All Forces

It is day three in our trip to France and today we’ve had a roller-coaster ride with very low lows and very high highs. On the highs, we went to the highest point of Paris for a sensational view of the city. On the lows, I misplaced Lilia and the video camera. I found Lilia, but not the camera.

Last night we were still struggling with our time change and went to sleep at 4am. But this morning we made an effort and set up the alarm for 10am to break into our new time. Today on the schedule was the Montmatre walk that includes Sacré Coeur and the Moulin Rouge . We had some breakfast at a local café. The english breakfast here? Not so good. It basically just includes eggs which were not so good. They tasted funny. The café creme with bread however is just perfect almost anywhere.

The Sacré Cour ( Sacred Heart ) is one of the highest points in Paris. Most people take the walk up for the phenomenal view. We took lots of pics and finally took the video camera on the road because we didn’t want to miss this on video. Th past couple of days we had left it back in the hotel because of the weight.

Madame Lilia

Monsieur Melivn

Moulin Rouge turned out to be not so “SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR!”.
And the worst part is that is in the heart of the Red Light district. A very sleazy and depressing place. And I know, the Moulin Rouge has never been known for it’s clean content, but Hollywood just messes up reality so much there’s a disconnect.

I was soooo cooold today. The skies were clear but the temperature most have dropped 10 degrees or more.

The view from the front of the Moulin Rouge.

To the right and to the left of here there are sex shoppes and adult clubs with no discretion as to what they are selling. It was a bit shocking to see such a public display. I have known about red light districts from tv documentaries or movies but it was truly a very dark and depressing site.

We quickly moved on to the Nôtre Dame. Another incredible display of architecture. I had very mixed feelings coming out of this church because this building serves two purposes. On one side, it is a city landmark which makes it a tourist attraction. On the other side, it is a fully working church and inside the church there where both displayed, the church and the tourist attraction. There were people praying and doing their rosaries and there were tourists taking pictures and video though you’re not supposed to. There was even a machine where people can buy their commemorative coins. There were audio tours. There were postcards, photos etc. I don’t know, I just couldn’t reconcile the two.

Time for some dinner. In fact the best dinner we’ve had so far. Again, it’s those Mediterranean kabobs.

Dealt with some conflict resolution. Although it’s amazing how conflicts defuse after a few glasses of wine.
:-)

We then walked the neighborhood surrounding Nôtre Dame. I have seen restaurant rows before, but NOTHING compares to this. This is restaurant after restaurant. Street after street. Nothing but colorful enviroments. Nothing but yummy looking food. A lot of them very special, like the roasted pig above. You just don’t see that every day do you?

Then we walked… and walked.. and walked.

Then we entered another church, St. Severin.

Perfect for some architecture photographs.

The lost wife.
At this point we stopped at a clothing store. I told Lilia the men’s clothing was upstairs. She stayed in the first floor browsing the ladies section and I proceeded upstairs. I took my time looking through some merchandise since it’s hard to find good stuff in the U.S. without paying a pretty penny for it. Eventually I spotted some possible buys and I went to find Lilia for a more objective opinion. She was not on the first floor, nor was she in the basement floor. Went upstairs again in case we missed each other but she was not there either. Hum.. Did she proceed to the next store? Not like her but perhaps… and as soon as I came out the store I see her talking to some french guy. I greeted them very happy since he looked like our waiter from our morning café. Nope, he was not. He was some guy trying to hit on her. He quickly shook my hand and said au revoir. Lilia was a bit distressed because the guy had been kinda staking her asking her if she wanted to go to a night club or a café. Followed her into the store when she went to looked for me. It’s safe to assume we went back and forth with the “Where were you? I was there. Where were you?” But at the end I gave her a sincere apology and was glad that she was ok since she didn’t have a euro or id on her. And although she was still a bit shaken by the whole thing, “You’re lucky he wasn’t cute” she told me. Comedy is the best medicine to relieve stress.

The lost camera.
A few minutes later, after the french gigolo made the scene, I realized our video camera was not in the bag and not in any of our hands. We back-tracked into the church to see if we left it there and see if some consecrated soul was awaiting to return it to it’s proper owner, but nothing. By that time all the stores started closing down and that was the last of our sony video camera. I have never taken such a sad subway ride. After we get back to the hotel, a long silent hour goes by I take a “mea culpa” and tell Lilia “I’m sorry I lost the camera, please forgive me”. But she says to me “you didn’t loose the camera, you lost me”, reminding me that the her getting lost with no money or id in a foreign country was a bigger distress than loosing a camera could ever be. She’s right of course, mea culpa, mea grande culpa.

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