Elena de Montmartre!

Hello everyone!!

So I just arrived in PARIS last night and I wanted to share an experience that I had. I arrived here at 8pm, a day earlier than everyone else I am traveling with, and I was hungry and went to do a little exploring. I found a cute cafe to get a bite to eat... it actually occured to me at this point that I have NO IDEA how to order vegetarian in french. I haven't had that much of a problem yet... portuguese is similar to spanish so I can make educated guesses, in Rome I had a friend who is studying abroad there to give me guidance, and in Amsterdam everything is in english because dutch is too ridiculous on its own. But anyways, I ordered a soup with endives and some mystery ingredient that I am scared to look up; nothing seemed meaty, but you never know. Oh well, travel is the one time that I am very willing to be lax about not eating meat, so c'est la vie!

After my dinner, which was delicious, I went for a bit of a walk. My hostel is in Montmartre and I knew that Sacre Coeur was somewhere nearby; I had a vague idea of where it was but wasn't really sure, I was mostly just wandering. Just as I was about to give up and admit I had no idea where I was I suddenly turned a corner and THERE IT WAS!

It was one of those moments that you know you will remember for the rest of your life the instant it happens. It was just SO BEAUTIFUL, sitting uptop the hill and lit up from below. It is a gorgeous white, a big and imposing cathedral. I couldn't stop smiling! I made my way around, assuming it was closed for the night and that I could always return in the morning. Turns out, not only was it open, but there was a service going on inside. I walked in to hear the sound of a bell commanding all the parishoners to stand and begin singing the opening song, it was magical.

The view of Paris from the top of Montmartre hill is incredible. It was a perfect first night in this gorgeous city.

I finished out my night by making a stop in a small store to grab a snack and do a bit of studying in the meat section... jambon is ham, porc is pork... its not too difficult actually, pretty similar to spanish.

Anyways, I need to get going! I was supposed to make my way to Notre Dame an hour ago according to last night's plan, so I'm already late to see Quasimodo and the talking gargoyles!

Elena

PS the mystery ingredient was poireaux. I looked it up, means leeks!! Whew haha