I had made sure not to schedule anything before noon on Sunday. Something about being able to sleep in on my first morning in Paris just seemed so appealing. Additionally, the long day of travel, followed by a late night, was a perfect recipe for a late morning.
Still, I was exhausted when I got up, but I got dressed and called an Uber. Guys, Sunday morning traffic in Paris is NOT like Sunday morning traffic literally anywhere I had ever been before in my life. Sunday morning traffic is basically Parisian rush hour.
I had scheduled another Airbnb experience for noon, and I was running late. It was rainy/snowy, and cold. But the experience was a photo walk in Montmartre, one of Paris’s most beautiful areas. It’s where the artists used to live and paint. It’s where the poor people lived once upon a time.
I met up with Hela, a woman from Poland who had moved to Paris to explore her love of photography. Turns out, she’s also a historian by training, and specializes in Jewish history. We talked a bit about our parallel studies, and how hard it is to watch history repeat without anyone really seeing it.
Hela led me through the area, teaching me how to use some of the photo features on my camera to take better pictures.
She showed me this awesome wall that has “I love you,” written in a bunch of different languages, and we took some pics there.
We also worked on some pics of that immediate area.
Maybe it’s because of my love for the Chronicles of Narnia, but I have a bit of an obsession with lamp posts.
We ended in front of Le Sacre Cour, or the Sacred Heart Church.
The church was built out of stone from the “mountain” it sits on, and the type of stone allows for the rain to keep the stone pretty clean. You can see the spots the rain never hits, because those are the dirty ones.
If you turn away from the church, you can see over a lot of the city.
It was time for Hela to leave, so I went back to the town square to do some looking around.
This sign cracked me up. I mean, they have a point.
I went into Starbucks for a bit to warm up. I ordered my usual “Grande Mocha Blanc,” and observed for a bit. I had never seen a Starbucks with so much seating be so crowded.
The Hard Rock Cafe was about a 30 minute walk from where I was, so I decided to head that direction, and make a day of wandering that way.
I started out at the Dali museum, which was small, but awesome. I have always loved Dali and surrealism.
The melting clocks, of course, are awesome, and I also love his skulls.
I have never understood the inherent association of skulls with death. Skulls determine what our faces look like, and hold everything together, while protecting the vulnerable. Skulls have always been beautiful to me, rather than creepy.
I left the Dali museum and headed down the streets of Montmartre.
I got some macarons, which were delicious,
Saw a woman playing the accordion on the street,
And saw some interesting street art.
I stopped in various shops, and bought some post cards, washi tape, a skirt for a friend’s daughter, some marzipan (which was delicious), and generally reveled in being in Paris.
I got to Hard Rock Cafe, and ordered the California Cobb salad, which was delicious. Hard Rock actually has a lot of gluten free options, which is awesome.
I had brought my power bank with me, and my phone was nearly dead, so I took it out to recharge my phone. The problem with power banks, is that they only work if you bring a cord. Which I didn’t.
I managed to call an Uber with the last bit of power I had in my phone, and then it died. I didn’t even get the car details! I was an hour walk from my hotel, and didn’t know the route. The only real option I had was to stand at the appointed corner until a car stopped and the driver looked like he was looking for me.
Did I mention that Ubers in France don’t have obvious trade dress on them?
Yes, there was a chance that it could go sideways, but I figured that was smaller than the chance it would go fine.
I wasn’t murdered, and I got back to my room, grabbed the cord, and plugged my phone in for a bit.
I was a little upset that I didn’t get to walk back the way I had planned, but I decided to take a walk to an English bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, that was a little ways down the Siene. I popped in my earbuds, and turned on my podcasts.
The walk was gorgeous.
I got to the bookstore, and it was the best thing ever. This giant English language bookstore in the middle of Paris. I got books on French history, urban history, among other things.
As I was perusing the store, I took out my cord and power bank. While power banks do work with cords, they don’t do the job without the right sized cord. I picked up a mini USB cord instead of the USB-C that I needed. I had intended to walk back, but I wasn’t positive I knew the way, so again, I called an Uber. But this time, I caught the first few digits of the license plate, so I knew I would be getting in the right car.
It was about 10 by the time I got back to the hotel anyway, so I got ready for bed, put the right cord in my purse, and went to bed.
All things considered, not a horrible end to my first full day in Paris.
What about you? Have you run out of phone power at the wrong time on a foreign country before? What did you do? Let me know in the comments!
Dauntless In Denver 