Bastille Day and Some Other Stuff

My feet hurt, my legs are sore, my eyes are drooping...but I am a very happy person. We have done so much in the past couple days that it feels like we have been here for weeks, in the best possible sense. Despite trying not to waste any time we need have a nice long sleep Wednesday morning after our night of Potter mania. Unfortunatley, as we were eating breakfast  our stove became possessed (probably by Voldemort) and starting sparking of its own accord so we had a little bit of a rocky start and it wasn't until one or two pm that we finally arrived at Sacre Coeur. This church has a very different feel to Notre Dame; more solemn and traditional. I have to say I prefer the latter as touring Sacre Coeur made me feel more intrusive than welcomed. The dome however was well worth the three-hundred or so steps it took to get there; you can see all of Paris and there are lots of good photo opportunities which made Alex very happy. We then went down into the crypt (because I like that sort of thing) and there were all sorts of creepy statues, lots of treasure that had been gifted to the cathedral, and even Nearly Headless Nick...well kind of.
I also wanted to pay a visit to the Palais Garnier, one of my favorite places in the whole city. We got a little lost on our way there so of course arrived just as it was closing, but I was so desperate to just get inside that we snuck in through the gift shop and were able to see the grand foyer from a distance and take some pictures. One day I will actually go there to watch a performance! After a quick breather on the steps of the Opera we ventured back down into the metro and went to St Paul to meet Jean Pierre, a friend of Alex's family. He took us out for a yummy dinner and I tired Creme Brule for the first time, its delicious! Feeling very full and happy, Jean Pierre took us on a tour of Marais which is a very vibrant neighborhood but also full of history ; from Louis XIII to WWII. Jean Pierre knows the story behind every building and so we were quite happy to just listen to him talk as we walked around looking at the beautiful rose gardens and great old houses that stood next to the trendy shops and cute restaurants. We saw a part of the old wall that used to surround Paris in the days of the emporer but what was really interesting was that it had been built up to attach to an old school from which Nazi soldiers took Jewish children to be deported to the concentration camps. It was very sad and yet fascinating to see all that history squished together. As we headed back to the apartment the crowds had already begun to gather for the pre-Bastille Day festivities but we were too tired to join in. The evening over all was certainly one of the best we have had so far. Thank you so much Jean Pierre for taking us off the tourist path!
The next morning we woke up much earlier and headed out for the Bastille Day parade. The Champs Eleysee was already packed when we got there even though we had over an hour to wait! To get close to the road you had to wait in an endless line and go through security which we sneakily evaded by perching ourselves on top of the barricades and securing a much better view. The atmosphere was electric as rows and rows of well dressed soldiers marched down the streets (they definitely show up the American army in the fashion department). Alex and I had fun awarding prizes for the best hats and laughing at all the funny tourists. We even saw President Sarkozy for about two seconds as he wizzed down the road surrounded by scary looking security gaurds. Even though we left before the parade was officially over it was still a nightmare trying to get away and we ended up taking a side street to get to the Arc de Triomphe. We managed to get in the street and take some great pictures of the Arc in all its glory before the police men shooed everyone away. Next we met up with another friend, the son of Marie whose apartment we are borrowing, and had a nice long stroll all the way past Les Invalides to the posh part of town for lunch (more yummy deserts but I promise I am walking it all off). Alex and I decided to make a spontaneous visit to Napoleon's Tomb on the way back as admission was free for the day. I wondered aloud if Napolean was a very large man as his coffin is massive, and Alex laughed at me. At any rate, the fact that his tomb can be seen from most every view in Paris must tell you something about what kind of person he was.
There was more spontaneity as we decided to give the Musee D'Orsay one more go...and thank goodness we did! The sun was shining beautifully so waiting in line was no problem at all, we even met a very sweet American couple on there honey moon. The museum itself is worth a long wait though, even in the rain;I got chills every time I saw a painting I recognized and it hit me that Degas, or Van Gogh, or Lautrec had actually applied those brush strokes. We saw Degas' little dancer, Monet's Lily Pads, and even Van Gogh's church (yay Doctor Who!). I love imrpessionist art so it was a dream come true really. I even discovered some new paintings and artists that I had never heard of but fully enjoyed.
As if that wasn't enough for one day we knew that we absolutely could not miss the Bastille Day fireworks so we met up with Marie's lovely daughter Anna and squeezed back into the metro. After much debate we decided on a spot just below the Eiffel Tower and next to the river. There were people everywhere but Alex and I decided to lay down in the middle of the street anyway and stare up at the Eiffel Tower for the best view. To our surprise the fireworks actually began over the river so we had to stand up and turn around to see them (and not get stepped on). It was definitely the best fireworks display I have ever seen because it was set to music from Boradway musicals! How perfect! I am ashamed (or proud, depending on how you look at it) to say that I knew every single word to every song except the ones in French. I think there were definitely some tears shed at that point...I mean how can you not when Memory is blasting over the speakers and you are watching beautiful fireworks with the Eiffel Tower at your back? We got lots on film that I can't wait to post. Getting back was of course not quite so enjoyable; we took one look at the line for the metro and decided a taxi would definitely be worth the money. And it was; the Seine sparkles at night.