From Barcelona, I took a flight to Paris, France. The first night I was there, I met with Gracie, a friend from Willamette who is currently studying abroad there. As with Lisa in Barcelona, it was great meeting up in a foreign country with someone I knew from back in the United States.
The first full day I was in Paris, I went to the Pompidou Center, a museum that houses modern art. Further, they had a rotating Dahlí exhibit. I really enjoy modern and surreal art so I quickly took to Dahlí's imaginative and truly creative painting style. I couldn't help but think back to the movie “Midnight in Paris”, with the Dahlí character always making random comments or observations to the other characters. There was one part of the exhibit with a huge arc with “blonde hair” around it, a nose in the background, and two eyes on the back wall. There was a chair/couch of sorts made to look like red lips on which individuals could sit and take a picture in the huge mirror reflecting it all. I then visited the permanent collection, all contemporary and modern art as well.
Multiple times while in Paris (and once while in Barcelona), locals came up to me and asked, in English, “Excuse me, do you speak English?” As it turned out, money was the end goal. At the start, I would say, “yes, I do.” I remember one instance where, upon hearing my positive response, the woman handed me a piece of paper, on it was written a paragraph in English saying how she had been on the streets for 4 years, had a number of small children, couldn't get a job, etc... Not to say that the paragraph was a lie, I just found it funny that, in this instance and others like it, the prerequisite was speaking English; not French, Italian, Spanish, or any other European language, specifically English.
I did not visit the Louvre while in Paris. Rather, I walked around the outside and admired the beautiful architecture around the area. I was in Paris once before with my family and went in then. This time, since I was not in Paris for that long, I prioritized other museums and sculptures. I walked the Champs Elysees (the main tourist street in Paris) to get to Arc de Triomphe and, as it was just before Christmas, the street was packed with vendors selling little ornaments, nativity scenes, and the like. The Arc is in a roundabout with a huge street surrounding it (you wouldn't want to J-walk this street) and there's only one entrance to stand below the arc. After walking 180 degrees to the other side of the roundabout, I went underground and emerged below the arc. On the ground level (below the arc), there is an ever-burning flame for the Unknown Soldier, a flame that has been kept alit since its inception in 1920.
I paid a bit extra to walk to the top of Arc de Triomphe. The view from the top was possibly one of the most breath taking I've seen. First of all, there are twelve different streets emanating from the Arc. In one direction, I could see the Eiffel Tower as well as all different types of buildings from different sides of the top. I went towards the late afternoon and there was still a fair amount of people there.
From Arc de Triomphe, I walked towards the Eiffel Tower. It was definitely a bit of a walk but, as I could see it from the Arc, I just walked in that general direction until I came upon it. I didn't go up the tower itself, just admired it from the bottom. Before getting to the Tower, I walked around the area on the other side of the Seine River, right opposite the Eiffel Tower. There were tons of stands selling Christmas ornaments and little nativity scenes (same as in Barcelona and Madrid.) There was also a man-made ice rink with folks skating around.
I eventually made it over to the Eiffel Tower and, right as I was walking up to it, huge lights all along the supports began to illuminate the tower, giving the tower an orange tinge. Minutes later, white lights began flickering on and off all along the tower. The Tower by itself is an amazing sight to see, the added lights made it even more of a spectacle.
In the next couple days, I went to Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, the first a cathedral, the second a church as well as the highest point in Paris. You can't really spend much time in Notre Dame: there's a big loop inside the cathedral leading you through the building from entrance to exit. I did stop and take pictures at points but it was difficult as there were many people filling the guided walkway.
Sacre Coeur is at the top of a steady incline and provides a bird's eye view of some of Paris. I'd been to this church when I was in Paris as a kid with my parents. My dad always recounts the story of how, when I went with them, I offered my wrist to one of the many vendors who line the path to Sacre Coeur offering free bracelets to everyone. There's always a catch- these vendors charge some exorbitant amount of Euros, despite their “free” price tag. Needless to say, I was a bit wiser this time and continued to walk when the men asked if I wanted a bracelet. If he kept insisting, I answered with something like “no hablo francés” (I don't speak French).
The views as I was walking up a steeple of Sacre Ceour were beautiful: I looked out over a sweeping, bird’s eye view of Paris, able to make out the Eiffel Tower at points. At other areas, I looked out and could see another steeple of the church, framed by the two cement sides of the open space I was looking through. After descending the steeple, I tried some vin chaud, a type of heated up red wine with various little fruit slices at the bottom. Despite my distaste for red wine, I found the vin chaud to be quite good (though it was freezing cold that day so I probably would have welcomed any heated beverage.)
A few days later, I boarded a RyanAir flight headed towards Treviso, Italy, the closest airport to Venice, my next stop.
As a side note- if you click on "older posts" at the very bottom of this page, you will be taken to four more photos of Paris that do not show up on the primary screen.
As a side note- if you click on "older posts" at the very bottom of this page, you will be taken to four more photos of Paris that do not show up on the primary screen.
