Paris was not my city. I did all the required stuff (up the Tour Eiffel, climbed up Notre Dame, toured the Louvre... you name it, I pretty much had it covered) but was remarkably uninspired by it. Plus I got sick, like the second day in. Don't get me wrong, I still had a blast, but I could never have spent more than a month living there.
I went to visit my little sister Amanda, who is studying there this fall. I got a place to stay and a free tour guide, which was great, but she had these annoying little things called "classes" which kept getting in the way of my sightseeing, so while she was busy, I wandered Paris by myself. I spent HOURS in the Louvre and was horribly disappointed by the Mona Lisa, but it's okay, because I still found my two favorite statues (Cupid and Psyche, above, and Nike, not pictured here) plus the Hermaphrodite, which is a trip.One of my other solitary excursions produced the picture below, which I discovered, when I posted all the pictures on facebook, was everyone's favorite. I hadn't thought much of it until then. I snapped the photo in just a second, because the kid's dad was right behind him, so I had to get the shot before he stepped into the frame. This kid wasn't actually being all cute, he was screaming "QUA! QUA!" at the ducks, who ignored him.
Everyone takes this picture when they climb up Notre Dame, but I didn't want to pay for the postcard, so I just took it myself. Not bad, eh? Even got the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Halloween was a blast. We went to Asterix Land. I don't know how cool it is normally, but it was awesome for Halloween. Everything was lit up, and even though I couldn't go on the terrifying rollarcoaster, since I was sick enough that the Metro made me want to heave cookies, I did go on a few other rides, including one that's just the coolest swingset ever. You sit down and pull the little bar down so you don't fly out, then the whole set swings you around up in the air so you're flying in circles.The highlight was the haunted house. Unlike every other haunted house I've ever been in, this one had people inside and out, so you weren't even safe from flesh-eating zombies once you made it through the house. They also didn't have that silly "don't touch people" rule, which meant that at one point, an undead clown zombie came up behind me through the fog and the blinding strobe light and put his hands around my neck to choke me. Best haunted house ever.
I've discovered that I really like silhouette pictures. The one above is Alessandra, one of Amanda's friends that I really liked. The other two who went with us were Mike, who was a doll, and Kelsey, her roomie.The picture below had to be taken in about five seconds, because it was my last sight-seeing day, and I was driving Amanda nuts, taking pictures of EVERYTHING.
Even though she'd done it before, Amanda went all the way up the Eiffel Tower with me. ALL the way up. It's a long way up. Apparently Amanda didn't know I'm afraid of open high spaces. We cheated and took the elevator, and Amanda teased me about the death-grip I had on her hand on the way up. Despite my fear, I did manage to take several great pictures, but this one I took after reaching solid ground again was my favorite. The policeman standing at the exit when I snapped this giggled at me. I must have looked a bit rattled. Worth doing though, because now I never have to do it again!
The best part was just hanging out with my little sister. She was absolutely in her element, and I loved seeing it.
This last picture is my favorite, and my favorite story from Paris--
There's a tiny pond in a garden in front of the Louvre that is dark and murky so you can't see more than an inch into the water. These dubvious depths, which seem like they couldn't support even scum life (seriously, this water was really gross), hide giant killer demon fish.
I know, I didn't believe it either.
Amanda was trying to prove it by luring these monsters to the surface with muffin bits, but this one pesky seagull kept swooping down and stealing them, so Amanda got down on her knees at the edge of the cesspool and valiently attempted to protect her precious bread crumbs.
Funniest thing ever. I was laughing so hard, I could barely get this picture, because my hands (and thus the camera) were shaking uncontrollably.
