October 25 - 29
Welcome to fall break 2007 [EU]! On Thursday October 25th, Amanda, Scott, Nicole & I left for Paris in the afternoon, and arrived around 10:45 that night after a delayed flight. We checked in to our (very) small hotel room, ate fromage et jambon crepes at midnight, and explored the eclectic Bastille district that our hotel was in (which I highly recommend). Although I am certainly not fluent in French, and I was really surprised at how much came back to me - I could at least order food, and decipher some of the signage!
On Friday, we began the day with crepes outside of Notre Dame - sucre burre sil vous plait!
Notre Dame was so much larger than I had ever imagined. We spent the rest of the day walk walk walking Paris: From Notre Dame to the Jardin de Tuileries, down the Champs L'Elysees (which reminded me of a larger Michigan Ave. in Chicago) to the Triumphal Arch - do not be fooled fair walkers, the Arch is much farther than you actually think it is! Then, we headed south to the Eiffel Tower - it's HUGE! We explored a little more on foot, and then had amazing Mexican food and drinks for dinner near our hotel. I don't think my feet have ever hurt so bad in my life! But is was so worth it. Although my photos look very overcast, I assure you that Paris in October is stunning - the trees were all changing, and it was nice and cool. And the scale of it - the Parisians sure knew how to build big!
On Saturday, we spent the majority of the day at Versailles. The palace was (again, quite large) a bit too crowded for my taste, but the grounds, Trianon, and country estates were absolutely fantastic. If you know me, you know that I (a) love French culture and (b) love the movie Marie Antoinette. I was in heaven.
That night, we saw Paris by night, and got to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up - it even sparkled for us! And, in the spirit of not eating Italian food, we had Thai for dinner.
Our last full day, Sunday, Scott & I conquered the Louvre (in about 5 hours).
The Mona Lisa is quite an amazing piece of work, although I dare say it has lost some of its intent - you can't even get close enough to see brush strokes behind the thickened security glass. She still watches though, with her secretive smirk and air of je ne sai qua (could she be Da Vinci's muse, Genevra de Benci? The answer lies behind the smile). And people are so busy taking pictures and video (yes, photography everywhere in the Louvre, surprisingly), that they fail to notice all of the other outstanding pieces of art on the other walls of the room. I think my favorite pieces in the Louvre were the large format paintings which were, literally, the size of small houses.
After lunching at the Louvre - or perhaps I should say the mall connected to the Louvre, we bought our expensive Interlaken train ticket and spent our last hours in Paris at Le Centre Pompidou (modern art museum).
So not only is the building outstanding, but the main collection inside was breathtaking - Picasso, Rothko, Kandinsky, Durer glass, Pollack....all right in front of you! I caught myself so many times just going "oh my gosh...I never thought I'd see this piece". I highly recommend the Pompidou if you like modern art - even a little. For dinner, we had one last round of yummy (and cheap) crepes. For many more images of Paris, check out my flickr site. Next round, Interlaken.
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