When I woke up yesterday morning, I missed my family but I can't complain about waking up to this view!
After eating breakfast in my apartment I headed out for a walking tour of the St. Germaine area, which is the quartier next to the one where I am staying. I love doing these walking tours as I learn way more about an area than I could if I was seeing it on my own. The St. Germaine area is one of the oldest areas of Paris and has several beautiful churches, 2 of which we went inside. The first church we explore was St. Sulpice. It's the 2nd largest church in Paris (largest is Notre Dame). It's so beautiful. The main church area is gorgeous and then it has all these side altars, like the one below which is dedicated to Mary.
There are also some impressive works of art in these churches, like the painting below by Delacroix.
We also went inside St. Germaine des Pres which is another beautiful church that dates back to the 11th century I think? The stained glass window below dates back to the 13th century. It's hard to wrap your mind around how old some of these buildings are!!
At the beginning of the tour, I struck up a conversation with another woman as we were the first two to arrive. She lives in the UK, but is from Russia and had lived in Australia (where I studied abroad). We chatted on and off along the tour and at the end, she asked if I would like to join her for lunch and then walk to the Galleries Lafayette to see the magnificent tree, and of course I said yes! We had lots to talk about between our travels and shares loves of Paris and reading. I know that some find my willingness to travel alone strange (and well, I get the sense some think it's a little depressing) but experiences like this just go to show that traveling alone doesn't have to be lonely. I find that I always seem to meet people along the way. I had so much fun with Elena, and now I have a new friend to visit if/when I travel to the UK! I know we will definitely stay in touch!
Anyways, Elena and I had a delicious lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the Notre Dam and then we headed over to see the tree at this huge department store called Galleries Lafayette. The building itself is gorgeous as you can see, and the tree was magnificent!
After spending several hours together, it was time to part ways as I had a thanksgiving dinner to attend in a suburb of Paris. How did that come about? Well this fall I was traveling back to Charlotte from Pittsburgh and got upgraded to first class. As you all know, I have a strict no talking on planes rule, but I broke it on this trip because when I sat down, he immediately asked if I was a runner and when I had ran my last marathon! I guess my running shoes and 'club run' fleece I was wearing made it fairly obvious that I am (err was) a long distance runner. He had ran 97 marathons and was an all-around interesting guy between his career as a professor and the extensive travel he has done. It tikes out that his girlfriend lives in Paris and he thought he might be there over Thanksgiving so we kept in touch over the next couple of months. In September when we met, I was hoping we could meet up for a run on this trip, but that was not possible so instead he invited me to the thanksgiving dinner he was hosting.
I had such a fun night but unfortunately I don't have any pictures. All the other guests were academics and they were from countries such as Lithuania and Belarus, so it was quite the multicultural crowd! We had a great time and are very well! My contribution to the meal was macarons, of course! I tried a different shop this time and they were really good!
So that does it for Thursday. I was out and about from 9:30 am until 11:30 pm so I plan to take it a bit easier today!
11 comments:
So Cool!!! Happy Thanksgiving :)
I can't get over that gorgeous Christmas tree. At least until you notice the ceiling it's under. Such gorgeous photos! And I'm glad you're having such a great time!
Glad you had such a great Thanksgiving! These photos are unreal!
So glad you had a wonderful Thanksgiving abroad!! Those are very cool experiences. During our Europe trips the times we met other people and struck up conversations with them are some of my very favourite parts of the trip!!
That's so fun that you met someone who lives in Paris; what a great way to spend Thanksgiving. I love traveling alone; I meet a lot of people that way! I love the area around Notre Dame; it's so beautiful. It's so cool that you have stayed at a different neighborhood each time; it really makes it so you get to know a new part of the city each time!
I think a lot of people have preconceived misconceptions about traveling alone, but it's stories like these that show people how fun traveling alone can be. You can meet so many interesting people! I'm so glad you had a fun day and your dinner sounds fantastic. How cool you were able to attend that! :)
How cool!! My goodness, I have the coolest, most cultured, well traveled sister! I love that you meet all these interesting people on your travels. I don't think it's lonely or strange at all. Anyone who does feel that way, is probably just jealous!!
Glad you had a good time! Sounds amazing! Those churches are just beautiful!
Wow, that's sounds like such a great day! I am so impressed at all these friends you have made in passing since I also share the "no talking to strangers" rule ha ha.
I wonder if people who think its weird that you travel alone have not traveled much themselves. When I was studying abroad and all the times Eric and I go away, we ALWAYS meet people traveling alone. Caroline and I were actually talking about how it's AWESOME that you do this over the weekend, so we completely don't agree with those people. Since Eric loves to travel I haven't really had a lot of traveling alone experiences, but I did go to Australia alone and do a few short trips by myself while I was there. Personally I loved it, I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. I'd rather travel by myself than with a big group of people (I get very grumpy about that). I'm usually a good compromiser but if I'm in a new place, I want to see what I want to see haha.
I love meeting people when I trafvel, but not so much on the plane! It sounds like a perfect Thanksgiving! Can't wait to read more!
Swoon! I don't think I ever stopped looking up while I was in Paris, the ceilings and windows are just as much works of art in their own right as the stuff on the walls. I love that you made friends during your walking tour and had someone to pass the day with.
What an amazing second day in Paris! Have you ever heard of the app Every Trail? I discovered it in Italy -- it allows users to submit "walks" in areas all over the world. Was just thinking it might be a great app for you to have on future trips!
Also, that tree is STUNNING. And the dome above it is AMAZING. I'd be dazzled if I saw that in person.
I love that most of the Thanksgiving guests were academics. Now you have a small glimpse into my parents' world. And you can probably see how easy it is to (a) meet people from all over the world and (b) get invitations to participate in conferences or to give talks at universities all over the world!
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