Day 5 – Le Quartier Latin and La Tour Eiffel

This morning, we had breakfast at our hotel, and Sara would like to note that they had Emmental cheese, and I would like to add that the hot chocolate was very good (Sara: “As was the bread.”) Anyway, the waitress spoke to us in French, which was quite exciting. After our lovely petit déjeuner, we walked to the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, where we waited in a line (actually the line for people who wanted to get cards, but there wasn’t a line we could see for just visitors, so anyway, we waited), and then spoke to a nice woman inside who led us up to the main library portion. (Also, we had to show that we had passports to get in.) The big reading room (apparently it’s the place to be for French students on Saturday mornings) was cool, and the sections were labeled (much more nicely than the labels in an American library), and it was lovely. On the way back down towards the lobby area, I had a nice conversation with the employee, during the course of which she asked how we decided to come to that library/didn’t we have (nice) libraries in the U.S. (first, actually, she asked where we were from, but anyway), and I said we had libraries, only not generally as nice as that one, and that the thing about countries like the U.S. is that they don’t have as much history as countries like French, to which she somewhat rhetorically asked if that was because the U.S. is a newer country, to which I replied “yes.” Then we looked at the displays they had of various types of books (little books, old manuscripts with various types of typeset or calligraphy, various languages, etc.), and the busts of Old Important People (including scientists and mathematicians, Sara would have you know).

"I BELIEVE IN SH" - Yes, Aditi, I kid you not, I found this written on the side of a building in the Latin Quarter of Paris. ASDLKSALKFJKSJLK!!!

Woooooo! Eurovision!!!

After the library, we tried to find tickets to the Louvre at the Carrefour, which according to some website they have, but anyway, apparently not, so we then went to the Pantheon, which is quite close to our hotel, actually. We went inside and took pictures of the various murals (generally depicting the life and works of Sainte Geneviève), and then went down to the crypts, where we saw the tombs of such notables as Jean Moulin, Victor Hugo, Zola, Dumas, Lagrange of "Lagrange Error" fame, and the Curies (they had the most flowers/items).

Panthéon. Cool architecture! 

Sara: We have one of those... (a Foucault pendulum)

La Tour Eiffel, as seen from the Panthéon

Sara outside the Musée Curie. SCIENTIST. (This is where she worked and DISCOVERED RADIUM. RADIUM WAS DISCOVERED HERE, PEOPLE!!!)

Next, we found the Institut Curie; we were actually looking for the museum bit, and it took us a little while to find, and once we did find it, we discovered that it was fermé (Jay: It’s officially a rule that all European science-y museums must be fermé and hard to find whenever we want them). The museum is currently being renovated, and according to the sign posted, said renovations were supposed to be done a year ago; the website Sara found said they would be done first quarter 2012, but it hadn’t been updated past that. Anyway, we saw the outside and were able to muse on the wonders it would hold for future visitors.

Fountain outside of St. Sulpice 

Following this, we went to St. Sulpice. On the way there, we went through the Jardin du Luxembourg, which was rather cool and picturesque. At St. Sulpice, we took pictures of the various chapels (each dedicated to a different saint, including one for Jeanne d’Arc), as well as the general architecture. There were several signs reminding us to be quiet, as some people were actually there to worship, which I felt rather weird about – I mean, that they were praying, etc., and we were there taking pictures and ogling the arches and such.

(Weeping?) angels in St. Sulpice...they're coming for you all!

Continuing on, we went to the St. Sulpice métro, where (with the help of a métro employee), we got day cards. The métro employee was very helpful and enthusiastic, and gave us various tips about how to stay safe. He even went so far as to show us a picture he’d taken on his iPhone of a Roma/”gypsy” group of pickpockets sitting in a métro station. That’s dedication. Anyway, we got on the métro and took it to Trocadéro, so we could see the Parvis des Libertés et des Droits de l’Homme and the Fontaine de Varsovie (just across from La Tour Eiffel). Then, we had a Croque Monsieur and a crêpe avec chocolat from some random place between the Fontaine and La Tour, and they were both very tasty.

Panthéon from La Tour Eiffel.

We got in line for la Tour Eiffel about 3:50. We knew that waits were taking upwards of two hours because a mechanical problem caused them to be running only a single elevator. By the time we got into the elevator to get to the 2^nd level (not even the one to the top), it was 7:00. A three-hour wait was apparently typical/projected for today. Anyway, probably two hours into the wait it started to rain, which was somewhat annoying, but we were determined to wait as long as necessary in whatever conditions! (Okay, a tornado/hurricane/raging fire might have dissuaded us, but rain was not about to.) (Also, despite the fact that Sara REFUSED to ask for cheese at breakfast, she did manage to order our tickets for la Tour, YAY SARA, which was very exciting. She wants me to note that her pronunciation was rather terrible, but anyway the employee understood, and that's what counts.) 

It looks like a terrifying roller coaster.

Anyway, we succeeded in getting through the line! Victory was ours! We went all the way up and took a ton of pictures from all different angles. You don’t realize how BIG Paris is until you see it from la Tour Eiffel. It is ENORMOUS. Lovely, with lots of trees and cool French architecture and such, and quite big. We spent a while taking pictures from the various levels and various directions, then made the descent from the 2^nd level to the ground via the stairs.

Atop La Tour Eiffel, after exchanging "Excuse me, could you take our picture?"s with other Americans.

After leaving la Tour Eiffel, we walked to a métro station and began the journey back to the hotel. Sara had a bit of trouble with her day card each time we had to go through, which was bothersome and confusing, but we both made it and it didn’t delay us much, so all’s well that ends well, I suppose. (Aside: the neighborhood in which our hotel is situated is lovely. We passed dozens of small bookstores today, which of course endears the quartier to me!)

Presently, we’re sitting on the bed. The chair is still in the closet. More exciting places to see tomorrow (and likely more lines to stand in, though none as long as the one for la Tour Eiffel). I hope the days of our DEVOTED READERS are passing as pleasantly as ours.

- Miel & Sara