Just before Christmas the news was filled with people stuck in the major European airports for days due to weather delays. I was one of those souls. I, however, made lemonade out of lemons and spent an afternoon roaming central Paris, the city of light!
I was bumped from two flights and told to come back to the gate for the next available flight – in 12.5 hours! Uhhh… OK…. I have been to Paris enough times over the last 10 years to have a pretty good handle on the transport system. From Charles de Gaulle Airport there is a RER train that, for $10, will take you into the heart of the city, a trip that takes around 35 minutes. It had been snowing like mad that morning, but when I stepped off the train at the Saint Michel Metro stop, the grey skis parted and the sky turned a brilliant blue. It stayed that way for three hours before the clouds and snow moved back in.
I rushed over to Notre-Dame because in the 20-odd times that I have been to Paris, I have never been inside. It always seems to be summer and the line to get in is normally oppressively long so I skip it. Being a COLD winter day there was no line at all! I removed my hat, opened the door walked into the naïve, kneeled, crossed myself, and proceeded to tear up like a little girl. It was stunning!! I walked around the church for almost two hours, exploring every corner. There was so much beauty and a glossy magazine worthy picture opertunity at every turn. I just wish Laurel and the kids could have been there to see it! We will be back.
I reluctantly left Norte-Dame and headed over the Seine to Shakespeare & Co. bookstore. It crowded dusty shelves make me oh so happy. I browsed, listened to the proprietress’s sweet voice laugh and chit-chat in both French and English, I took a few pictures and bought a couple of books. From there I walked to a Crepe stand in the Latin Quarter and ate my savory crepe in the shadow of the “oldest” tree in Paris.
At 4:00 I headed over for the Catacombs tour. 6+ million of Paris’s former residents now reside in former quarry tunnels under the city. In a word, spooky! I left the hour long tour is a pensive, reflective mood. I took the RER back to the airport, my “scheduled” flight was still active and I settled in for a wait. After a few more delays, I flew out just before all flights were cancelled and an hour before Terminal #2 was evacuated because of the weight of snow on the roof.
![a close up of the \"nun-dragon\"](http://drivenoutside.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/paris-2010/paris_2010_39.jpg "a close up of the \\"nun-dragon\\"")
Well, isn’t that timely?? National Geographic has Paris Underground on the cover this month (Jan 2011).
Churches = pretty.
The Catacombs = CREEPY – like old school Scooby-Doo mystery creepy. I do not believe that I will be spending any time in a pit/mine/cemetery while in the “most romantic” city in the world. Methinks a cheap bottle of red wine wine, a hot baguette, some stinky cheese and some dirty, chain-smoking french hooker action at a beg-bug ridden flop house seems like time better spent that breathing bone dust a couple hundred feet underground – I am just saying…
I have never been to Shakespeare and Co., (or Paris) but it is on my bucket list. I want to show up with a manuscript in hand and sleep a couple nights on a couch there. It will add color to my biography – well, that and the coke I plan to snort off that dirty hooker. Keith Richard’s is my patron Saint!
Hmmm, Coke and h00kers… I bet you are your mom’s pride and joy 🙂 Though in referencing WWKRD, such activity seems appropriate.