March 2, 2010
On Friday, we woke early to sunny and smelly Paris. Unfortunately, the city of love has to put out its garbage sometimes and Monmarte does not always smell good. But, we endured the stench, dressed and went down to the hostel common room for continental breakfast, which consists of croissants, juice, and coffee. Enough to keep me happy in the morning.
At around 10, we headed for the nearest underground station to buy a metro pass for that week. And we weren’t exactly prepared for what the Paris metro had to offer. Turns out, we were a bit spoiled by the simplicity, dependability, and cleanliness of the Tube. The Metro was disgusting, but exhilarating. The cars had these huge windows and funky seats. It went really fast and you could see everything going on around you. On the tube, it feels like you are in this giant, well, tube and there isn’t much to see but disgruntled Britons and the latest fashion trends on some of the subway’s more eclectic riders. After a good hand washing in the bathroom and a few squirts of hand sanitizer, I emerged from the metro in St. Michael’s Place with a smile.
We met our tour guide at St. Michael’s Place, right off the Seine. This tour company doesn’t charge for their tours, they work off commission. Pretty sweet if you ask me! We each paid 5 euros at the end and had a great time! But before we even got started we had to take a stupid picture for the companies website and introduce ourselves to everyone. To start off, we headed toward Notre Dame, but first passed by Shakespeare and Company. The actual building founded by Shakespeare still stands today, as a bookstore with an inn above. Hemingway even stayed there during his time in Paris and wrote about it in a book, I think. Next, was the Notre Dame! We learned quite a bit about its history, Quasimodo (the hunchback), and a huge statue of a Viking out front. France has so much history, I couldn’t even remember it all. It was quite interesting when our tour guide, Kayla, made it into a play on the steps of the Notre Dame. She was great.
Next, our tour guide took us along the Seine River, Paris’s main waterway. We found the place where Hitler took up camp while occupying France. The building still had holes and dents from bullets during the fighting. Just as we walked toward this building the weather took a turn for the worse. It started pouring rain when it had been sunny and clear skies just minutes before. Seriously chilling. But the weather proved to be a steady enemy on this entire tour. One minute I might get a burn from the intense sunshine (my lips got burned) and the next I was soaked from the tsunami rain! What the heck France?
Anyway, right across from Hitler we found the space invader… some guy walked all around France, and other large cities, painting or tiling these space invaders onto the side of buildings. He is anonymous. But he has a website. Space-Invaders.com. Check it out. If you mark all the space invader locations on a map, they make one big space invader! AHH!
After the space invaders, we found the exact place where Carrie found Big in the last episode of Sex and the City. Then, we walked toward the Louvre. Once again, the weather turned nice and our trip across the Seine was just beautiful. Inside the Louvre courtyard they were setting up for Paris Fashion Week. What is with all these Fashion Weeks!?! We walked through a grand arch and found ourselves standing before this giant glass pyramid. This is the Louvre I know! Or the one I’ve seen in pictures and on TV, anyway. The pyramid was so grand and impressive in person. Blew me away.
By this time, I was tired, a bit crabby, and hungry. We all broke for a bit of a lunch break. Once again, we struggled against the French-language while ordering our food. My double-espresso and ham sandwich perked me right up though. I was ready for another go with Paris. Back on the streets, we ran into a film set. They were actually filming a movie right on the street! We all freaked out for a bit, thinking it was The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, but I don’t think it was. We went back for a bit more of this later…
Next, we walked out in front of the Louvre in the Tuileries Gardens. These beautiful gardens filled with statues, ponds, and sculpted trees, connect the Lourve to the axis of Paris. The axis runs all the way from the Arc du Triomphe to the Louvre, a few kilometers. This huge walkway and street houses loads of shopping, classical buildings with columns, gardens, and tourist attractions.
After a bit of a walk up the axis, we found the 3000-year-old Egyptian Obelisk, given to the French government as a gift, and our first view of the Eiffel Tower. In the middle of February Paris seems kind of bleak and brown. I can just imagine the beauty of this city in the spring and summer. The bare trees around the Eiffel Tower made me kind of sad. It just didn’t seem right. Paris is supposed to be magical, but we got melancholy. Well, I’m simply going to have to come back again before I leave. What a shame!
A full day of walking and it was just barely the afternoon. We sat down for a bit to catch our breath after the tour. We planted ourselves on benches before the Eiffel Tower and just stared in amazement before deciding that we had to go to the top. But unfortunately, the top was closed due to strong winds. It was windy, but not that windy! We were a bit disappointed. Fortunately, a nearby café cheered us up quite nicely. We sat around, warmed up, and planned our attack on the Louvre for that night.
Just before heading into the Louvre, we hit up the movie set again. We watched them film a few scenes before going on our way. I might be an extra in a movie… to bad I don’t know what they were even filming! But that activity didn’t hold our attention for long because the Louvre waited. Thousands upon thousands of paintings, sculptures, and other art for my greedy eyes… Heaven! Not so much… after eight hours walking over the cobblestone of Paris I was a bit worn out, but I couldn’t be deterred. This was the most famous museum in the world and it was youth night. We got in for free! It turned out to be four hours of pure awesomeness. I saw so much, don’t remember most of it, but I enjoyed it while I was there. Soar feet and all.
At times, the building itself was enough to amaze me, let alone the wonderful art it held. One of my favorite parts was Napoleon III”s apartments located in the north wing of the building. So many chandeliers and gilded furnishings, and extravagant wall hangings. So gaudy and ridiculous. But awesome. My eyes hurt from all the lighting and shining gold.
So, before we knew it, 10 o’clock rolled around the Louvre shut down the night. Hal, Julie, Laurel, and I found ourselves at the head of the Tuileries Gardens watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle, which it does for two minutes every hour, on the hour after dusk. We were all so tired. Hal took a video of the sparkling and we all sound a bit crazy in the background. Julie is crying for a can of coke. Laurel is crying because she stepped in a puddle. And I’m crying for no reason. Fortunately, we found the metro and our hostel shortly after that. A hard, hostel mattress never felt to good.
Even more Paris awaits!
Love,
Kelly
No comments:
Post a Comment