June 25, 2001: Paris, France

We arrived in Le Havre, France around 7 a.m. Mom and I had our breakfast out on our porch. Charlene, Marnie, Mom, and I boarded the bus for a 3 hour ride into Paris. Originally, we were supposed to have 5 ½ hours in Paris, but we ended up only having 4 hours to explore.


We were dropped off at the Plaza del Concorde. We got to see the Arc de Triumph. Paris was quite spread out, so you had to do a lot of walking to get anywhere.


We walked to the Eiffel Tower. The buildings were huge and had a lot of artistic work.


First, I had to get a phone card called a ‘Tabac’ from a local store. The people in the stores only spoke French; however, I somehow was able to communicate to the clerk that I needed this phone card to make a call to Heather Klee Ascani. The first phone didn’t work, so we kept walking towards the Eiffel tower and then found a phone booth. I was able to get a hold of Heather on her cell phone. She said she was just about to walk out the door when we called so that worked out. She said she would meet us in 20 minutes at the north entrance.


The Eiffel Tower was all made of steel and is so impressive. There were four entrances to it. I remember standing under the tower, looking up, and seeing more steel than I had ever seen in my life. It is simply amazing to look at from that perspective.


Mom and Charlene got us ice cream. I waited for Heather and then I saw her come. We gave her some ice cream. She was about 6 months pregnant and looking good. In her household, they spoke a lot of Spanish. She had to learn it in order to speak with Diego’s parents. Her apartment was up in the hill near the northwest side of the Eiffel tower. She overlooked the park that was south of it. She suggested we eat at a café or see her house. We would have loved to do that, but since we got into town so late, we weren’t able to.


I could tell that Heather was glad we came to visit her. She said Paris was a hectic lifestyle. Rent for a 1 bedroom apartment was around $2500/month. Of course, I got a picture of us together in front of the Eiffel tower. This is one of my favorite photos.


She watched us board a boat bus on the Seine River. Seeing Heather was the highlight of my trip to Paris. We took the boat along the Seine River and got off at the Notre Dame stop. There was a children’s choir going on and the acoustics were so heavenly. We also went by the Louvre. Then, we went to the department store, Samaritaine and went up to the 9th floor and saw a gorgeous view of the city.


Marnie stood in line to go to the top of the Eiffel tower. She spent most of her time in Paris standing in that line. I am glad we were able to see a little bit of Paris in those 4 short hours.