I fell asleep last night while Smurfs 2 was buffering (it was set in Paris. give me a break) and didn't wake up until 11:30. I got myself officially ready for bed and went back to sleep. I woke up at 8:22 this morning. When I first woke up I thought it was the middle of the night considering how dark it was. It was just a really gray day today. I immediately started praying that it wouldn't rain and ruin my cruise plans. I started thinking about museums I could go to instead of trudging out in the rain. I got out of bed and made a plain cup of black coffee (which I now think is sad. god, one week of having milk and now i'm converted. what next? iced lattes?!) and searched the cupboard for food. I figured that I'd coat a slice of bread with butter and sugar and then fry it, but it turned out to be a soggy piece of sadness. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow with more sugar and less butter....or I'll leave the house and get a baguette.
I sat down to read my first article of the day. It was another article for histories about the physical changes that occurred in Paris since the the mid 1900s. This article specifically talked about Le Marais at the end of the article and even mentioned the phenomenon of shop owners leaving up the boulangerie signs on their stores. I've always thought that was charmingly weird. The next article was about the Forum Les Halles that was built after the old Les Halles was destroyed. I've studied the old Les Halles so much that I'm sad that it's gone. It's replacement by an underground shopping mall is a crime.
I only had three things left on my to do list and I wasn't planning on leaving the house until late. I turned my attention to looking up the list of hotels that mom sent me for my trip to Barcelona. I googled the transportation system and then looked up the hotels. I made my decision and emailed mom. She said that she had thought that's the hotel I would pick. She knows me a little too well. I'm going to book it tomorrow. Barcelona, here I come!
After my little distraction, I turned my attention to working on my pop presentation. I finished the last slide only to realize that the last two slides were different than the other slides. I recreated the slides and then reviewed my presentation. I had to fix the formatting so that it would look normal while in full screen mode. That took awhile. Then I figured out how to send my presentation to Mindy and then how to print it. With those checked off the list, I did a quick dry run of my presentation. Not bad for the first time. I have a few more days to work on it(...or a lot. It's not due until the 10th).
It was only noon so I thought that I'd have a lunch break. I made a small plate of thanksgiving food (i had devoured three cookies during my second reading) and got into bed to watch netflix. I settled on a documentary about the crime boss Whitey and then couldn't pull myself away from it when one o'clock came (the time I had planned to go back to work). I watched until 1:25 when I finally found the courage to shut it off. The documentary was riveting. It was about how the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were covering for this mob boss and how they enabled them to continue doing crimes. The whole case against Whitey was about proving that he wasn't an FBI informant even though the he had actually been charged with racketeering and murder. One guy was being interviewed because Whitey killed his sister. It turns out that his sister was the girlfriend of one of the crime bosses. Not exactly innocent, but didn't deserve to be killed. Another woman was the stepdaughter of one of the mob bosses. He started sleeping with her, and when she started using drugs and prostituting, he killed her. One man was being interviewed because he had been extorted by Whitey and knew the man whose sister was killed. During the documentary, he was found dead in the woods. It turns out that his business associate poisoned his ice coffee with cyanide. What a crazy world.
I finally tore myself away from the documentary and worked on my pop paper. It's coming along, but it's not awesome. We shall see what Mindy says about it on Thursday. I then finished my movie and then edited my monument paper. I feel like it's getting worse. Oh well. Next up was a snack (the finishing of my nacho cheese sauce) and a new documentary. This one was called Gideon's Angels and followed public defenders in Georgia. They've underpaid, overworked, and their clients often end of pleading guilty. The saddest case was a 20 year old who was charged with arm robbery. They were just about to prove he was innocent when they heard news that his codefendant (and best friend) was going to testify that they had done the crime together in order to get a lesser sentence. The boy ended up with a five year mandatory sentence after pleading guilty to robbery by intimidation. He was innocent.
