Hello again, strangers. As promised, I've finally gotten around to getting a post together about Paris. You may remember that at the end of May (Memorial Day to be exact), I left Maine for almost three weeks. The first 5 days I spent in St. Louis, Missouri at a conference and the last week and a half I spent in Paris, attending a seminar held by my co-workers there. When I left, I was 28 weeks pregnant.
For most of the time I was in Paris, I was taking part in a seminar on the way the French see disability in their society. It was such an interesting topic for me because the French see disability as a situation, not something that defines people. In fact, they said that in certain situations, as a pregnant woman, I would be considered disabled since I could not perform all of the tasks of others. The seminar was great and helped me to see Paris from a really interesting vantage point.
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| A Moroccan cafe owned and run by a young deaf man |
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| Home of Louis Braille outisde of Paris |
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Because I was so busy with the seminar, I had very little time to act like a tourist. Even when I did have the time, I was so exhausted and my feet and ankles were so swollen that I spent time resting and doing work. Finally, 2 days before I left, I had an entire day free to explore. I decided the best way for me to see the city without having to walk a whole lot was to take the Paris L'Open Bus Tour. The tour had 4 different lines that went all over the city and I took 3 of the lines and spent about 5 hours riding the buses.
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| Baby's first trip to Paris... see "it" there in my big belly? |
I rode all over the city and enjoyed my little perch on the top of an open bus right in the front row. I saw all of the important sites:
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| Champs d'elysees |
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| The Eiffel Tower |
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| The Louvre |
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| The Paris Opera |
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| The Seine River |
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| Notre Dame |
Although it was a cloudy and dreary day, I got to see so much of Paris and listen to the history over my bright green earphones. It was a perfect solution for a pregnant girl who really couldn't walk much. Once I started getting hungry, I hopped off the bus and headed into a little cafe where I had some steak frites and a really tasty hot chocolate. I have to say I really love the cafe culture there!
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| Picture from cafe I went to the first day in Paris | |
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| Typical Paris street... narrow and so cute with even the buildings having shuttered windows |
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| I also really loved these little houses near my hotel in Bercy |
I really enjoyed Paris. It is such an amazing city full of history and life. I kept thinking that I wished LoLo could have been there because he would have loved learning about all of the history. The cafe culture and the slow pace were perfect for me. People spent hours just sitting at the cafes chatting with friends and drinking coffee and eating croissants. No one seemed in a rush like everyone seems to be in New York.
I feel so lucky to have been able to take this trip. One of my fears when I found out I was pregnant was that I would miss opportunities to travel and to see the world. Although it was definitely tougher and more exhausting, I felt like I did a really good job traveling at 7 months pregnant and wouldn't trade my experience for anything.
Baby Santana, you can check Paris off your list.
