand up to them" with acerbic come-backs of your own, they feel even greater contempt. Sigh...

* Philippine national hero Jose Rizal has a little plaza named after him here (corner of rue Mabeuge and rue Rodier) and a plaque marking where he stayed (up the street) while he lived here (45 rue de Maubeuge).

* The Place du Tertre is lively on a clear evening, and the Sacré-Coeur is at its loveliest with the light of the setting sun on it, around 9 p.m. in the summertime.

* The tiny little green flies here are annoying and, of course, seem to like me.  

* My daughter looks ADORABLE in a purple beret.

* Don't try to take your leftovers home.  Apparently it's frowned upon, and you won't be allowed.  At least not in Montmartre.  So frustratingly silly.  Double sigh...

* Sublingual melatonin doesn't feel like it does anything when you take it but it does seem to be helping with our jetlag.

3 comments:

K. said...

Such a great city...too bad they're a bit snobby, esp. with us Americans...
I am loving your travel blogging! I feel like I'm on holiday with you...

Brian said...

I have been traveling to and living for extended periods in Paris since 1961. I have never experienced anti-American snobbiness on the part of the French, whether university or artistic luminaries or normal everyday folks. Just sayin'...

T. said...

I don't think it's a question of anti-American snobbiness at all. I think many Parisians are just plain RUDE on first encounter. I often find myself thinking a person seems very "not nice" or very unfriendly on first meeting here. NOT NICE.

If there's anti-anything, I have a feeling (based on other people's experiences in addition to my own) that there MIGHT be some anti-non-French-woman sentiment by Parisian women. But I hate to make sweeping generalizations without more experience.