Paris, episode 4. In which we walk no more.

I usually spend much of our travels not with fleamarketing tote in hand, but with trusty video camera strapped to my right hand.  Sometimes I forget it's there and that makes for some interesting "raw" footage when I'm downloading and editing back home.  Our walking tour of Paris was the first iMovie project I completed (and certainly not the last!) and was also the first I shared with students.  I had one particular class that 2006-2007 school year that was absolutely fascinated that I was traveling abroad during Spring Break, especially that I was spending "just" a day in Paris.  The boys wanted proof when I returned and the girls demanded pictures.  About two weeks of editing and tinkering (and a little bit of fussin' and cussin' at the computer) later I was able to meet the demands of that smallish (about 15) lunch-hour class, which had become one of my most favorites after 17 years of teaching, with my 20 minutes of Paris iMovie fame.

Even when Mari and I are fleamarketing, as you are (visually) well aware, I still have one hand strapped to a camera most of the time.  Unfortunately, there was no time for fleamarketing on this first Paris adventure, but there was plenty of browsing, especially during that stretch of the Champs-Elysees beginning at the Arc de Triomphe.

With limited time, Mari and I knew we weren't in Paris that day to shop, but souvenirs still somehow found us along the way of our pedestrian antics.  We don't typically buy souvenirs that mark our travel territory by proclaiming our love for cities or miniaturized memento monuments (with or without simulated swirling snowflakes), but instead try to return home with items unique to our traveled location. Typically, I like to buy a piece of art which will eventually find a place on the "travel gallery" wall in our home's entryway.  While a Monet or Matisse would have made a very lovely addition to the travel wall, I wasn't going to risk a life sentence (or two!) in a French prison for the sake of sentimental home decor.

Mon Dieu!

Instead, Mari and I were excited to find local vendors, craftspeople, and artists selling a wide array of souvenirs (and books!) along the Right Bank of the Seine as we completed the final mile of our walking tour.  I was also thrilled to find this colorful 9" x 12" print for all of 3 euro (I purchased a twin souvenir for my map-lender colleague, completing a deux-for-cinq euro bargain in the process).  Although not a Louvre masterpiece, our (now) matted and framed albeit inexpensive souvenir displays proudly, a colorful reminder of an equally vivid day.

Upon exiting the Louvre, we made our way along the Seine this last mile to the final stop on our 10-hour tour, La Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, previously pictured (episode 1) by way of a vacationing Kentucky couple.  At right is a final parting shot as the sun set serenely on our (very long) day.


An unfavorable alignment of church services, interior repairs, and limited time kept us from venturing much further into the cathedral than barely beyond the foyer, but the comforting reassurances of the cathedral's six plus centuries more than mollified any anticlimax I may have felt.

I also knew we'd be back some day.

For the present, I had discovered another city that doesn't sleep although this travel documentarian was ready for a two-and-a-half hour Chunnel-lulled nap.  After digitally immortalizing a few final views of our beloved Notre Dame, Mari and I straggled to a nearby metro stop and back to the Eurostar station at Gare du Nord.  Still, we couldn't help but capture this exquisitely detailed lamp post above the street entrance to the metro.

I rather like this final photo I took at the station while we waited, crispy (tuna and tomato stuffed) baguette lying in wait for train sustenance.  Like I said, no time for fine dining during a 10-hour tour of Paris, but our taste buds (and shopping buds!) would eventually have their day.

Our first weekend...

weekend = fleamarketing!

...in Paris next time.