After Lunch

Quartier Latin

After eating that succulent lunch, I embarked on another trip; I didn’t walk though. The metro here is amazing; easy to use and there’s little to no wait; the most I’ve waited is 5 min. I went up to the Quartier Latin, and the metro left me right in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. On a side note, I was advised to look out for them gypsies, pickpocketing and all, but I hadn’t encountered one… until the thought crossed my mind and one approached me. She was like “do you speak English?” I said I did and she showed me this premade card with English writing. I figured she just needed translation, but then I realized she be a gypsy and I was like “so?” And she said “please, my brother…” and I walked away. =]

Going back to Notre Dame, it’s a really nice building. Regardless of the tumult of people inside, it gives this sense of peace and grandeur. You can hear a choir of angels, probably just a tape, but something about it makes your life better and eases your soul.

This Quartier is way too crowded for my taste; it reminds me of NYC, or the image I have of it. There’s people speaking all sorts of languages, and everybody’s all sweaty and there are those lame tour buses everywhere. Despite this, I walked around looking for La Sorbonne. You know me, good ol’ nerd trying to find universities. Like I said before, streets here are weird so it took me a while to find it. In the meantime, however, I found a Starbucks and got this amazing Mangue Passion; mango-infused iced tea… om nom nom nom. I tried to get into the university, but they only let in students. I moved on.

I went to the Pantheon, what an amazing place. It’s a national monument dedicated to the brave men & women that gave their lives for their country. It’s filled with paintings and sculptures of the revolution and the story of martyrs. There’s a crypt where the bodies of the powerful men & women of the revolution lie to rest. I found the Curies. =] There’s also Victor Hugo and Dumas. At the end, and after about 200 steps, I climbed up to the top of the building. The panoramic view of Paris was mesmerizing. What I found interesting is what I take to be the lack of a downtown. Each Arrondissement, or neighborhood/district, has its own town hall and the legislative/judicial/executive branches of the national government are spread all through the center Arrondissements, surrounded by houses.