June 4th...

Last night i explored Montmare (Martyr's Mound), which used to be a Roman temple that was dedicated to Mercury and Mars. In 8C, Saint Denis, preist Rusticus and the deacon Eleutherius were tourtured there. The were brought to the top on the mount to be decapitated. Local legend claims that Saint Denis picked up his gory head and marched on to the area that is now named after him, ST-Denis. There is a statue there of a dude missing a head.

The area is full of tourists during the day. I know this because I can spot my own kind. There are lots of little cafes and what not; stores selling bags that are all covered in Eiffel Towers and other such propaganda. At night though, certain places around the area are very bohemian and full of young parisans. I plan on heading back that way when I feel like going out at night. I really wish I spoke French but I've decided to learn and so in the future, I would really like to come back to study the language.

At the top of Montmartre, there is the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, which was built after the Franco-Prussian war in 1870ish. It's big and it's white and it has an amazing view of the city. I drank in the veiw and a couple beers on the steps. You can drink outside here. It's pretty great.

Today I took the metro to Place de la Concorde. The Obelisk is right there as you come out of the metro, like a huge fallic symbol to the gods. The Obelisk came from the ruins of the temple at Luxor. It was 'given' to France in 1831 by Mohammed Ali. I honestly don't really know what the policitcal situation is/was with France and Egypt; it was never the focus of any of my academic research, but I raise an eyebrow at any thing that European countries had a hand in in the past 500 years. Especially involving Africa.

Regardless, it was 'erected' (lol) in the centre in 1836. The thing is tall, and covered in hieroglphics. Aparently the roseta stone had already been discovered at this time and the French incoporated the inscriptions into the location of the city, meaning the wording specific to the significance of art faces the Louve, politics faces their parliament building, etc. From this magnificent cross roads, you can see the Arc de Triomphe and straight down Champs-Elysees. I wandered from here down to the Louve. I didn't go in, but looked around the outisde. It's really overwhelming.

I kept going and came across this huge old cathedral, which had these super tall ceilings. I couldn't read most of the infromation on it, since I don't speak French. It was definatly gothic type architechture.

I found a Metro and took the 7 all the wall to Tolbiac and walked the 15 minutes to my dorm. I picked up a basket of cherries from a market and a tomato. Apparently you are supposed to get a little sticker for your produce if it isn't packaged, which I didn't know but the lady at the counter showed me and so I will remember next time. Back at my room, I made a cheese and tomato sandwich from the leftover baggette and hunk of swiss I had. Then I took my sandwhich, cherries and books and headed to the park close to Cite University, where I am now. I've been napping and eating and soaking in the sun, which is gentler than Florida, for hours. There is a nice breeze and I've already forgotten what day it is.

I had no idea how dead inside I had become, or how alive I could feel until today.