First day

Quelle day! My first full day in Paris has been absolutely wonderful (and very long!). Just a few high points below:

• Visited my first Parisian church, the Eglise Saint-Merri, and the nearby Saint-Jacques Tower, all that's left of a church that used to mark a starting point on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Inside the tower is a statue of Blaise Pascal, placed there to commemorate some experiments on atmospheric pressure that he conducted, possibly at the tower. We also visited the Church of Saint Gervase and Saint Protase, where several generations of Couperins played the organ. At one point I looked directly up at the ceiling and found a stone angel, arms spread wide, looking benignly straight down at me. I reported this to my friend Jay, who told me that the angel was helping support the organ over my head. "I'm glad," I said.
• On the way to the river, we visited the Hotel de Ville, surely the most magnificent City Hall in the world. It's an astonishing building; the facade is full of niches containing statues of historic figures, including a number of scientists. I was pleased to see that the main entrance was flanked by statues of the scientist Lavoisier and the skeptic and writer Voltaire. One of the most magical moments of the day, however, was catching sight of the two towers of Notre Dame just across the river. I have been reading about this place since I was 12, and now here I was standing in sight of it. In the photo below, the Hotel de Ville is on the left, and the towers of Notre Dame are further away on the right.

• We crossed the river to the island and had a piece of apricot flan from one of the many, many patisseries and other eating places. I fed a crumb to a bird who hopped up on the table and cocked his head at me inquiringly. I think he really was begging for food, because when I moved my hand toward him to drop the crumb in front of him, he came forward to meet me rather than flying away. (This city is full of birds! Lots of pigeons, some crows, LBBs [little brown birds] like the one that begged for crumbs, and somewhat larger brown birds [SLBBs?] that we saw squabbling over some food in a park.) We got more views of the church from the outside; even by the end of the day I still got a little teary-eyed when we passed it walking home. (We're going to visit the inside and hear an organ concert there on Sunday.) We also visited the Marche aux Fleurs on the Ile de la Cite. I knew I couldn't bring back any of the plants with me, but I did look at the seeds. I didn't buy anything, but I noticed that someone had seeds for les choux d'ornement (ornamental cabbage; "tres originale!" the seed packet said). The flowers in the market were gorgeous.

• A boat tour gave us a chance to see some of the highlights along the river, including several notable bridges, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower (which is on the agenda for tomorrow).
• Dinner was a leisurely (about three hours) and excellent meal with a group of about a dozen people who are all renting apartments through the same company. I had my first taste of kir (white wine with black currant liqueur; excellent to drink and also a lovely deep pink color, very elegant in a flute). It was a pleasant evening; my only complaint, and it is a mild one, is that the music in the restaurant was a loop of various popular songs, including "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" in French. The song (in English, malheureusement) is still running through my head. Dinner was followed by a stroll home through the 10 p.m. dusk. 

It is 704 steps from the ground floor to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, and I am going to climb them tomorrow afternoon, so it is time to get some sleep.