We checked the RER A schedule and saw that we only had to leave home at 12:30 to make it for the 1:45pm prayer. And what's even nicer is there would be a church "shuttle" that picks members up from the Noisy Champs RER A station to go to church so we wouldn't even have to take the 220 bus!
So David slept in while I uploaded/sorted photos and puttered around the Internet. Well! It occurred to me at around 11am that Saturday happened to be September 1st! And as I reread the brother's email, he said the summer schedule was for July and August! Oh no! I woke David up and we scrambled out the door and headed to Les Halles station to get on the RER A.
It turned out to be the perfect storm of sorts. We got on the RER A successfully and arrived at Noisy Champs station at a little past noon. We were then looking for the 220 bus as we exited but saw a couple of other buses like 320 and 312, but not 220! I took out my notebook to see the notes I took. I clearly wrote Bus 220. Did I write it down wrong?
We checked the greater bus map and saw that Bus 220 does exist and it does not connect with Noisy Champs station (the one we're at currently) at all. It connects with the next station. We were really confused at this point. Why did the brother tell us to get off at Noisy Champs and not the next station if the bus doesn't connect? It just made no sense to me.
At this point we decided to wait at the station until 1:30 to see if the church shuttle would arrive. We were thinking we can just look for congregation Asians. To our dismay, there happens to be a ton of Asians in this area for some reason! If the shuttle doesn't arrive, the opposite exit has a sign that points to taxis and we can just take it to the church. I wrote down the church address before leaving, thank God.
So 1:30 pm came and went and there were no congregating Asians and there were no shuttles. So at 1:35 we decided to head out the opposite door for the taxi. Sure enough, there was a sign for taxis but there was not a taxi in sight. After waiting for a few minutes, I decided to ask the information desk. The lady was nice but said that she hasn't ever seen a taxi there. Oh great. What now?
We wandered around a bit and headed towards a street that looked busier in hopes of flagging down a taxi. We saw some payphones but again didn't know how to make calls because it required some sort of special pin card. In our complete desperation, we dropped in a nearby hotel, Hotel Ibis.
We asked the man at the lobby whether he can help us. I showed him the address to the church and he checked the map and couldn't find the street name. Hmm. That can't be good. He then said the address city is too close to here and taxis there don't make trips that short. That's when I thought we were going to head straight back to Paris because we didn't know how to get to church.
Then we asked him how we make calls using the pay phone since I had the church number written down, thank goodness. He ended up making the call for us through the hotel phone. And Hallelujah! Praise and thank God a church sister answered the phone in 2 rings! I told her with my miserable voice that we were at Noisy Champs station and somehow we didn't see the church shuttle and we don't see the bus 220 and we are at a hotel nearby. She told me to stay put and a brother will come to pick us up in 10 minutes!
And...that's how we arrived at Paris church nearly 2 hours after we got to the train station. *sigh. Really thank God we made it. I felt so dumb for not realizing it's September and at the end I realized I wrote down the church address wrong so no wonder the man couldn't find it on the map. Anyway, a series of oddly coincidental mishaps left us in the worst predicament ever. But thank God. We made it at the end in time for the opening hymn singing of the 2pm service.
Justin: Have you guys seen Paris by night?
David & Jen: Umm... the latest we stayed up was last night when we went to the Eiffel Tower. All the other nights we slept at around 6pm.
Justin: Umm have you seen the Eiffel Tower at night from the Trocadero?
D&J: The Trocad..? Hmm...I don't think so.
Tina: Maybe they have and they just didn't know it.
Jen: Oh! Is it that grassy field thing with the curved building?
Justin: Yea!
Jen: {relieved} Oh! Yea then we have.
Justin: Have you seen the Eiffel Tower from Concorde?
David & Jen: Umm...where's that?
Justin: You have seen the Louvre at night right?
David & Jen: {embarrased} Umm...no.
Justin: Okay, I have to take you!
And that's how we got ourselves a tour of Paris by night. :) No wonder Paris is called City of Lights! There is nothing like having a local to take you around!
We got to Concorde Plaza and walked toward the palais which is a beautiful building with a glass roof. Justin told us a really interesting of the palais! During the WW, Hitler ordered a general to destroy Paris. But when the general saw how beautiful the building was, he didn't have the heart to destroy it. Instead, he cleverly blew up only the roof of the building so when Hitler saw it from the plane above he would think that the building was destroyed. Later, the French put a glass roof on the building. So basically a German fell in love with Paris and that's why the palais was preserved.