While watching the documentary, I was having an inner battle deciding what time I should go on the cruise. I had chosen to either take the cruise at 5:45 or 6:30. At five o'clock it didn't seem that dark. I then firmly decided on 6:30 but kept looking at the clock second guessing my decision and wondering if I could make the 5:45. I ended up leaving the house at 5:45 and walking to Gare de Lyon. On my way out the door, I saw Francisco's roommate and two friends trying to pick the lock to their room. The 15 euro lockout fee might be worth it. At Gare de Lyon I bought some metro tickets and then walked through an open gate onto the platform for the one. I went to Châtelet and then got out at the wrong exit. I was still able to find my way to the Seine and started to walk along to find the correct boating dock. In the distance I saw a building that said "Vedettes Pont-Neuf." I just googled it, and "vedette" either means a star or a small speedboat. Who knew. I walked to the building but it seemed to be closed. I finally got a man to come to the door who looked at my printed ticket and told me "juste là." I walked over to what was obviously a cruise company and waited for the boat to load.
I had been waiting to go on this cruise for awhile and I was determined to sit on the top deck. It was a fairly empty boat (maybe only 20 of us) so there was plenty of room. However, when the boat started to move, it became obvious that this was not going to be a comfortable trip. It was absolutely freezing. The fog was so heavy that rain drops were occasionally falling into my eyes and my hands were frozen after five minutes. It became even worse at the end of the cruise when I couldn't even see out of my glasses and I had become so desperate that I was covering my face with my scarf for warmth. It was bad, man. Despite the cold, the cruise was pretty cool. I will admit that Paris at night was pretty creepy. There was no one along the banks, and the yellow street lights gave the city a very weird glow. I really did like seeing Notre Dame all lit up in soft blue lights with a Christmas tree covered in blue lights in its courtyard. The cathedral is way better at night. I also really liked the Eiffel Tower. Duh. I can never get sick of seeing it at night. From a distance you could only see the very bottom level due to the heavy fog. However, when we got closer (like right in front of it) you could see the whole thing. Spooky and cool.
Notre Dame
Ladies and Gentlemen....you know what that is
The second the cruise was over I rushed off the boat like a bat out of hell. I actually felt ten times warmer once I got onto the quai. I rushed to the metro and decided to take the 14 home. I tried to walk through an open gate but it shut with my body in between it. It turns out that the gates don't have the same release mechanism as the metro doors. To my chagrin, the door closed when I pulled myself out of it and then opened again as I went through another open gate. Have I been scared straight? Not a chance. It turns out that I have been on the 14 before. It is one of the high speed lines like the 11 that is totally unlike the 8. The line map on the train is so huge the font is practically the size of my head. There's only something like six stops. There no stop between Châtelet and Gare de Lyon (unlike the one where there's like four stops). I got off the train after what felt like forever (i'm so used to the one stopping all the time) and then found my way upstairs. I got nervous when I realized that you have to use a ticket to get out of the RER/14 area so I went through the only open gate I saw.
That gate lead to exit 2...nowhere near Diderot. I looked around, got confused, and found a sign pointing to the SNCF trains in Gare de Lyon. I could definitely find my way out from there. It turns out that Gare de Lyon is way larger than I had thought. I haven't even seen half of it. I followed the signs leading to metro line one until I saw a sign that said Diderot exit. I went up a sketchy set of stairs that only had enough room for one and a half bodies (yep, not even two bodies) and was transported onto a familiar escalator that lead to the main floor for the TGV trains. I wove my way through the throng of people (it was even busier tonight than it is during the day. maybe because it's sunday) to the exit and quickly walked home.
When I got home I couldn't even open my door because of how cold my hands were. I finally managed to open and close the door and then immediately made myself an extra hot cup of cocoa before settling in to finish my documentary. I've now moved on to a documentary about late term abortions. I'm on a role today. I am sad to announce that I have finished the last of my chocolate turkey and am down to my last three chewy caramels. I'm going to have to find some room in the grocery budget for more treats. Momma can't live without her treats.
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