Practicing French and pizza

Although I knew we would have a free day in Paris to see the sights, travel, or do whatever we individually wanted to do, I didn't actually plan anything specific beforehand (i.e. no real must-see lists for Paris like in London). So, there wasn't much of a plan for today's free time beyond wandering down to the Champs Elysees and l'Arc de Triomphe after breakfast and likely repeating our Paris-by-foot tour of the center of the city. Being out in the city for most all of the day--including two meals--also meant a chance for souvenir shopping and eating at cafes, all of which provided me a chance to practice using French and, at the end of the day, reminded me of a silly little French song we once learned called "Je suis une pizza"...

Taking the Metro down to the Champs Elysees was actually very easy, and we were kindly directed by signs to find nearby monuments and attractions. Unfortunately, we headed right, towards the river, when in fact the metro station we exited literally faced the Champs Elysees and we could've found l'Arc de Triomphe by heading out to the left instead. Nonetheless, we got to see le petit and le grand palais and walked down to la Place de la Concorde without really planning to. It was exciting to cross the streets there because the street crossing signals were all taped off/not functioning and the streets were all major intersections. We had some interesting calls with lights changing suddenly, but managed to survive long enough to circle la Concorde and head into a little park that parallels the Champs Elysees. Because of the eventual advent of the Tour de France up the Champs Elysees, we couldn't walk up part of the avenue since they had it roped off and were setting up stands/bleachers for future spectators.

When we did get to the CE, it was crowded, of course, but had tons of interesting shops, and we kept running into other program people who had also wandered down that way during our free day. We had some serious issues finding the correct route to actually get to the l'Arc, mostly because all of these little brown signs kept indicating that it was underground and then the metro directions popped us out at the same station, which, thanks to crowds and our apparent inability to see the giant entrance, kept seeming like the wrong place. We seriously circled a couple of times before finally spotting the real entrance, but we did make it there and Peep got some souvenir pictures to prove it.

After heading to the Latin Quarter, finding La Sorbonne, and eating a cute little street cafe, we wandered some more, ending up in le Jardin du Luxembourg (we were intending to head towards the river, but obviously got turned around) and then over to Ile de la Cite. There was quite the line for Sainte-Chapelle, so we admired its stained glass windows from the outside in passing, but didn't try to see Notre Dame since we'll be going there for class next week. After a brief stop on Ile de la Cite, though, we headed for Marais, which didn't really seem to have any notable landmarks as we passed through, and then all of a sudden it seemed like we were back at the Bastille, which is very close to our hotel.

I'm not sure how far distance-wise we walked, but it was a good little trek around the center of the city. When added to yesterday's journeys around the Louvre area, I feel like I've seen a good bit of the interior portion of the city traveling by foot, but then again, it's a good way to see what you want to see and you definitely get to see people and interact on a more personal basis. Most of the merchants do still end up helping us along with English if not just using English from the start, but it's definitely a learning and relearning experience to be reading maps and signs, listening to locals around me talking, and try to order items in stores.

After our super walk, we thought we'd try the hotel's restaurant only to find that it doesn't exist for dinner, meaning we had to have a backup plan. The backup plan became ordering a pizza, but since the menus for said pizza places (as provided by the front desk) were all in French, I got to help navigate the options and ultimately ended up placing the order online, which was another fun adventure. It was a little gratifying to have the ordering process work out, although admittedly, it wasn't a complicated order, and it was an inexpensive dinner. :) The delivery was crazy fast and to our hotel room door, though, so that was a pleasant surprise and a fun dinner en suite. Tomorrow we travel to Versailles(!), which means a little trip to the local grocery is in order for some water, if not dessert following our little pizza dinner. :)

Me ordering pizza online in French (and it worked!)

...dinner! (to the tune of "Je suis une pizza")