Our next destination was though the red light district of town. I felt guilty just looking around! We didn’t go into any of the shops but we could see that we were in the ‘wrong’ side of Paris. Welcome to the ally of sex. On one side was the Sexodrone, a huge sex shop as big as the other buildings around it. On the other side was a place called Fantasy, Sex, Porno shop and an adult video store. There was even a nude cinema right by the McDonalds! Why are we on this street? Well… the Moulin Rouge is here of course! 
We didn’t go inside the Moulin Rouge but just sat on the corner took pictures and watched this band play a bit.
Then we headed back to the metro and started another long walk. We saw some neat buildings and a green statue of a horse. It reminded me of the color of the statue of liberty. Then we walked down a really wide street to the Notre Dame!
This building is pretty detailed. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog the three arches with story like scenes should look familiar. They look a lot like the three arches on the Cathedral of St. Peter in Poitiers!
Orianne (O-Re-Anne), my history buff buddy, told me that the architect that built the Notre Dame was obsessed with gargoyles and put tons of the around the cathedrals top. The same guy had a mother-in-law that he hated. So if you get to the top of the building and look down the east side you can see gargoyle, gargoyle, gargoyle, old lady with a hat, gargoyle, gargoyle….. I really wanted to see it but our group leaders were against it. This is one of the things I’ll have to come back to Paris for.
What I was able to see was the long line of saints on the front side of the church as well as two battle scenes.
As with most French churches, I don’t think I was supposed to take pictures inside. However I no speaky the Frenchy so I did. Here are some views of the inside. Sorry they aren’t great. I wasn’t going to risk putting the flash on. The statue with the children was when the little kids wanted to be with Jesus and his disciples told the kids to go away. Jesus got upset and let the kids stay with him.
Our next stop was casa de Hostile. A Hostile is a really cheap room that you stay for a night or two. It’s mostly used for students our people traveling. There isn’t a TV or internet hook ups. There isn’t a privet bathroom or those little green mints on the pillow but there isn’t the ridiculous price tag attached for the night either. Kata-ka and I shared this room. We had 2 hours to eat and get ready for the party. So we went down to the little pizza shop and split a pizza. I was really surprised when the chef brought out the pizza with a raw egg cracked in the center of it. It was nasty looking. When we got back we had a little under and hour to get dressed. Kata-ka had been sick all trip so she decided to stay behind. I got dressed and headed out.
On our way to the boat party we crossed a cute little bridge. The gate on this bridge had locks on it. We were told that the locks symbolized lovers. The small ones where one-night stands and the bigger ones where from long term relationships. It was something you would expect from a city nick named the “city of love”.
Then we got to the boat. It was pretty much a disco/techno party. That I was ok with at first. But by 1am I was getting tired, about 800 people were packed in a sardine can (and still more being let in, I was having a panic attack), I was hot, almost everyone was drunk and I wanted out. I’m just not in to the whole slush puppy deal. Getting drunk every night or just wasted for a night isn’t exciting to me as the neat little carvings on the side of a building. At about 1:30am I had decided to call a cab. (the kids in charge forbid me to go back alone… right), but then a friend wanted to go back too so we just walked back together. I don’t think I’ll go ‘parting’ without my own means home again. Lesson learned. We got to the hostile and went to bed. That was the extent of Day 1!
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