From Paris, With Love: Day 1-3

So I was one week in Paris and oh man what a week it was. I was lucky enough to stay in a real Parisian apartment on the market street Rue Cler in the 7th arrondisement (there are 20 all total) with Sasha, my friend from high school and her friend, Phoebe. They had just finished their semester in Rome and were excited about the change of scenery. Ok so here’s a sketch of what happened.

Day 1 we went to the Luxembourg gardens and palace (saw some old men playing chess and kids playing tennis), the Montparnasse cemetery, and the extremely trendy Jewish/Gay quarter with its hidden art galleries and scenic canal.

Day 2 was brunch at the Mama Shelter, a very chic buffet restaurant that you have to reserve at least one week in advance. We walked off the piles of food by wandering the vastness that is Père Lachaise cemetery. There are tons of famous people buried in Père Lachaise (Apollinaire, Edith Piaf, Proust, Balzac, Jim Morrison, etc.) but it was so big we only found Proust and Morrison.
Then we went to the Champs-Elysées because we were told that the entire street would be blocked off for a nature display. Something like 2 million people were expected to attend and after arriving at the famous street I could believe it. There were people everywhere! It was insanity. I continued on to the Arc de Triomph (so much cooler and bigger in real life) which is located at the craziest roundabout I’ve ever seen. It’s called the Etoile (star) and has 12 streets spewing off of it.

Afterwards I met another high school friend, Laura and we grabbed some Domino’s pizza for a late night picnic in the Tulieries garden at the feet of the Louvre. The best part of this night was watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Every night after dark on the hour for five minutes the Eiffel Tower goes all sparkly before returning to its regular old lit up self. Funny story—the Eiffel Tower was supposed to be a temporary building for the 1889 World Expo and all the Parisian’s thought it was an eye sore, but when I asked the French girls in the Foyer what their favorite landmark in Paris was all of them said they liked ”La Tour Eiffel” best. Go figure.

Day 3 was the Louvre. People had warned me about its size and anyone who had lived long in Paris said it was overrated and too touristy. But there’s a reason it’s touristy. It houses the world’s finest art collection and it was fabulous. And even better I got in for free with my student card! The Louvre also happens to have one of my favorite pieces in its collection and I was determined to see it. I needn’t have worried about seeing it because it was the first thing I saw: Nike of Samothrace, or Winged Victory at the top of the grand staircase and she was beautiful. And it wouldn’t be a trip to the Louvre without seeing DaVinci’s Mona Lisa, but she’s so small and far away in her protective glass that she’s much harder to appreciate. Much more amusing is all the tourists jockeying for a better viewing position. Far more enjoyable was seeing all the neoclassical paintings from David and Delacroix.

The museum was truly incredible, but I have to say the highlight of the entire day was dipping my feet into the Louvre fountains. There were tons of people outside the pyramid just sitting by the fountains; one girl was walking around in the fountain and most people, like me, were soaking their aching feet.

Afterwards I walked across the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), ironically, the oldest bridge in Paris, to the Île de la Cité where the Notre Dame is located. Notre Dame was very surprisingly the only letdown of the trip. Don’t get me wrong, you should totally see it because it is still awesome. It just didn’t meet my expectations. (I blame this on my preference for all things Angevine.) From there I trekked to the Hôtel de Ville, Pompidou center (crazy modern museum that looks like it’s made of colorful pipes) and Rue Rivoli where the huge department stores are located and then back to the Louvre for more feet dipping.

Side note: I was explaining to my youngest sister Emma how cool the Louvre was when she interrupted me and said, “Wait, isn’t the Louvre a bathroom?” She honestly had no idea and I couldn’t have been more dumbfounded. Seriously? You thought the Louvre was a bathroom? I get that it sounds like the Loo, but really?? It’s only like THE most famous museum in the world. It was pretty funny.

To be continued…