days 3 and 4

yesterday two of my dreams came true. we went to the eiffel tower AND montmartre, neighborhood of Amélie fame. :)

while others in my group went up, i decided not to pay the 12 Euros to go up into the tower because it was an overcast day, and i wanted my pictures to be nice. :p colleen, jose and i walked around and took pictures. it was really nice and really fun. :)
there are tourists EVERYWHERE, left and right, so you hear all sorts of different languages. there are also vendors, solicitors and beggars left and right. among the most popular are: vendors with blankets spread on the ground selling metal eiffel tower souvenirs 5 for 1 Euro, men walking around with buckets of bottled water, and, of course, the poor Bosnian girls. they walk up to you and say "speak English?" as if they need your help. so of course you say yes (even though i didn't because i was skeptical.) no matter what you say, once they have you, they hold up a crummy piece of paper which say something like "I am an immigrant from BOSNIA and my daughter has the LUKYMYA please help anything please help" and they look at your with their sad eyes. it might be believable, but there are around 30 scarfed women and all of their poorly-written cards say the same thing. sigh. i feel kind of bad for not helping, but i just can't trust anyone or anything, especially in a city i don't know. i was also approached twice by a girl who was deaf (or pretending to be deaf) asking me to sign up or donate 1 Euro to the foundation for the blind, deaf, or without shelter. but even deaf people can talk and read lips. so you can't play coy with me girl.

the eiffel tower is BIG. BIGBIGBIG. and just as amazing as you think it is. but a little stressful that it was SO crowded, SO HOT and overrun by tourists and people who want your money.

montmartre was AMAZING and i definitely want to go back at sunset. unbelievably beautiful views of the entire city. a blessed panorama. relaxing fountain which we dipped our feet in. soft grass which we laid in. a beautiful serene quiet yet architecturally marveling basilique. not as touristy as some of the other places, thankfully. <3 we saw the amelie fountain, the amelie carousel, the amelie telescope, the amelie fountain. "monsieur quelcompoix!" now i just want to see les deux moulins (where she works). it's a real place

TODAY, after "shopping" along avenue de Rennes, we went to the Louvre :) it didn't seem like a real museum, since it was louder and you could take pictures and talk and it was crowded, but of course all of the greats were there. I saw the Mona Lisa...from like, 20 feet away. and Venus de Milo. not all that exciting if you ask me. (i know, i don't appreciate art.) the best part was when we went outside by the glass pyramids and sat and talked by the fountains and the sun was going down which reflected off the water and it was literally the PERFECT lighting, temperature and atmosphere. SO relaxing. then we walked around Tuileries where they had this little carnival thing and we had paninis and ice cream. :) a really good ending to the day.

paper towels and tissues are softer here.
stores are more inconsistent (they might be out of what they say on the menu, or it could be seasonal, etc. but of course it's not their fault when they don't have whatever you wanted, it's your fault for wanting it.)
even though sometimes people don't understand me the first time and i get embarassed, i'm still desperately trying to speak french all the time.

going to normandy tomorrow for our first weekend excursion!!
i honestly wish that i could organize these better, use correct grammar/punctuation, and add photos, but i am always SO DEAD TIRED (way tireder than i am in america) every single night, and i would rather write out a disorganized random stream-of-consciousness entry every night than a composed entry every few nights. i like staying current so my thoughts and impressions don't leave my memory.