PARIS: DAY 2

After witnessing the beauty of Sacré-Cœur and the Montmartre the previous night, I decided to view it a second time amongst the chaos that is the tourist hustle and bustle.  Taking the Metro to my destination, I sat on the steps  leading up to this magical building and stared blankly into the distance, admiring the vastness of the city that holds 12 million people. Feeling slightly overwhelmed by this thought, I moved along to view the well known square in Montmartre that houses artists drawing passer-by's faces at a somewhat small fee. As another downpour of rain fell upon the Montmartre, I entered a cosy café and indulged in a 6 Euro cappuccino whilst scribbling notes in my travel journal

The Notre Dame was next on my sporadic itinerary and happened to befriended Willy, a Bolivian fellow,  along the way. We spoke about our homeland, our current doings and our plans for Paris whilst admiring our surroundings. I told him about Lovers bridge, located at Pont de l'Archevêché, and tickled his curiosity so much that we ended up going together. Whilst twilight was setting in on Paris, a street musician played his guitar beside the canal whilst we sat and listened...

 

 

LIKE AN IKEA VIRGIN

Back in South Africa we don't have IKEA. 

 

Because of this, I deemed myself an IKEA virgin amongst the other American au pairs in my town who had been numerous times back in the States. The main reason behind our great trek to the store was to purchase a plate of their famous Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria.

 

And so I had the meatballs, and they were as delicious as I was told. On finishing our meal, I dreaded the thought of having to split the bill and pay separately between the 7 of us, only to realise we had already paid in the food line. I liked that. No having to argue with the waitress about separate bills,  wavering the right amount of change or under tipping the staff. IKEA really got that down!

 

The actual store part is great too. You worm your way around a maze of fake living room, kitchen and bathroom layouts of all the store furniture and write down the number of the items you like. When you get to the ground floor, you go to the designated number area, collect your box of unassembled parts from the shelves and go to the self  service check out points. Sure I knew that was the concept behind it, but to see and experience it in the flesh was pretty cool too.

Also, I realised this is what my face looks like when I'm in mid conversation