First day in Paris!

Today was fun but busy. I hung out with a different group of people which was really nice. Today we went to listen to a famous journalist/photographer who was Pyle’s “tent mate” during WWII for a brief time.

]\He actually invited all 34 of us to his apartment in Paris! The apartment was in the back of a complex. We walked in through a big metal door, through a courtyard and up to what looked like a greenhouse in the back of the complex. It was his house!! It was so cute. He had folding chairs, plastic chairs, couches, armchairs, and dining room chairs spread all around for us to sit in.

Unfortunately the bulb on his projector/slide machine broke so we didn’t get to view his pictures while he talked, but it was still very interesting! He didn’t know Pyle very well but the little bit he told us was neat to hear. He said that the day he was leaving Pyle made it a point to say goodbye to him. He commented that Pyle seemed like an easy going guy.

What looked like an office in his apartment had big tables and desks lined with magazines. One wall was lined with different photography books. His coffee table was piled high with more magazines, photo books, and his personal books about his career.
We all had a very hard time staying awake not because he was boring but because we were all so very tired and his apartment was so warm!

After leaving I headed over to Notre Dame with my group. We ate lunch (another sandwich on yummy bread with no meat. It wasn’t very good for what I paid) then went and walked through Notre Dame.

After walking through we took tons of photos. Then we headed for the souvenir shops!! I bought a really pretty green Paris scarf with Eiffel Towers on it (it’ll be nice for the spring weather), a shot glass for matt, and a Paris travel bag! The bag is huge and will be great for lightening my suitcase on the way home. It’s going to stink carrying it around but it is totally worth not having to pay $50 for my big suitcase being overweight again. The bag was only 25 Euro so it was actually cheaper to buy the bag than pay to check my suitcase…hopefully I will keep it under 50 lbs.
After shopping we took the very confusing metro back to the hotel. The metro here is so much different than the Tube in London. It’s dirty, confusing, smelly, and full of graffiti.

Once back to the hotel I put on the most comfy clothes I had with me, closed the curtains, and crawled into bed! I was tired I just had to get some sleep.

So it’s Saturday right now and I just had to note that, other than waking up occasionally last night, I woke up at 9am this morning. I really needed some sleep I guess!

Pictures coming soon!