Paris mini-trip
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
8
36
Trip End
Ongoing
Paris,
Île-de-France,
France
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Bonjour tout le monde,
So, as I don't work on Wednesdays or Thursdays I can make mini trips. This time I went to Paris with Nicole, an assistant from Canada. It was her first time in Paris, so we made plans to see everything. We walked so much on Wednesday, our feet were killing us. We started off at the Bastille, and started heading down the Seine. Neither of us was good with directions or maps so we got lost and frustrated quite often, but we survived. We first saw the Notre Dame, which was closing shortly after we got there. Recently an important nun from France, Soeur Emmanuelle, died. They were having a public commemoration ceremony for her at Notre Dame, so they were closing the cathedral early. We decided to head back the next day to go inside and get a better look. After that, we went to the Pompidou Center, which is the major modern art museum in Paris. All the pipes and ducts are on the outside of the building, so it is pretty funky. We got some snacks from a stand and ate outside of it. We passed on going inside in order to explore Paris some more. The next major site was the Louvre. We admired the pyramid and decided to come back the next day in order to have more time to look inside. From there we walked through the Jardin des Tuileries. The weather was nice; so many people were in the park by the fountains and whatnot. The jardin leads to a plaza with a gigantic obelisk and some pretty bronze fountains. This leads to the Champs Elysees. It was so busy there! It was hard to get by on the sidewalk, which is huge in the first place. Also, we noticed there were at least 3 McDonalds on the street. A little much I think. We did stop in one store that had an interesting display. It was for Renault, and they covered one of their minivans with toile fabric and put fancy dining room chairs in place of the car seats. They also had this weird bubble type car. It didn't look like it was functional though. We originally thought the store was a car dealership, but it seemed to just be a boutique for Renault. We then made our way to the Arc de Triomphe, which is at the end of the Champs Elysees. We took some pictures there and rested our feet. The Eiffel Tower was next. Since France recently became the President of the European Union, they had a ring of stars on the front of the Eiffel Tower similar to the European Union flag. I refused to go up, since last time I didn't feel comfortable at all. I waited while Nicole went to the top. She went all the way to the top too. I would never have made it. I had a nice time people watching while I waited. You can hear so many different languages in Paris. French does not seem to be dominant. Plus there are just so many different types of people from all over the world that come to the Eiffel Tower, so I was occupied while I waited. When Nicole got back down we decided to go back to the hotel to formally check in and then grab some dinner.
Initially we had figured out places to eat and see and written them all down on a piece of paper. During the course of the day as we repeatedly pulled out our map, we lost the paper with everything on it. We decided to just look for a place. We found a small brasserie near the hotel and had a nice dinner together. We decided that instead of going to the Louvre tomorrow we would go in the evening. On Wednesday it is open until 10 and is cheaper after 6. So after dinner we took the metro to the Louvre. It was the best experience that I have had at the Louvre. I went once with Jason and once with Alison and it was crowded and noisy both times. We had to wait in lines/crowds to see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. This time we basically stumbled on the Mona Lisa. There was barely anybody there, so it was great. We could take our time and they were even letting people take pictures. The museum was so empty. We wandered around in the museum and left about 9:30ish. We wanted to see the Eiffel tower at night, because at certain times it sparkles. It was all light up blue, once again to look like the European Union flag. It looked like it was made out of plastic or legos, it looked so cool. We sat in the park a bit and relaxed, even though it was quite chilly. We saw a sight not so nice in Paris while we were sitting there; some rats were chewing through garbage bags across the way from us. That was a little gross. When we were cold and tired we went back to the hotel and basically passed out. It was quite a long day of walking, but we saw so many things, so it was worth it.
On Thursday morning we got some pastries for breakfast. They weren't warm though, so that was a bummer. We hopped on the metro and took it straight to Notre Dame. We weren't doing any more walking than we had to today. We got to leisurely look around this time. I have seen many cathedrals now, since basically every town in France has one, and I have to say although Notre Dame is beautiful, I liked the one in Reims better. There was so much intricate sculpture there, it was truly amazing. After Notre Dame, we got back on the Metro and went up to Montmarte. We meandered up the Butte towards the Sacre Coeur. There are many cute little shops and streets and the weather was a perfect fall day, sunny, but crisp. When we got to the top we went inside, but they were holding a service, so we didn't get to see much. We rested on the steps awhile and enjoyed the view. You can see all of Paris from up there. There also was a statue man there, and he was quite amusing. He was standing on a pillar of the steps dressed in a long white robe with white face makeup on. He was holding a flower and would pose in goofy ways with tourists. He never spoke though, so it was funny watching him interact with everyone there. We tried to imagine him getting ready for work and driving to the Sacre Coeur in his long robe and makeup.
After the Sacre Coeur, we decided to find the vineyard in Montmarte, the other windmill, and the café where Amèlie was shot. We got so lost trying to find all these things and we ended up stumbling upon all of them. It was frustrating, but Paris is made for walking and wandering so I really can't complain. We admired the vineyard and the windmill from outside and had coffee in the Café des Deux Moulins. The past times that I have been in Paris it was always really crowded inside, but it wasn't full this day, so we got to enjoy our coffee and pick out places where scenes from the movie took place. From there, it was just a short distance to the Moulin Rouge. We took some photos of course, and just started wandering again. There are many cheap shops in this area, and I thought I found a pair of boots, but alas, they did not fit, and apparently they do not make half sizes in France, or if they do, they did not have them in any of those shops. From there we really did not have any destination. We saw many of the major sites, and did not have enough time to go to a museum and take our time. So once again we walked aimlessly, but in the general direction of the train station. We stopped at a few shops, but mostly just looked around. Paris is such an amazing city. Everywhere you look there is some detail, some piece of history, some deliciously intricate pastries. We finally made it back to the train station and headed back to Laon. I am so glad we are so close to Paris here. It can be an easy day trip whenever. I will be spending New Year's there with Jason and I can't wait. I'm sure I will go back plenty of times during my stay here. After I got back to my apartment I crashed. We did so much walking over the two days I just passed out and dreamt of Paris.
Adios, next time you hear from me, I will be back from Spain!
Stephanie
