parisian skies

Everyone always says they want to go to Paris, and for some reason I've always thought of it as a rather cliché thing. Of course I was excited to see the city, but I thought of the trip more as something I should do, simply because of the hype.

I don't know what was wrong with me. I love Paris.

Seriously, love.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, due to the fact that I forgot to charge my camera battery before I left and it died halfway through jour deux. And there aren't any with me in them...at least not until the ones from Brigid's camera show up on the book of face.

Jour un: We got off the train at about 1ish, then took a coach tour of the city. Briefly saw most of the typical sights, then got checked into our hotel by 4. We were all starving by this point, as most of us hadn't eaten since early in the morning, but no one really seemed to be moving, so I ventured out on my own. I got my map out, walked to the Metro station, hopped a train, and wandered around Saint-Germain-des-Prés for a while. I ended up having an early dinner at the Cafe les Deux Magots, the place where Jean-Paul Sartre used to break his fast every morning, sometimes staying to write for hours, but occasionally stopping to chat with another writer by the name of Hemingway. I felt super important and literary and philosophical. And I was able to order a meal in French!

Jour deux: Woke up early to get to the Louvre around opening time.

I only went to the Denon wing and didn't stay there too long, but I did see the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Mona Lisa, and this awesome statue of Psyche and Cupid by Antonio Canova:

[Side note: Speaking of victory, pictures from the "V for Victory" Nike campaign are all over the Paris Metro. Claude Makalele, Hatem Ben Arfa, and two French (I assume) guys that I didn't recognize.]

Then I museum-hopped to the Musée d'Orsay for the Monets, the Sisleys, the Renoirs, the Van Goghs, and of course my favorite Degas painting:


After I had my fill of paintings and sculptures, I bought a sandwich and had lunch in the Jardin de Luxembourg and sat people-watching for a bit.

In the afternoon I walked down the Champs-Elysées, was overwhelmed by the amount of people in Sephora, and saw the Arc de Triomphe up close for the first time. I didn't go up to the top, but I heard the stairs are pretty brutal. Two of my friends did it twice in one day, because the first time it was raining and they wanted to get the good view after it stopped!

Jour trois: I made up for not going up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe by climbing all the way up to the Notre Dame belltower on Sunday morning. No pictures of that yet but the view was UH-mazing. It rained all morning, which spoiled the mood a little bit, but not too much. I had delicious french onion soup for lunch and everything was fine. (I can't think of many better feelings than sitting inside on a rainy day with a hot bowl of soup.) It stopped raining soon after and the sun came out again, so I decided to crash my friends' walking tour of Montmartre. There were enough people that the tour guide didn't notice, and I'm really glad I did!

At the foot of the hill is a little place called the Moulin Rouge:
We saw where Amélie Poulin worked (as well as the little market where a few scenes from the movie were shot):We stopped at the Metro Abbesses station for a few minutes, and I had two random French guys come up and start talking to me. The first was flirting with me because he thought I was Irish, and the second was a crazy homeless dude who was yelling about how beautiful Paris was. It was quite the experience. Near the station is the "I love you" wall, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like (it has "I love you" written in every language on Earth):
We saw where Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, and Modigliani used to live, and the cafés and other buildings they hung around/painted.

Since Montmartre is a massive hill, it's got a great view of the city from the top:Again, there were many more photo ops, but due to my forgetfulness I am relying on others to send me their pictures. I might post a second picture entry later. After the tour was over, we walked around the top of the hill for a while, sat on the steps of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, and did some souvenir shopping. Then I bought a baguette and one last crêpe, and headed back to the train station.

So in summary, the city is amazing, the architecture is gorgeous, and so are the people. I swear, it seemed like every other boy I passed on the street was stunningly attractive. And everyone was so friendly and they all had fantastic style. London is still my soulmate city, but I think Paris has become my bit on the side. And don't judge me for cheating; I'm a travel whore and I know it.

The only bad thing about this weekend is that I missed this.


Ah well, I guess sacrifices must be made to the travel gods. Or maybe Arsenal just do better when I don't watch them, who knows.