Mom's Adventure in Paris part 3

Day three was our most ambitious day of the three in Paris. We took three incredibly crowded metros to Versailles. I don't think I've ever had so many people touching me at once in my life. It was not a comfortable situation at all. Mom also got to experience a French strike first-hand. The workers at Versailles were having a "general conversation" and decided to open an hour and a half late. It's a good thing it took us an hour on the metro to get there? So after waiting in line for another hour or so, we finally gained entrance into one of the most decadent buildings in the world. Although I agree Versailles is a gross waste of money, I can't help but be impressed with everything inside. Every surface inside and out is decorated with something. I don't think Mom had her mouth shut the whole time we walked through. We did another thing that was new for me and we wandered through a little bit of the gardens at Versailles. I'm not sure garden is the right word for it though. The grounds are enormous. It would take a week to walk through...that's IF you don't get lost in the maze of trees and such. It's a pretty impressive place. We ate lunch inside one of Marie Antoinette's playhouses and Mom tasted her first Croque Monsieur--not bad.

We then took the metro back towards the Eiffel Tower, saw a little bit of that in the day time and then we started walking West toward the Statue of Liberty. When France gave us the Statue of Liberty, one was given back to them and now the two statues face each other from opposite sides of the world. So we walked along the river to the Ile de Cygnes and on a teeny tiny strip of man-made land, there she was. About twenty times smaller than the one we have, but an exact replica nonetheless. The most surprising thing is that we were the only two there to appreciate it. I thought that was a little strange--but hey, WE saw it.

Afterwards, we went to the catacombs. I think Mom is in agreement with me when I say this is one of my favorite places in Paris. It's just so interesting. As Mom says...only the French would make a work of art out of bones. Since I wasn't focusing on taking pictures this time, I was able to focus on a lot more the second time around. I spent a lot more time reading the inscriptions on the wall and came to find that many of the inscriptions were sayings that Mom has become familiar with while working for Hospice. Phrases about death and not being afraid of death, but instead respecting death enough to live each day to the fullest. I think Mom has done this by accepting the trip here. She pretty much dropped everything and came. And in return, she was very nearly humiliated in front of a huge crowd of people in Paris with her now famous public toilet incident. The restrooms in Paris are just little pods with toilets inside with a sliding door that opens about six feet wide. And while she was sitting on the toilet, all six feet of the door opened wide! About twenty seconds later after sheer looks of terror and panic, we both realized there was nothing we could do and continued with shrieking laughter to the point of crying. Only Mom would get caught with her pants down on a busy road in Paris.

We then headed back toward Notre Dame (yes, we saw Notre Dame every single day we were in Paris--clearly her favorite part don't you think!), and we decided to walk along the Seine until sun-down. The river is really beautiful at this time of day. We were lucky enough to have a little bit of sun while walking, so it was even better. I bought Daniel and Jenn's wedding present here! We walked probably about half a mile or more, and got some incredible pictures of the Eiffel Tower lighting up just before sunset. I take back everything I said about the Tower being the best at night...it's the best at sunset. It was so cool to walk along the river at this time of day because we could see everything start to light up and change from day mode to night mode. There's nothing like that in Rushville along the Flatrock!

As you can imagine, we were pretty pooped out after Versailles, Catacombs, traumatic toilet experiences and the Seine. We made it back to the hotel with 27,000 steps under our belt. Talk about being exhausted...after three days of chasing after the metro and buses and Mom chasing after me. So we packed up our stuff and reluctantly got our things together to go our separate ways. The next morning, we had no trouble getting to the airport, but I think we both had trouble watching the other go in opposite directions. Three more weeks! But as I write this, it's two and a half. Getting closer. And I'm not ashamed to say that I'm listening to Christmas music while writing this.